]> 2026-08-14T23:08:54+00:00 Source:Letter, Rev. George Ross autobiography (Rossiana) 3100 en Rossiana pp. 156-158 correspondence 1908 1752 George Ross John Ross Andrew Ross Lord of May Mr. Meldrum Thomas McKenzie document New Castle, Delaware Balblair, Tain Firth of Moray Firth of Dornoch Tarbatness Edinburgh London 1908

2417941.5

documents 2026-03-31T03:59:03Z

2461130.6660069

Letter 1752 {{{from}}} 3100 1 plainlist 2 [[:Source:Letter, Rev. George Ross autobiography (Rossiana)]] [[Has person subject::+]] Letter 1752 {{{from}}}# QUERY48eec38f519342f198b6a804802c91fc 3100 1 plainlist 2 [[:Source:Letter, Rev. George Ross autobiography (Rossiana)]] [[Has place subject::+]] Letter 1752 {{{from}}}# QUERY8314b37a5c75c74c9ba72dd9b4e4f91d 3100 1 plainlist 2 [[:Source:Letter, Rev. George Ross autobiography (Rossiana)]] [[Has related document::+]] Letter 1752 {{{from}}}# QUERY0e0b76cbeb06c019fc84b725af8d6862 3100 1 plainlist 2 [[:Source:Letter, Rev. George Ross autobiography (Rossiana)]] [[Has related topic::+]] Letter 1752 {{{from}}}# QUERY482ff5a5b6da184d444b376c88959325 3100 1 plainlist 2 [[:Source:Letter, Rev. George Ross autobiography (Rossiana)]] [[Has name::+]] Letter 1752 {{{from}}}# QUERY4b396fe3273977438a2b109144f2c5fc 3100 1 plainlist 2 [[:Source:Letter, Rev. George Ross autobiography (Rossiana)]] [[Has place::+]] Letter 1752 {{{from}}}# QUERY89b78dfcd696fee9d6ecd4ad3b669e32 3100 0 plainlist 2 [[:+]] [[:Rossiana]] Letter 1752 {{{from}}}# QUERY781579616d263c8ba3909874e530212f 3100 1 plainlist 2 [[-Has subobject::Source:Letter, Rev. George Ross autobiography (Rossiana)]] Letter 1752 {{{from}}}# QUERYd6a2d7fa9842c80c57a628c15a6a0d3e 3100 0 plainlist 1 [[:Source:Letter, Rev. George Ross autobiography (Rossiana)]] Letter 1752 {{{from}}}# QUERY2f26cfa3057de91542535b33826b452c 3100 0 plainlist 1 [[:Source:Letter, Rev. George Ross autobiography (Rossiana)]] Letter 1752 {{{from}}}# QUERY8e95706f2e7914981efea3f1af1a3a3f 3100 [2,"smw-datavalue-wikipage-property-invalid-title","Has letter","My very good son \u2014 You have, inclosed, an answer to your repeated request, wherein you may observe the easy and regular steps [by which] Providence conducted me to settle in this country. If my posterity contract'\"`UNIQ--ref-00001467-QINU`\"' any blemish, it must be from themselves ; no original gulf 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 toward 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 you, 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,\n'\"`UNIQ--templatestyles-00001468-QINU`\"'George Ross.\n\n'\"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000146A-QINU`\"'John Ross, Esquire.\n\n'\"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000146B-QINU`\"'Autobiography.\n\nGeorge Ross, Rector [as he is styled in his presentation], of the Church in New Castle, was second son that came to man's estate of David Ross, of Balblair, a gentleman of moderate fortune, but of great integrity, born in the north of Scotland, in the Shire of Ross, in the Parish of Tain'\"`UNIQ--ref-0000146D-QINU`\"' [near the town of Tain], about four or five miles [from that part of] the shire between two firths, the one the Firth of Murray, and the other the Firth of Dornoch. The land lying between the two firths terminates in a noted point called Tarbatness.\n\nHe was put to school very early, and made some progress in the Latin tongue under the care of the schoolmaster [in Tain], and, being of a promising genius, his father asked him, as they were going to a farm a little distance from home: \u201cWhat would he be?\u201d To which he answered: \u201cA scholar,\u201d young as he was, ''credonis peratione''. \u201cA scholar you shall be,\u201d replied his father. When he was about fourteen years of age his eldest brother Andrew requested his father to send him to him at Edinburgh. 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 \u2014 to his great disappointment, not through want of affection to his brother \u2014 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.