Redheadkelly at 23:36, 1 September 2026

2026-09-01T23:36:42Z

New page

{{SHORTDESC:Revolutionary War corporal of Beaufort County, North Carolina}}
{{Infobox Ross ancestor
| given_name = Benjamin
| middle_name = 
| surname = Ross
| surname_prefix = 
| pre-nominals = Corp.
| post-nominals =
| title_type = 
| title_ordinal = 
| title_role = 
| title_particle = 
| title_object = 
| honorific_suffix = 
| date_format = mdy
| portrait = 
| landscape = 
| alt = 
| other_image = 
| birth_date_circa = circa
| birth_date = 1746
| baptized = 
| death_date = June 18, 1823
| flourished_begin = 
| flourished_end = 
| burial_place = Ross family graveyard, Edward, Beaufort County, North Carolina
| gravestone =
| residence = Beaufort County, North Carolina
| years_active_beg = 
| years_active_end = 
| organization =
| title = 
| height = 
| weight = 
| father =
| mother =
| spouses = {{partner|Prudence Redditt (c1747-1819)}}
| children = {{plainlist|
* [[Josiah Ross (c1776-aft1850)|Josiah Ross]]
* [[John Riley Ross (1778-1854)|John Riley Ross]]
* [[Lemuel H. Ross (1783-1836)|Lemeul H. Ross]]
}}
| family = Rosses of Beaufort County
| immigration_date = 
| immigration_place = 
| sex_chromosomes = XY
| y_matched_group = 
| wikitree = Ross-32126
| familysearch = LRCR-5VR
| rin = 12065
| module = {{Infobox military person
|embed = yes
|embed_title = Revolutionary War
|allegiance = United States
|branch = Militia
|branch_label = Service
|rank = Corporal
|unit = 4th North Carolina Regiment
}}
}}

'''Corporal Benjamin Ross''' (c. 1736/1746 – June 18, 1823) was a Revolutionary War militiaman and landowner of Beaufort County, North Carolina. He is documented as a corporal in the 4th North Carolina Regiment, was tried alongside his presumed brothers [[Elijah Ross Sr. (c1754-1817)|Elijah Ross Sr.]] and [[Francis Ross (-c1830)|Francis "Frank" Ross]] for misprision of treason in 1779, and was admitted posthumously as a North Carolina Sons of the American Revolution patriot ancestor in 1912 on the application of his great-grandson, Lemuel Hiram Ross (a grandson of [[John Riley Ross (1778-1854)|John Riley Ross]]).

== DNA evidence ==

=== Y-DNA ===
Benjamin Ross is often found in trees as the son of [[John Ross the Immigrant (c1727-)|John Ross]] who landed in Wilmington in 1774. No direct evidence of this exists. There is circumstantial evidence that Benjamin was the brother of [[Francis Ross (-c1830)|Francis Ross]] and [[Elijah Ross Sr. (c1754-1817)|Elijah Ross]], both of Beaufort County. At this point, we only have [[Y-DNA testing|Y-DNA test results]] from one man thought to be a direct descendant of Benjamin. He is currently not a match to anyone in the {{Ross Surname Project}}. Tests are needed from descendants of these other Beaufort County lines for comparison.

== Biography ==

=== Early life ===
Benjamin Ross's birth year is recorded inconsistently across sources. His great-grandson's Sons of the American Revolution application states 1836.{{sfn|Tuten|1976|p=[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hSNJzVCkSy-7XChVuhLazgbNAu1ZwZj3/view 29 of 31]}} His gravestone in Oakdale Cemetery, Washington, North Carolina, gives 1746;<ref name="Benjamin Ross gravestone photograph, Find a Grave" />

