John Ross the Immigrant (c1727-)
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John Ross | |
|---|---|
| Born | John Ross |
| Residence | Kabel, Farr Parish, Sutherland |
| Emigration | 15 April 1774 |
| Immigration | |
| Children | |
| Family | Rosses of Farr |
| Father | Angus Ross |
John Ross, known within the Ross Surname Project as John Ross the Immigrant, was a farmer from the parish of Farr in Sutherland, Scotland, who emigrated to Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1774 with six children, having been widowed several years earlier. He is traditionally identified as the patriarch of a line of Beaufort County, North Carolina, Ross families whose sons served, and in several cases were tried, during the American Revolutionary War. No documentary proof directly names his children, and the identity of his six emigrating sons is a matter of ongoing research; see Research notes below.
DNA evidence
Y-DNA
As of this writing, no documented direct male-line (father-to-father) descendant of John Ross the Immigrant has taken a Y-DNA test. Consequently, there is currently no genetic evidence either confirming or refuting the traditional identification of his six sons, or connecting this family to any other documented Ross line. A Y-DNA test is underway for a documented descendant of Benjamin Ross (see that article), whose relationship to John Ross the Immigrant is itself disputed; results from that test may eventually provide the first genetic data point for this family, but they cannot by themselves confirm descent from John Ross the Immigrant without a comparison test from a documented descendant of one of his six traditionally accepted sons.
Autosomal DNA
Several descendants have done autosomal tests at FamilyTreeDNA and AncestryDNA. No defining triangulations have been identified. John Ross lived recently enough that autosomal testing could be used to confirm descendant lines. Unfortunately, due to the fact that DNA is diluted with each generations, it is difficult to locate multiple descendants who have inherited the same segment of DNA.
Biography
Early life
John Ross was born about 1727, most likely in Scotland.[1] Granddaddy was a Patriot, written by his descendant Cathy Brewer, recorded his father as Angus Ross, though the identification is not fully settled: more than one Angus Ross of the same era appears in those records, and no primary source located for this article directly names John's father. His mother is not documented.
Emigration to North Carolina
In 1774, still a widower, John Ross boarded the ship Batchelor (also recorded as the "Bachelor of Leith") at Lerwick, bound for Wilmington, North Carolina. British customs officials, required at the time to record passengers leaving Scotland and England for the American colonies, entered him as follows:
“John Boss (Ross), Aged 47, a Widower hath six Children, from 20 to 5 years Old, who emigrate with him, by Trade a Farmer, last at Kabel in the Parish of Farr and County of Sutherland, upon the Estate of Sutherland. Goes to Carolina, because the rent of his Possession was greatly Advanced the price, of Cattle which must pay that Rent reduced more than one half, and bread which they must always buy excessively dear. The evil is the greater that the Estate being parcelled out to different Factors and Tacksmen, these must oppress the subtenants, in order to raise a profit to themselves, particularly on the Article of Cattle, which they never fail to take at their own prices, lately at 20/ or 20 Merks, and seldom or never higher than 30/ tho' the same Cattle have been sold in the Country from 50 to 55 sh. By these means reduced in his circumstances, and encouraged by his Friends already in America, he hopes to live more comfortably in that Country.”[1]
This entry appears to be the only documentary confirmation of John Ross's emigration and is the source of his identification as "the Immigrant." The children's names were not recorded by the customs officials; only their number (six) and the family's origin and destination are given.
Family tradition, independently recorded in the research of two different descendant lines (Iva Ross Lange and Samuel Arthur Tuten Jr.) before either was aware of this customs record, held that a widower named John Ross had left Scotland for the Carolinas with several sons. Lange's later correspondence with a distant relative, LTC Walter K. Ross, connected this family tradition to Whyte's published customs record.[2][3]
No record has been found of John Ross the Immigrant after his ship's arrival at Wilmington. He does not appear to have applied for a Revolutionary War pension or bounty land in his own name, and his ultimate place and date of death are not documented.
Ancestors
| Angus Ross | |||||||||
| John Ross the Immigrant (c1727-) | |||||||||
- John Ross the Immigrant (c1727-)
John Ross's father is recorded as Angus Ross; no further generations are currently documented on either side, and the specific Angus Ross record is not fully disambiguated — three same-named individuals appear in project records for this period, and no primary source located for this article confirms which (if any) is John's father.
Marriage and children
Granddaddy was a Patriot states that John Ross married Katherine McKenzie on 18 November 1757 in Girvan, Ayrshire, Scotland. If we look at marriages recorded in the Old Parish Registers in 1757 we find:
- John Ross married Katharine McKinzie in Glasgow Parish, Lanarkshire, on 30 October 1757[4]
- John Ross in Achenlay matrimonially contracted in Dornoch Parish, Sutherland, to Isobell Mckenzie in Ardallie on 18 November 1757[5]
Marriages were not recorded in Girvan Parish, Ayrshire, until 1783.[6]
It's not clear if there was evidence, at some point, for a marriage between a John Ross and Katherine McKenzie on 18 November 1757 in Girvan, Ayrshire. No citation is given. At the time of his immigration in 1774 John was living in the Parish of Farr and County of Sutherland. Farr was a very large parish in the Highlands. It is on the opposite end of Scotland from both Glasgow and Girvan. We do actually find a marriage on the date given in Granddaddy was a Patriot, 18 November 1757, between John Ross and Isobell Mckenzie. It took place in Dornoch Parish, Sutherland. This is much closer to Farr Parish, but we have no evidence that this John Ross was the same man as the John Ross who immigrated in 1774.
