Toggle menu
Toggle preferences menu
Toggle personal menu
Not logged in
Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits.

James Ross of Frederick County (1698-1751)

Immigrant to Frederick County, Virginia
Revision as of 02:55, 22 August 2026 by Redheadkelly (talk | contribs) (Text replacement - "Kilravock R1b-L21 text" to "R Family 01 R1b-L21 text")
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)


James Ross

Born1698
DiedMarch 27, 1751 (aged 53)
Y-DNAR Haplogroup - Family 01
Spouse(s)Catherine McCullough (c1710-c1763)
Children
FamilyRosses of Frederick County, Virginia
FatherFrancis Ross of Frederick County (1665-1751){{#genealogy:parent|Francis Ross of Frederick County (1665-1751)}}
Public trees (may need correction)
WikiTreeROSS-1912
FamilySearchGHZ4-895

James Ross (1698 Template:Ndash 27 March 1751) was an early settler of Frederick County, Virginia, where in 1749 he was granted two adjoining tracts of land on the Wappacomo, or Great South Branch of the Potomac River. He is generally regarded, though without documentary confirmation, as a son of Francis Ross.

DNA evidence

Y-DNA

Six documented male-line descendants of James Ross have taken Y-DNA tests, and all six results agree closely with one another, as expected for documented cousins. They fall into R Haplogroup - Family 01. These project participants descend through tree of James's sons.

1-James Ross b. 1698, Ireland, d. 27 Mar 1751, Frederick County, Virginia
...2-John McCullough Ross I b. Feb 1730/31, Lancaster, South Carolina, d. 1809, Dickson, Dickson, Tennessee
......3-George Ross b. 15 Jul 1760, the South branch of the Potomac River, Virginia, d. 21 Aug 1846, Hardin, Tennessee, Bur. Shiloh National Cemetery, Shiloh, Hardin, Tennessee
...2-Jimmy Ross b. 1744, d. 22 May 1826, Bur. Bethesda Presbyterian Church Cemetery, York, York County, South Carolina
......3-Arthur Erwin Ross b. 1771, York County, South Carolina
...2-William Ross b. Abt 1746, Hampshire County, Virginia, d. 1 Feb 1784
......3-Francis William Ross b. 12 Dec 1779, York County, South Carolina, d. Abt 1869, Attala County, Mississippi

James's own father is not documented with certainty in the surviving Virginia records; he is generally assumed to be a son of Francis Ross of Frederick County, but this remains unconfirmed. This Y-DNA result is the first real evidence bearing on where the family originated before Virginia: it is a close genetic match to the Ross Surname Project's only Big Y-tested descendant of Hugh Rose, 9th of Kilravock (via Albert John Ross), suggesting James's own paternal line connects, at some point within the last few hundred years, to this same Scottish Kilravock family. This is a suggestive finding rather than a proven one – it points toward a likely family of origin without identifying a specific ancestor or generation, and testing from other, independent branches of James's own descendants would help narrow this down further.

This Kilravock group is descended from R1b-L21, known as the Atlantic Celtic branch. These peoples had reached what is now Germany by 2500 BCE and had crossed over to Britain by about by 2100 BCE.[1] This is not to say that the Kilravock line made its way to Britain 4,000 years ago and remained there. It's entirely possible that there were additional migrations that placed them back in the area of Normandy at the time of the Conquest as is postulated by later historians. While Y-DNA testing has not yet refuted this theory, it also has not confirmed it. More testing is needed.

Biography

Early life

No primary record of James Ross's birth or early life in Ireland has yet been identified.

Expanded description

Loading map...

James Ross's landholdings lay on the Wappacomo, or Great South Branch of the Potomac River, in what was then Frederick County, Virginia, in the vicinity of present-day Romney, Hampshire County, West Virginia.

Ancestors

Ancestors & Descendants
Francis Ross of Frederick County (1665-1751)
James Ross of Frederick County (1698-1751)

Marriage and children

James Ross married Catherine McCullough, 1728Template:Ndash1730, in South Carolina.

His documented children were:

Occupation

James Ross received two grants of land on the Wappacomo, or Great South Branch of the Potomac, in Frederick County, Virginia, from the Northern Neck Land Office. On 5 May 1749 he was granted 236 acres, Lot No. 46.[2] On 11 August 1749 he received a second, adjoining tract of 400 acres, Lot No. 45.[3]

Military

Death & burial

James Ross died 27 March 1751 in Frederick County, Virginia.

Timeline

Research notes

Disputed origins

Common discrepancies

Sources

  1. ↑ "Haplogroup R1b (Y-DNA)". Eupedia. May 9, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2026.
  2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Northern Neck Grants G p. 296
  3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Northern Neck Grants G p. 265

Bibliography

  • Northern Neck Grants G. Virginia Land Office, Northern Neck Grants. Richmond, Virginia: Library of Virginia.

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.