Re:
Corrections Request to
Patriots George Ross, Esq. (1730-1779) and
Col.
James Ross (1753-1808) via Rebecca Ross and Mary Ann Ross
Dear Hazel:
In
April of this year my cousin Becky Barefoot and I had the opportunity to meet
and discuss with you the errors as found in the lineage of our distant
grandmother, Rebecca (Ross) Barefoot.
Approved DAR membership applications, both recent and from years back,
have implied that Rebecca Ross was the daughter of Col. James Ross of
Lancaster, PA, who in turn was the son of George Ross, Esq., (1730-1779) one of
the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
During the past year research has indicated that this lineage link of
Rebecca to James is in error.
It
has been documented by many sources that the above referenced Col. James Ross
of Lancaster had four children only: George, James, Catherine and Maria….
We
feel preponderance of the evidence in hand shows our Rebecca Ross to be one of four
children, and that their parents were James and Ruth (Robison/Robinson) Ross of
Morgantown, Caernarvon Twp., Berks Co., PA.
The marriage record of James Ross and Ruth Robinson is found in the St.
James Episcopal Church in Lancaster City, Lancaster, PA. They married 10 December 1767. In May 1768 Ruth’s father, William
Robison/Robinson, died, and in his will left 45 acres of land in Morgantown,
Caernarvon Twp., Berks Co., PA to his daughter, Ruth Ross. Ruth and James farmed the land and were on
the tax duplicates for this location from 1770-1778. The following children were born: Rebecca, b.
22 Dec 1768; Margaret b. ca 1770; William b. 14 Oct 1772, and Mary Ann b. 11
Jun 1776. By at least 1777 this James
Ross was involved in the Revolution as evidenced by records of his oath of
allegiance and as one of two court-martial men in the 5th Battalion,
Southern Section, 8th Company, Caernarvon Twp., Berks Co. (source
Pennsylvania Archives). His commander
was Capt. David Morgan. By April 1779
James Ross was dead as evidenced by intestate papers on file in Berks Co.,
PA. While it’s possible that his death
was war-related (no grave for James has been found at this point), we have been
unable to determine what his Battalion would have been doing during this time
frame. There was an additional
accounting of the estate of James Ross in 1798 which shows the following: “The accountants charge themselves with the
balance specified in their first account being $1298.10.11 in continental money
exchange at 75 for one, equal to $17.6.2 ½, with a balance due the accountants
of $6.16.2 ½.” Other researchers
familiar with depreciation pay indicate that this entry reflects the exchange
of continental money or scrip paid for service in the Revolution. There is no widow’s pension file for our
James Ross, and his estate does not reference children by name….While we were
hoping to find guardianship papers for James’ minor children (a procedure
common for the times to protect minor children who were left fatherless) , we
were disappointed that there were none.
Perhaps this was due to Ruth’s brother John Robinson being named
co-administrator of James Ross’ estate, or the fact that Ruth appeared to have
been more than capable of providing for her children, as evidenced by later tax
lists. She never remarried. The Berks courthouse does not have a file on
the estate of Ruth Robinson Ross (died 1815), which assuredly would have listed
her children and possibly their respective spouses.
Copies
of pages out of the Bible owned by Rebecca Ross show her marriage to Benjamin
Barefoot in 1787 and the subsequent births of their five children. Baptism records for their three middle
children were located at St. Gabriel’s Church in Berks Co., but an examination
of the records show that the baptisms actually occurred at St. Thomas Episcopal
Church in Morgantown, PA. Further
examination of St. Thomas Church records show that two of Rebecca’s siblings
were buried in its cemetery years later: William Ross, who died in 1818, and
Mary Ann (Ross) Brinley, who died in 1834.
We
feel the absence of any document explicitly naming James and Ruth as the
parents of our Rebecca and the others can be overcome by facts that place these
four Ross children right in Morgantown and its environs during most of their
lives, and that James and Ruth Ross were the only people carrying the Ross
surname in that location during this time frame. During the years 1779-92 the widow Ruth Ross
is in the tax records in Caernarvon Twp., Berks Co., and in 1794-99, William
Ross takes Ruth’s place on the Caernarvon Twp. tax duplicates as head of
household. We had been unable to locate
the whereabouts of our Rebecca Barefoot and her children in 1800 as her husband
Benjamin Barefoot was on the 1800 census in Fayette Co., by himself… it is
probable that Rebecca and her children were indeed living with family in 1800:
William Ross has the following people in his household at the time of the
census:
2 males under 10 (to be precise, this would need to be 3 boys
under 10 to account for ALL the Barefoot boys, but perhaps 2-year-old Job
wasn’t obvious to the enumerator)
1
male 10-16 (James Barefoot, age 12)
1
male 26-45 (William Ross, age 28)
1
female under 10 (Isabella Barefoot, age 5)
1
female 16-26 (Mary Ann Ross, age 24)
1
female 26-45 (Rebecca Ross Barefoot, age 31)
1
female over 45 (Ruth Robinson Ross)
Both
William and Mary Ann Ross were still unmarried at this time, so the younger
children could not have been theirs. We
know Rebecca and Benjamin (or at the very least, Rebecca and the children) were
in the Morgantown area in 1797 as per the baptism records mentioned above. A search of other family members did not turn
up anyone else who would have had the children referenced in those categories.
In
1809 Rebecca Ross Barefoot’s name appears on the payroll ledger at Joanna
Furnace which was an iron works in Berks Co., not far from Morgantown. In 1810 the Caernarvon Twp. census shows
Rebecca Barefoot as head of a household surrounded by family, as evidenced by
the order of households on that census:
John Brindle (a variation of the spelling – this is Mary Ann Ross’
family), and two doors down, William Robinson (possibly a relative but not
proven at this point).
In
speaking with Robert Brinley (a descendant of Mary Ann Ross and author of “The
Brinleys in PA” book, which is on file at the DAR Library) about his Ross
relatives, he knew nothing other than the father of his Mary Ann Ross served
under a Captain Morgan in the Revolutionary War. The above referenced James Ross who died in
1779 did just that.
The
primary proof in this file came from William Ross’ estate. William had moved to Uwchlan Twp., Chester
Co. and died there in 1818. His estate
papers include a request to partition his real estate holdings as he and his
wife were childless. The petition…states
that William Ross was survived by three sisters: Mary Ann Brinley, Margaret
Wells and Rebecca Barefoot.
In
summary, we believe we have conclusively proven that Rebecca Ross was the
daughter of James Ross of Berks Co., not James Ross of Lancaster Co. While both men were patriots named James
Ross, it is our honor to request that our ancestor be linked to her real
family…
Very sincerely yours,
Sharon Sheldon
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