Farr Parish did not record births until 1790 and marriages until 1801, so it's entirely possible that John was married and all his children born in Farr Parish and we have no record of it.[7]
Six children are recorded as having emigrated with John Ross in 1774, aged 5 to 20 at that time. It is believed among Ross researchers, though not documented by name in any primary record, that these were:
- Elijah Ross Sr. (b. abt. 1754)
- John Ross (b. 1757, m. Eleanor Boswell, d. 1835 in Kentucky)
- William Ross Sr. (b. abt. 1757, baptized March 1757)
- Mathew Ross (b. abt. 1757)
- Martin Ross (b. 1762, d. 1815)
- Francis "Frank" Ross (b. Scotland, m. Mary "Ann" Jones 1778, d. abt. 1830)
See Disputed origins below regarding the traditional inclusion of Benjamin Ross in this list and the case for substituting Mathew Ross in his place.
Occupation
Farmer, per his own customs declaration in 1774.[1]
Military
Death & burial
No date, place, or record of burial has been found for John Ross the Immigrant. He is last documented arriving at the port of Wilmington, North Carolina, shortly after 15 April 1774.[1]
Timeline
- circa 1727 - birth of John Ross[1]
- 15 April 1774 - John Boss left the Port of Lerwick, Shetland, aboard the Ship Bachelor of Leith, aged 47, a Widower hath six Children, from 20 to 5 years Old, who emigrate with him, by Trade a Farmer, last at Kabel in the Parish of Farr and County of Sutherland, upon the Estate of Sutherland. Goes to Carolina, because the rent of his Possession was greatly Advanced the price, of Cattle which must pay that Rent reduced more than one half, and bread which they must always buy excessively dear. The evil is the greater that the Estate being parcelled out to different Factors and Tacksmen, these must oppress the subtenants, in order to raise a profit to themselves, particularly on the Article of Cattle, which they never fail to take at their own prices, lately at 20/ or 20 Merks, and seldom or never higher than 30/ tho' the same Cattle have been sold in the Country from 50 to 55 sh. By these means reduced in his circumstances, and encouraged by his Friends already in America, he hopes to live more comfortably in that Country.[1]
- [1]
Research notes
Immigration sources
John Ross is listed several times in Ancestry.com's U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index. This database is a compilation of names & dates listed in other sources. The specific source can be found in the 'Annotation' tab. Most of these sources are simply books, or directories, that contain a one-line description of a person that includes a time & place that they were mentioned in the Americas. They are not necessarily 'Passenger and Immigration Lists'. It's important to note that the column labels 'Arrival year' and 'Arrival place' are, therefore, not accurate. The values in these columns are taken from any number of different types of documents that indicate someone's presence somewhere.
The annotations in the database lead to these resources that mention John Ross. They, themselves are only secondary sources. Any information found in primary sources is discussed above.
Disputed origins
It is "widely accepted by reputable Ross researchers" that John Ross the Immigrant's six sons were Benjamin, Elijah, Francis, William, John, and Martin.[9] Cathy Brewer, compiler of Granddaddy was a Patriot, disputes the inclusion of Benjamin Ross in this group and proposes Mathew Ross in his place, for two reasons documented in that work and corroborated by a primary source located since its publication:
- Age. The 1774 customs record gives the ages of John Ross's six emigrating sons as 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.[10]
- Birthplace. Benjamin Ross's own great-grandson, Lemuel Hiram Ross, swore in his 1912 Sons of the American Revolution application that Benjamin Ross "was born in Beaufort County, N.C." — that is, in America, not Scotland.[11] If accurate, this alone would rule out Benjamin as one of the six sons who sailed from Scotland with John Ross in 1774.
Weighing against a clean substitution of Mathew for Benjamin is the strong circumstantial documentary record tying Benjamin to Elijah and Francis Ross as neighbors, land-deed witnesses, and co-defendants in Beaufort County between 1779 and 1785 (see Benjamin Ross), which is at least consistent with a close family relationship of some kind, whether as brothers or otherwise. Mathew Ross, by contrast, is only sparsely documented and does not appear in the land-deed and court records that place Benjamin, Elijah, and Francis together repeatedly in Beaufort County. No documentary proof currently exists for the parentage of either man. Resolving this question is a primary goal of the Y-DNA testing discussed above.
Common discrepancies
Birth year
John Ross the Immigrant's own birth year is sometimes conflated in secondary compilations with the birth year of his son John Ross, who gave his age as 71 in an 1829 Revolutionary War pension statement (indicating a birth year of 1757–58). John Ross the Immigrant's age of 47 in the 1774 customs record indicates a birth year of about 1727, a full generation earlier.
