Redheadkelly at 01:38, 30 August 2026

2026-08-30T01:38:31Z

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{{SHORTDESC:Landowner of Rocky River, North Carolina, Montgomery and Stewart County, Tennessee}}
{{Infobox Ross ancestor
| given_name = William
| middle_name = 
| surname = Ross
| surname_prefix = 
| pre-nominals = 
| post-nominals = Jr.
| title_type = informal
| title_ordinal = 
| title_role = 
| title_particle = of
| title_object = Rocky River
| honorific_suffix = 
| date_format = mdy
| portrait = 
| landscape = 
| alt = 
| other_image = 
| birth_date_range_end = 1 Nov 1772
| baptized = 
| death_date_range_begin = 2 September 1829
| flourished_begin = 
| flourished_end = 
| burial_place = 
| gravestone = 
| residence = Cabarrus County, North Carolina;Montgomery County, Tennessee;Stewart County, Tennessee;Henry County, Tennessee
| years_active_beg = 
| years_active_end = 
| organization = 
| title = 
| height = 
| weight = 
| father = William Ross Sr. of Rocky River
| mother = Elizabeth Unknown
| spouses = 
| children = 
| family = Rosses of Rocky River
| immigration_date = 
| immigration_place = 
| sex_chromosomes = XY
| y_matched_group = 
| familysearch = 
| wikitree = Ross-30536
| rin = 48376
}}

'''William Ross Jr.''' (before 1 November 1772 – after 1829) was a son of [[William Ross Sr. of Rocky River|William Ross Sr.]], documented in a pair of 1793 Cabarrus County, North Carolina land deeds involving a 662-acre tract on Rocky River, and, under the identification discussed below, in a substantial series of Montgomery and Stewart County, Tennessee records between 1800 and 1829, after which he is recorded as living in Henry County, Tennessee. This article combines what were, until recently, two separate wiki articles; see [[#Identification with the Rocky River grantee|Identification with the Rocky River grantee]] below.

== DNA evidence ==

=== Y-DNA ===
No documented direct male-line descendant of this William Ross Jr. has been identified for Y-DNA testing purposes as of this writing.

=== Autosomal DNA ===


== Biography ==

=== Early life ===
No birth record has been located for William Ross Jr. His birth is estimated as before 1 November 1772, on the assumption that he was of legal age (21) by the date he himself executed a deed as grantor (see below).<ref name="cabarrus8-219" />

=== Cabarrus County, North Carolina, land records, 1793 ===
He is first documented on 19 April 1793, when Daniel Bean of Cabarrus County deeded him ("William Ross, Junior") a 662-acre tract on Rocky River, one of four tracts conveyed in that transaction; the deed was witnessed by David McKinley and William Ross [Sr.]<ref name="Cabarrus Co. bk. 1 p. 38" /> On 1 November 1793, "William Ross, Junior" conveyed the same tract to Daniel Boger.<ref name="cabarrus8-219">Cabarrus County, North Carolina Deed Book 8, p. 219 (1 November 1793).</ref>

=== Montgomery County, Tennessee, tax list, 1800 ===
A William Ross Jr. next appears on the 1800 Montgomery County, Tennessee tax list, taxed as a single white poll by Charles Stewart in Capt. Charles Stewart's Company — the same list on which a William Ross Sr., taxed for 1,116 acres and four enslaved persons, also appears.<ref name="1800 Tax List, Montgomery County, Tennessee p. 9" /> This is seven years after his last documented North Carolina appearance; see [[#Identification with the Rocky River grantee|Identification with the Rocky River grantee]] below.

=== Montgomery and Stewart County, Tennessee, records, 1805–1829 ===
On 17 February 1805, his father William Ross Sr., of Montgomery County, Tennessee, granted him a tract of land on the Little West Fork of the Red River, beginning at Joshua Ross's southeast corner, witnessed by Glidwell Killebrew and David Enloe.<ref name="1805deed">Montgomery County, Tennessee Deed Book D, pp. 187–188 (17 February 1805).</ref><ref name="mtgyco-deeds4">Don Simmons and Laura Willis, ''Montgomery County, Tennessee Deeds Volume 4, 1805–1809'' (Simmons Historical Publications, Melber, Kentucky, 1996), pp. 2, 28.</ref>

On 7 March 1807, William Ross Jr. signed a bond to his father in the sum of $2,000, conditioned on the understanding that if he ever made a claim against his father's estate, he would first pay $1,000 with interest before drawing his equal share as a child.<ref name="1807bond">Montgomery County, Tennessee Will Record Book A, p. 450 (7 March 1807).</ref><ref name="willis1805-1814">Laura Willis, ''Montgomery County, Tennessee Wills and Administrations Volume Two, 1805–1814'' (Simmons Historical Publications, Melber, Kentucky, 1995), p. 41.</ref>

