Source:Colonial Families (George Ross autobiography)

"Grubb" Colonial Families of Philadelphia (vol. 2)

Rev. George Ross, second son of David Ross, of Balblair, as stated by himself in a brief autobiography written for his son, John Ross, Esq., of Philadelphia, was “born in the North of Scotland in the Shire of Ross in the Parish of Fern, about four or five miles from the Shire (town) between two Friths, one the Frith of Murray, the other the Frith of Dornoch. The land lying between the two Friths terminates in the noted point called Tarbat Ness.” “He was put to school very early and made some progress in the Latin tongue under the care of the schoolmaster, and being a promising genius his father asked him, as they were going to a farm a little distance from home, ‘What would he be?’ to which he answered, ‘A Scholar.’ Young as he was crede inspiratione. ‘A scholar you shall be,’ replied the father.” Of this father, David Ross, of Balblair, the son writes, “he was a gentleman of moderate fortune, but of great integrity.” And to his son in the note that accompanied the autobiography he writes :

“If my posterity contract any blemish, it must be from themselves : No original guilt can be imputed to them. It is well the rise of many families in these parts, like the head of the Nile, is unknown, and their glory consists in their obscurity. It is your satisfaction that it is otherwise with you : Your escutcheon is without blot or stain. Contend, therefore for the honor of your family by a kind and generous behavior towards the several branches of it, relieve them from contempt by your beneficence, and put them above the world by exercising that ability towards them which God has blessed you with, which, if you do, God will gather, in his good time, to your honest and worthy progenitors. I have a quick sense of your filial favors, and you may be assured, dear son, that I am your most obliged and affectionate father.
“To John Ross, Esquire.

“George Ross.”

The autobiography continues:

“When he was about fourteen years of age, his eldest brother Andrew, requested his father to send him to him at Edinburg. Accordingly he was sent, but for the first twelve months little to his advantage, for instead of advancing him in his learning, he made him attend his office, and write from morning till night,—often without his dinner,—to his great disappointment; not through want of affection to his brother, but hurry of business and much company. His father, being informed of this low or no education ordered him to be put to school and fitted for the University. Andrew lost his slave, and George was once more put in the way of being a scholar.

“He took his degree of Master of Arts, in Edinburgh, in 1700, and with this feather in his cap returned home, and became tutor to the son of Lord of May, for which he was allowed ten pound sterling per annum,—great wages in that part of the world, and at that time of day.

“Having some cash of his own, and somewhat anxious to see Edinburgh again, and taking leave of his father, not without some coolness on the son's side, for that his father did not add weight enough to his blessing as the son expected,—and even at that time he was not without the thought of foreign countries,—I say, taking leave of his father, he proceeded on his journey to Edinburgh, and there entered his name among the students of divinity; worthy Mr. Meldrum being the professor.

“There was great hope of seeing worthy Mr. George mount the Presbyterian pulpit, but, Alas ! the closer he applied himself to reading the stronger his aversion grew to the party then uppermost in Scotland, he observed the leading men of that side to be sour, censorious and hypocritical.

“The young student decided to attach himself to the Church of England and after a diligent study of its principles, wrote to Aeneas McKensie, Chaplain to the Earl of Cromarty, Secretary of State for Scotland, then at London, inquiring as to his prospectes for advancement in England, and receiving an encouraging reply, with the assistance of his brother and the leading men of the Episcopal party in Scotland was enable to make his way to London with a recommendation from the Bishop of Edinburgh. On his arrival he presented himself to Bishop of London, who received him very kindly, and ordered him to attend the next ordination, at which he and his friend McKenzie, with several others, were put in Deacon's orders, nine days after his arrival in London. He was soon promoted to a chaplaincy on board a man-of-war, at a salary of eighty pounds sterling per annum; but not liking the captain he returned to London, and found his friend McKensie making application to the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign parts, then newly incorporated, for a mission abroad. Mr. Ross was easily persuaded to join with him in the application, and their applications resulted in both being appointed missionaries, McKensie to Slatan, in Ireland, and Ross to New Castle on the Delaware, in America.

People pages	• George Ross of New Castle (1679-1753) • Ross of New Castle
Related documents	• Letter, Rev. George Ross autobiography (Life and Correspondence) • Letter, Rev. George Ross autobiography (Life of the Reverend) • Letter, Rev. George Ross autobiography (Rossiana)

Timeline

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• 1911 - An abridged version of the brief autobiography of Rev. George Ross, originally published by William Thompson Read in 1870, was first published in America
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Discussion

This is a much abridged version of the letter that was originally published by William Thompson Read in 1870. William was the great-grandson of Rev. George Ross and the man who originally copied the letter from a manuscript. He states in the Life and Correspondence of George Read that, “The following autobiography of the Reverend George Ross, with the letter prefixed to it, was copied by the author, August, 1835, from an ancient manuscript (itself a copy) in the possession of his brother, George Read, Junior, the words contained between hooks or brackets—thus, [ ]—having been supplied by him as suggested by the context.”

Source citation

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* {{Colonial families full|volume=2}}

Sources

• Jordan, John Woolf, ed. (1911). Colonial Families of Philadelphia. 2. New York: Lewis Pub. Co.
• Read, William Thompson (1870). Life and correspondence of George Read, a signer of the Declaration of Independence : with notices of some of his contemporaries. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co. OCLC 423590240. OL 6566917M.