Spouse and children
Granddaddy was a Patriot states that John Ross married Katherine McKenzie on 18 November 1757 in Girvan, Ayrshire, Scotland. As was covered in the Marriage and children section, there is no record of a marriage in Girvan Parish, Ayrshire on 18 November 1757. We do have a record of a marriage contract between a John Ross and Isobel McKenzie in Dornoch Parish, Sutherland, on 18 November 1757. We know that, in 1774, John was a farmer on the Sutherland Estate in Farr Parish. Dornoch Parish and Farr Parish are both in the Highlands, but there is some distance between them. We have no evidence that John of Farr Parish was the same man that was in Dornoch Parish twenty years earlier.
Farr Parish was not keeping records during the time period that John was marrying and having children.[7]
John's emigration record states that he had with him six children between the ages of 5 and 20. If we look at baptism records in Dornoch Parish during this time period, we find 4 sons born to a John Ross.
- 27 November 1750 - Baptised in Dornoch Parish, Sutherland, Robert lawful son to John Ross in Skibo[12]
- 19 May 1755 - Baptised in Dornoch Parish, Sutherland, Alexander lawful son to John Ross in Achormerly[13]
- 28 March 1757 - Baptised in Dornoch Parish, Sutherland, William son to John Ross in Pronsie[14]
- 18 November 1759 - Baptised in Dornoch Parish, Sutherland, John son to John Ross in Achormachy[15]
We can see several things here. First, if John Ross had married on 18 November 1757, some of his children would have been born to a first wife. Secondly, there appears to have been several different John Rosses marrying and having children in Dornoch Parish during this 20 year period. Unfortunately, mother's names were not included in the baptismal record. These men are clearly listed as living in different areas if Dornoch Parish.
There were also five marriages recorded for men named John Ross during this 20 year period.
- 24 November 1750 to Isobell Ross[16]
- 1 June 1751 to Anna Sutherland[17]
- 8 June 1753 to Helen Munro[18]
- 19 June 1754 to Christian Mckay[19]
- 18 November 1757 to Isobell Mckenzie[5]
So, again, there appears to have been multiple men named John Ross living in Dornoch Parish during the time that John Ross the Immigrant was having his family. There is zero evidence that any of these men was the same man as John Ross the Immigrant.
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Newsome 1934, p. 136.
- ↑ Brewer 2022, pp. [9-11].
- ↑ Whyte 1972, p. 381.
- ↑ Dornoch Parish Registrar General 1783, p. 196.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Dornoch Parish Registrar General 1783, p. 309.
- ↑ Great Britain 1872, p. 86.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Great Britain 1872, p. 6.
- ↑ Whyte 1972 p. 381.
- ↑ Brewer 2022, p. [9].
- ↑ Brewer 2022, p. [12].
- ↑ North Carolina Society, Sons of the American Revolution, Application for Membership No. 22848, Lemuel Hiram Ross, descendant of Corporal Benjamin Ross, approved 15 March 1912, reproduced in Brewer, Granddaddy was a Patriot, 13–17.
- ↑ Dornoch Parish Registrar General 1783, p. 70.
- ↑ Dornoch Parish Registrar General 1783, p. 75.
- ↑ Dornoch Parish Registrar General 1783, p. 80.
- ↑ Dornoch Parish Registrar General 1783, p. 83.
- ↑ Dornoch Parish Registrar General 1783, p. 300.
- ↑ Dornoch Parish Registrar General 1783, p. 301.
- ↑ Dornoch Parish Registrar General 1783, p. 304.
- ↑ Dornoch Parish Registrar General 1783, p. 305.
Bibliography
- Brewer, Cathy (2022). Granddaddy was a Patriot. Self-published family history.
- Dornach Parish; Registrar General (1819). Old Parish Register. ScotlandsPeople. 1. National Records of Scotland.
- Parish. Old Parish Register. ScotlandsPeople. 25. National Records of Scotland.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
- Great Britain (1872). Detailed List of the Old Parochial Registers of Scotland. Edinburgh: Printed by Murray and Gibb for the Registrar General of Births Deaths and Marriages. OCLC 1457239. OL 6923027M.
- Newsome, A. R., ed. (April 1934). "Records of Emigrants from Scotland". The North Carolina Historical Review. Records of Emigrants from England and Scotland to North Carolina, 1774-1775. 11 (2). JSTOR 23514858.CS1 maint: date and year (link)
- Whyte, Donald (1972). A Dictionary of Scottish Emigrants to the U.S.A.. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-8063-4817-9. OCLC 571637385.
Disclaimer
It is admittedly impossible that we have been able to evaluate every piece of evidence available for every person included on this site. What you often find on the internet, though, are trees with no sources attached at all. Many of these trees were created pre-internet & have been passed down, uploaded & copied to multiple sites without details of the original sources they were based on. Now, with the advent of DNA testing, we're finding that they don't always match up with what the DNA is telling us. In order to reevaluate these trees in conjunction with the DNA evidence, we need to have available the sources that they might've originally been based on. This site, then, is intended as a repository for these sources and an opportunity to share what the DNA is telling us so that we can work collectively to correct these trees. Over time, more of the old records will be able to be combed through, and the sources cited here will grow.