On 12 March 1807, William Ross Jr., of Montgomery County, sold William E. Williams a 316-acre tract on the Little West Fork of Red River, beginning at Joshua Ross's southeast corner, for $700, witnessed by Samuel Craft, James Lockert, and John Shelby.<ref name="1807sale">Montgomery County, Tennessee Deed Book D, p. 313 (12 March 1807).</ref><ref name="mtgyco-deeds4" />

On 22 June 1812, in Stewart County, Tennessee, William Ross and Elijah Scruggs witnessed a deed of Thomas Ross to Samuel Ross for 90 acres on the Hays Fork of the Saline.<ref name="1812witness">Stewart County, Tennessee Deed Book D, pp. 296–298 (22 June 1812); Mrs. John Trotwood Moore, ''Tennessee Records of Stewart County Deed Record Book Vol. 4, 1810–1813'' (Works Progress Administration, 1939), p. 71.</ref>

At the Montgomery County Court session of 24 October 1816, a deed of conveyance from William Ross Jr. to Daniel Henderson for 60 acres was proven on the oath of a witness, John Henderson, who also testified that the deed's other witness, Charles Ross, was by then living outside the state.<ref name="1816deed">Montgomery County, Tennessee County Court Minutes, Volume 6, p. 116 (24 October 1816); ''Transcriptions of the County Archives of Tennessee No. 63, Montgomery County (Clarksville), County Court Minutes Volume 7, 1816–1817'' (Tennessee Historical Records Survey, Works Progress Administration, 1940), p. 62.</ref>

On 2 September 1829, William Ross, by then living in Henry County, Tennessee, sold his rights as heir to his late father's Green Tree Grove property to James Walker of Christian County, Kentucky; the deed was proven in court during the February 1831 term in Stewart County.<ref name="1829deed">Stewart County, Tennessee Deed Book 9 (December 1829 – November 1832), pp. 239–240 (2 September 1829, proven February 1831); "Stewart County, Tennessee Deeds, Direct (Grantor Index)," online at USGenWeb.org (tngenweb.org/stewart/deed/TNStewartGrantorIndex.htm).</ref>

=== Map ===
<div class="leafletmap">{{#display_map: layers=Thunderforest.Pioneer|service=leaflet|
35.1500,-80.5500~Land transactions, Rocky River, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, 1793;
36.5290,-87.3595~Land transactions, Montgomery County, Tennessee, 1800-1816;
36.4870,-87.3595~Stewart County, Tennessee, 1812-1829
}}</div>

=== Ancestors ===
{{Ancestors & descendants chart
|2=William Ross Sr. of Rocky River
|3=Elizabeth Unknown
|descendants=
*'''William Ross Jr.'''
}}
No source located for this article documents any marriage or children for William Ross Jr.

=== Marriage and children ===


=== Occupation ===


=== Military ===


=== Death & burial ===
No death or burial record has been found for William Ross Jr. He is last documented alive on 2 September 1829, in Henry County, Tennessee.<ref name="1829deed" />

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

== Research notes ==

=== Identification with the Rocky River grantee ===
The 1800 Montgomery County, Tennessee tax list shows a William Ross Sr. and a William Ross Jr. established together in Tennessee, only seven years after the Rocky River father and son's last joint appearance in the Cabarrus County record (the 19 April 1793 deed from Daniel Bean, witnessed by William Ross Sr. and made out to "William Ross, Junior").<ref name="1800 Tax List, Montgomery County, Tennessee p. 9" /><ref name="Cabarrus Co. bk. 1 p. 38" /> No single document states outright that this is the same William Ross Jr., but given that his father's identification with the Rocky River grantee is now treated as established, the same reasoning extends naturally to the son: a father-and-son pair disappears from the North Carolina record in 1793 and a father-and-son pair of the same names appears together in the Tennessee record in 1800, and the son continues to be documented there, alongside and in relation to the same father, through 1829.

See [[William Ross Sr. of Rocky River#Identification with the Rocky River grantee|William Ross Sr. of Rocky River]] for the full evidentiary discussion.

== Common discrepancies ==
* The "Stewart County, Tennessee Deeds, Direct (Grantor Index)" entry for the 2 September 1829 deed labels the grantor "Ross, William Sr.," while the deed itself and the Montgomery/Stewart County record otherwise identify him throughout as William Ross Jr., son and heir of William Ross Sr.<ref name="1829deed" /> This appears to be an error in the index rather than a change in his own generational identifier.

== Sources ==
<references />

== Acknowledgements ==
* Includes extensive research shared by [https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Franklin-1969 Lisa Franklin]. Lisa is offering to [https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ross-30035 cover the costs] for Y-DNA testing for a descendant of William Ross of Stewart County.

== Further reading ==


== External links ==


{{Disclaimer}}

William Ross Jr. of Rocky River - Revision history

Redheadkelly at 01:38, 30 August 2026