=== Land and family in Beaufort County ===
<div class="leafletmap">{{#display_map: geojson= BeaufortCountyNC1785-1801;BeaufortCountyNC1819-1872;PamlicoRiver
35.6028,-76.9030~Land deeds and chain-bearer role, 1779-1785;
35.1085,-77.0441~1779 indictment and trial;
35.3266,-76.8734~Death, 1823; original burial place;
35.5465,-77.0553~Oakdale Cemetery, present burial place of gravestone
layers=Thunderforest.Pioneer|service=leaflet|
}}</div>
[[File:Ross-32126.png|thumb|right|300px]]
The earliest documentary trace of Benjamin Ross in North Carolina is his role as a chain bearer, alongside Elijah Ross, on an August 1779 survey of 100 acres for Francis Ross in the Long Acre community of Beaufort County — evidence generally read within the family as indicating the three men were related, likely as brothers.{{sfn|Brewer|2022|p=[9]}} Benjamin also appears with Elijah on the 1789 Beaufort County tax list,{{sfn|Brewer|2022|p=[22]}} and witnessed two land transactions by Francis Ross in the mid-1780s: a December 5, 1785 sale of 200 acres to Elijah Ross, and a later sale to Alexander Redditt.<ref name="deed-elijah">"Index to Real Estate Conveyances, 1696–1959; Deeds & Mortgages, 1700–1960," FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89DR-FKMJ), Francis Ross to Elijah Ross, December 5, 1785, Long Acre, Beaufort County, North Carolina, witnessed by Benjamin Ross.</ref><ref name="deed-redditt">"Index to Real Estate Conveyances, 1696–1959; Deeds & Mortgages, 1700–1960," FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9DR-FVNJ), Francis Ross to Alexander Redditt, Long Acre, Beaufort County, North Carolina, witnessed by Benjamin Ross and Elijah Ross.</ref> He married Prudence Redditt, daughter of William Redditt (1712–1784) and Susan Reed Cobb (1713–1781).

In 1823, the year of his death, a land deed recorded a transaction between Benjamin Ross and Lemuel Ross, in which Benjamin names Lemuel as his "son" — the clearest direct documentary proof of any parent-child relationship in this generation of the family.<ref name="deed-lemuel">"Beaufort. Deeds 1823–1829, 1829–1831, Mortgages 1823–1829, 1829–1831," FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99DB-DQY), land deed between Benjamin Ross and Lemuel Ross, Beaufort County, North Carolina, 1823.</ref>

He appears in the 1800 and 1820 United States censuses for Beaufort County.<ref name="census1800">"United States, Census, 1800," entry for Benjamin Ross, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHR7-W5Y).</ref><ref name="census1820">"United States, Census, 1820," entry for Benjamin Ross, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHL7-NS7).</ref>

=== Ancestors ===
{{Ancestors & descendants chart
|descendants=
*'''Benjamin Ross (1736-1823)'''
** m. [[Prudence Redditt (c1747-1819)]]
*** [[Josiah Ross (c1776-aft1850)]]
**** m. [[Nancy West (1780-1850)]]
*** [[John Riley Ross (1778-1854)]]
**** m. [[Cecelia Hill (1786-1868)]]
*** [[Lemuel H. Ross (1783-1836)]]
}}
Benjamin Ross's parents are not documented.

=== Marriage and children ===
Benjamin Ross married '''Prudence Redditt''' (b. abt. 1736/1747, North Carolina; d. 1819, Beaufort County, North Carolina). Their children:
* [[Josiah Ross (c1776-aft1850)|Josiah Ross]] (b. abt. 1776, South Creek, Beaufort County), m. Nancy West
* [[John Riley Ross (1778-1854)|John Riley Ross]] (b. 1778, Durham Creek, Beaufort County), m. Cecelia Hill
* [[Lemuel H. Ross (1783-1836)|Lemeul H. Ross]] (b. March 1, 1783)