\n\nHe took his degree of master of arts in Edinburgh in 1700. With this feather in his cap he returned home and became tutor to the Lord of May, his son, for which [tutorship] he was allowed ten pounds sterling per annum \u2014 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] the [last time he ever saw him], not without some coolness on the son's side, for that the father did not add weight enough to his blessing, as the son expected \u2014 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, helas ! the closer he applied himself to reading,'\"`UNIQ--ref-0000146E-QINU`\"' the stronger his aversion grew to the party then uppermost in Scotland. He observed the leading men of that side to be some conscientious and hypocritical. He could not digest the ministers' odd gestures, grimaces, dry mouths and screwed faces in their pulpits. He could not comply with their practices even to save him from want of bread. Their \u201chorrible ''decretum'' [as Calvin, the author of it, calls it] of reprobation,\u201d gave him a surfeit of their principles, and as to their church government, he was satisfied it was a spurious brat [the genuine product of Core's rebellion] of proud Presbyters [revolting] against their lawful bishops.\n\nWhile he passed among the students for an orthodox brother, he was diligently informing himself of the principles of the Church of England, which [he] approved of so well that he was resolved, as soon as he could find encouragement, to set out for England. Mr. Thomas McKenzie,'\"`UNIQ--ref-00001472-QINU`\"' Chaplain to the Earl of Cromarty, Secretary of State for Scotland, was then at London, to whom he wrote on this subject. Mr. McKenzie [being of the same way of thinking, answered that] he might depend upon [being provided for] during the war, \u201cthe least,\u201d says he, \u201cyou can expect.\u201d Mr. McKenzie's letter he communicated to his brother, who, upon mature deliberation with some of the leading men of the Episcopal party in Scotland, procured him a bill of exchange for \u00a318 11s. 9d. sterling. Thus strengthened and provided, and honored with a recommendation from the Bishop of Edinburgh, then ousted by the revolution, he bid adieu to his native country [after suffering much in the flesh by college diet among a set of canting Pharisees] and went to London, who received him very kindly and ordered him to attend the next ordination, at which he and his friend, McKenzie, with several other candidates, were put in deacon's orders. This happened nine days after his arrival at London, which proved no small mortification to the [dominant] party in Edinburgh and triumph to those of the contrary party.\n\nHe was soon promoted to a chaplaincy of eighty pounds sterling [per annum] on board a man-of-war. But the captain, being a haughty fellow, he soon grew sick of that station, and resolved to quit it as soon as he could be provided for. Returning to London, he found his friend McKenzie making application to the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, then newly incorporated, for a mission. He was easily prevailed [upon] to join him in so commendable a design. Upon the Society's being satisfied, after full trial of their character and abilities, they were both admitted missionaries : McKenzie for Staten Island, and Ross for New Castle, who arrived there in 1703 [and continued], save for a few years, when he removed for his health's sake, till this time, being in his seventy-third year. How he behaved is known from the constant regard [of the Society for him].\n\n'\"`UNIQ--templatestyles-00001473-QINU`\"'George Ross.'\"`UNIQ--ref-00001474-QINU`\"'"] Letter 1752 {{{from}}}# ERR540a777b2a55f9384c55220a80e22f03 3100 [2,"smw-datavalue-wikipage-property-invalid-title","Has citation sort","Read|Reid|1908"] Letter 1752 {{{from}}}# ERR6b1ff5918494873b0c057b0d71b84dae 3100 [[#CITEREFReadReid1908|Read & Reid 1908]], pp. [https://archive.org/details/rossianapapersdo01read/page/156/mode/1up 156-158]. Rossiana pp. 156-158 letter 0 1908 1908

2417941.5

Timeline 1908 - [[Harmon Pumpelly Read (1860-1925)|Harmon Pumpelly Read]] published in ''[[Rossiana]]'' a version of the autobiography of [[George Ross of New Castle (1679-1753)|Rev. George Ross]] that was originally published by [[William Thompson Read, son of Hon. George Read (1792-1873)|William Thompson Read]] in 1870 Letter 1752 {{{from}}}#Main Source:Letter, Rev. George Ross autobiography (Life and Correspondence) 3100 en Letter 1752 {{{from}}} Source:Colonial Families (George Ross autobiography) 3100 en Colonial Families (George Ross autobiography) Source:Hooker Genealogy (Rev. George Aeneas Ross) 3100 en Hooker Genealogy (Rev. George Aeneas Ross) Has related document 102 en Has related document