 Educated at Belleville Academy in his native county, Ashbel Barney went to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1842 with his brother Danford and engaged in business as forwarding and commission merchants as Danford N. Barney & Company.At Cleveland in 1846 Ashbel Barney married Susan H. Tracy, the daughter of Gardiner and Catherine (Lansing) Tracy of Utica, New York.Their children were