=== Military ===
Benjamin Ross served as a Corporal in the 10th North Carolina Regiment, Captain Joshua Hadley's company, enlisting August 1, 1782 for a term of eighteen months.<ref name="rev-war-index">"Revolutionary War Soldier Index for NC and SC," accessed February 17, 2020, www.ourfamtree.org.</ref> The same index records his discharge as a "desertion" dated June 18, 1783 — a date that falls after the practical end of the war (the Treaty of Paris having been signed September 3, 1783 and hostilities having effectively ceased earlier that year), so this notation likely reflects an informal or undocumented separation from service near the war's end rather than desertion in the field.<ref name="rev-war-index" /> His formal military service record also appears on a muster roll dated December 12, 1782.<ref name="rev-war-rolls">"United States, Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783," entry for Benjamin Ross, December 12, 1782, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2DG-SGKM).</ref>

On November 10, 1779, Benjamin Ross was indicted at New Bern alongside his presumed brothers Elijah and Francis Ross and several members of the Van Daniel family, for freeing an accused militia deserter, Willis Hodge, from custody, and for building a fortification and resisting militia service and taxation; see [[Elijah Ross Sr. (c1754-1817)#1779 indictment and Misprision of Treason|Elijah Ross Sr.]] for the fuller account. Benjamin was among the men acquitted of high treason at the November 1779 session of the New Bern District Superior Court, then convicted, along with eleven others, of the lesser charge of misprision of treason, and sentenced to confinement in the New Bern district gaol and forfeiture of half his estate — a sentence with no evidence of having actually been carried out.{{sfn|Brewer|2022|pp=[41-42]}}

In 1912, Benjamin Ross was formally recognized by the North Carolina Society, Sons of the American Revolution, as a Revolutionary War patriot ancestor, national membership number 22848, state number 48, on the application of his great-grandson Lemuel Hiram Ross. The application's "Ancestor's Service" affidavit reads in full: "Benjamin Ross was a Corporal in Tenth Regiment, Hadley's Company," citing as authorities ''State Records of North Carolina'', Vol. XVI, page 1150, line 37, and ''Heads of Families, First Census of the United States: 1790'', State of North Carolina, page 127.<ref name="sar-app-service">North Carolina Society, Sons of the American Revolution, Application for Membership No. 22848, "Ancestor's Service" affidavit, Lemuel Hiram Ross, sworn March 18, 1912, Beaufort County, North Carolina, before notary R. T. Bonner, reproduced in Brewer, ''Granddaddy was a Patriot'', 15–17.</ref>

=== Death & burial ===
According to some trees, Benjamin Ross died June 18, 1823. This specific date apparently comes from a “a report authorized by Congress on 4 July 1783 to settle and finally adjust all accounts between the United States and the officers of the American army.”<ref>{{cite web |title=Display Patriot - P-281893 - Benjamin ROSS |website=National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution |url=https://sarpatriots.sar.org/patriot/display/281893 |at= Biography |accessed-daet=31 Aug 2026}}</ref> The original report has note yet been located. He was buried first at or near the town of Edward, Beaufort County, North Carolina.<ref>{{cite web |title=Display Patriot - P-281893 - Benjamin ROSS |website=National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution |url=https://sarpatriots.sar.org/patriot/display/281893 |at= Biography |accessed-date=31 Aug 2026}}</ref> In 1912, his body was moved by his grandson, the Reverend Lemuel Hiram Ross of the Blount's Creek Primitive Baptist Church, to Oakdale Cemetery in Washington, Beaufort County, North Carolina. At this time, a gravestone was placed, inscribed "Corp[oral] Benj. Ross, [blank] Co., Hadley's Mil[itia]. Rev. War, 1746-1823."<ref name="gravestone-photo" />

The 1912 SAR deposition preserves a chain of oral testimony about the grave: Lemuel Hiram Ross swore that his father, Riley Ross, "showed him the grave of said Benjamin Ross, the same being in the Ross grave yard not far from the town of Edward," and that his grandfather, John Ross, "is buried about one-fourth of a mile from his (John Ross') father's grave."<ref name="sar-app-deposition">North Carolina Society, Sons of the American Revolution, Application for Membership No. 22848, deposition of Lemuel Hiram Ross, sworn March 18, 1912, Beaufort County, North Carolina, before notary R. T. Bonner, reproduced in Brewer, ''Granddaddy was a Patriot'', 15.</ref>

