Ashton-Tate
In June 1982 Cole hired Rod Turner as the director of OEM sales for Ashton-Tate. In a few weeks Turner solved a sales commission plan issue, that had been bothering George Tate for some time, with the top performing salesperson (Barbara Weingarten, now Guerra), and Tate and Cole promoted Turner to be Vice President of world-wide sales three weeks after his initial hire. Turner was approximately the 12th employee of Ashton Tate. Since the company was truly boot-strapped, using no external venture capital, the founders did not make a practice of hiring experienced veterans, and most of the team at Ashton-Tate were young and enthusiastic, but inexperienced. Jim Taylor was responsible for product management in the early days, and worked closely with Wayne Ratliff and the other key developers on dBASE II. In 1982 Perry Lawrence and Nelson Tso were the two developers who were employed at Ashton-Tate, while Wayne Ratliff employed Jeb Long from his royalty stream.
Ashton Court
Ashton Court dates back to before the 11th century. It is believed that a fortified manor stood on the site, given to Geoffrey de Montbray, Bishop of Coutances, by William the Conqueror. In the Domesday Book it is referred to as a wealthy estate owned by the Bishop of Coutances, with a manor house, a great hall, and courtyards entered through gatehouses. The property passed through successive owners and at the end of the 14th century it was considerably expanded when Thomas De Lions, a nobleman originally from France, obtained a permit to enclose a park for his manor. The house was owned by the Choke family for some time. In 1506 it was sold to Sir Giles Daubeney, a knight and a Chamberlain of Henry VII. Henry VIII gave the estate to Sir Thomas Arundel in 1541 and four years later in 1545 Sir Thomas sold it to John Smyth. The Smyth family owned the property for the next 400 years. Smyth also bought the land which had been owned, until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, by Bath Abbey. He used the land to extend the deer park, bringing him into conflict with the residents of Whitchurch, who complained that he had used common land.