Jediah, also known as Jedediah and Jed, was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, in the southeast portion which is modern day Larue County. Jed was the second child and eldest son of John W. Ashcraft and Nancy Wallace Ashcraft. In keeping with the tradtional naming pattern, they named their first son after John's father, Jediah or Jedediah Ashcraft.

John W. Ashcraft and his father, Jediah, were among the earliest pioneers in this part of Kentucky, their presence being documented at Philips Fort before 1784. The elder Jediah Ashcraft, who was born in Pennsylvania, came to Kentucky after his service with George Rogers Clark in the American Revolution, and received several Virginia/Kentucky land grants for his military service. The Ashcrafts, who date back to the 1680's in this country, were originally from England, the Wallaces from Scotland.

On 15 Oct 1832, the records of Hardin County show that young Jediah married Barbara A. Miller. Because she was under the legal age, the marriage record shows she received the permission of her father, Abraham Miller.

In 1850, Jed and Barbara Ashcraft lived with eight children in the next household to her father Abraham in Hamilton's Precinct of Larue County, Kentucky (established from part of Hardin County in 1843.)

According to a published biography of one of their children, "...Jediah and Barbara (Miller) Ashcraft, both ...were natives of Kentucky, where they spent their childhood days and were married. He} was of Scotch and Irish lineage, while [she] was descended from an old German family that was early founded in North Carolina. In 1852 [they] removed from Kentucky to Missouri...," where their son Samuel was born in September, 1854.

On 2 Jun 1854, Joseph Potter, Jed Ashcraft, James Cooley, and Paris Teaney camped on land which was later preempted by Jed. "On account of its high, agreeable situation, Mr. Ashcraft at once named his claim 'Mount Pleasant,'" according to Rita L. Noll in her book, The Early Settlements of Atchison County. On 22 Dec 1857 he filed a homestead application for his land. The 1900 biography mentioned above states that he "...pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land, purchasing the same at a dollar and a quarter per acre when it came into market." On 1 May 1860, Jed received a U. S. Land Patent for additional land, as owner and assignee of 1812 military bounty land he had purchased from the heirs of James Rothwell.

"This property he improved, continuing to reside thereon until his death, which occurred in 1872, at the age of sixty-two years, his birth having occurred in 1810. His wife died in 1894, at the age of seventy-eight years, her birth having occurred in 1816. They had a family of twelve children, four of whom are living, three sons and a daughter. These are: Abram; Mary E., wife of Benjamin B. [sic] Curtis; James W., who is living in Joplin, Missouri; and John J." The others, who died prior to this 1900 biography, were Edward T., Martha J. (Waddell), Joel Henry, Nancy Bell (Pease), Jedediah, Samuel W., Francis and Elizabeth.

Some researchers give a death date of 1878 for Jed Ashcraft, while others cite the 1872 date. His headstone is inscribed Feb 19, 1872. and in the 1875 Kansas Census, Barbara Ashcraft is recorded in Mount Pleasant Township with her two youngest children, Frank and Elizabeth, so it is almost certain that the 1872 date is correct.