=== Timeline ===
{{Show timeline|person}}

== Research notes ==

=== Disputed origins ===
Benjamin Ross is "widely accepted by reputable Ross researchers" as a son of [[John Ross the Immigrant (c1727-)|John Ross the Immigrant]], but Cathy Brewer, compiler of ''Granddaddy was a Patriot'', disputes this, and proposes [[Mathew Ross (c1757-)|Mathew Ross]] as the sixth emigrating son in his place.{{sfn|Brewer|2022|p=[12]}} Two points of evidence are central to this dispute:

# '''Age.''' The 1774 customs record for John Ross the Immigrant describes his six accompanying sons as aged 5 to 20. Benjamin Ross's gravestone gives a birth year of 1746, which would have made him 28 in 1774 — too old to fit the customs record.{{sfn|Brewer|2022|p=[12]}}
# '''Birthplace.''' Benjamin's own great-grandson, Lemuel Hiram Ross, swore in the 1912 SAR application that Benjamin Ross "was born in Beaufort County, N.C."<ref name="sar-app-p2" /> — that is, in America, not Scotland. If accurate, this alone would rule out Benjamin as one of the six who sailed with John Ross the Immigrant in 1774, regardless of his age.

Weighing against these points, and in favor of the traditional identification, is the strong circumstantial record placing Benjamin repeatedly alongside Elijah and Francis Ross as a neighbor, land-deed witness and chain bearer, and co-defendant in the 1779 Beaufort County case — a pattern of association at least as consistent with a close family relationship as with mere neighborliness.

We do, however, have the family tradition, handed down through both Benjamin's lines and Elijah's lines, “John Ross who came from Scotland in the early
1700s”

== Common discrepancies ==

=== Grandson vs. great-grandson===
''Granddaddy was a Patriot'' describes Lemuel H. Ross, who moved Benjamin's gravestone to Oakdale Cemetery, as Benjamin's "grandson."{{sfn|Brewer|2022|p=[12]}} The 1912 SAR application itself, sworn by that same Lemuel Hiram Ross, documents a lineal descent of Benjamin Ross → son John (Riley) Ross → son Riley Ross (1807–1889) → Lemuel Hiram Ross (b. 1861) — making Lemuel Hiram Ross Benjamin's great-grandson, not his grandson.<ref name="sar-app-p2" /> This article follows the sworn 1912 application as the more precise source. Note also that Lemuel Hiram Ross (b. 1861, surveyor of Edward, N.C.) is a different person from Benjamin's actual son [[Lemuel H. Ross (1783-1836)|Lemeul H. Ross]] (b. 1783); the two are easily confused because of their similar names and are not the same individual.

===Birth year===
Sources give Benjamin's birth year as 1746 (gravestone, per ''Granddaddy was a Patriot'') and what appears to be a year in the late 1730s per the 1912 SAR application (illegible in the surviving photocopy). See [[#Early life|Early life]] above.

== Sources ==
<references />

'''Bibliography'''
* {{cite book |last=Brewer |first=Cathy |title=Granddaddy was a Patriot |title-link=Granddaddy was a Patriot |publisher=Self-published family history |year=2022}}
* {{cite book |last1= Tuten |first1= Samuel Arthur Jr. |author-link1= Samuel Arthur Tuten Jr. (1922-2015) |date= 1997 |title= The Ancestors and The Descendants of George Martin Walker & Elizabeth D. Ross, Beaufort County, North Carolina |title-link= Ancestors and Descendants of Elizabeth D. Ross |publication-place= Kernersville, N.C. }}

{{Disclaimer}}

Benjamin Ross (1736-1823) - Revision history

Redheadkelly at 23:36, 1 September 2026