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Early Ross Family History
by
Leslie W. (Bill) Ross
21 June 1988
From Scotland to New Haven Colony ca. 1650 to White Hall, Illinois 1843.
George Ross was taken prisoner by Parliamentary forces (led by Oliver Cromwell) at either the Battle of Dunbar (Dunbar, Scotland) 3 September 1650 or at the Battle of Worchester (Worchester, England) 3 September 1651, he was sold and deported aboard one of two ships, the John and Sarah of London bound for New England (Boston) with prisoners from the Battle of Worchester and is said to have left the Downes on 8 December 1651, arriving in Boston before 24 February 1652 or the Unity which left England in November 1650 with prisoners from the Battle of Dunbar arriving in New England early in 1651, no doubt. The prisoners were sold as indentured servants for about 30 pounds each, the average passage then being about 5 pounds a handsome profit was cleared. George married Constance Little at New Haven on 7 December 1658, and he took the oath of Fidelity May 1660. George and Constance moved to Elizabethtown from New Haven Colony about 1670, he became a Lieutenant in the local Militia 3 December 1683 and one of the Judges of Small Cases 1 May 1686. He was also a Deacon of the Presbyterian Church. George Ross died in January 1705 at Elizabethtown, New Jersey.
George and Constance had five children (John, George, Daniel, Elizabeth, and Hanna). John was born 23 February 1660 married Abigail (Alling) and died 9 December 1702. George was baptized in May 1662, married Hanna Spinning (Spinage), and was buried 1717. Daniel was born 10 October 1663, married Abigail, widow of his brother John. Elizabeth born 26 December 1665, married Daniel Price and died in 1742, she died a widow and probably childless. Hanna was born 14 August 1668. All were born in New Haven Colony.
John and Abigail had at least two sons; John who was born in 1683 and is supposed to have perished at sea and George born in 1685 and died in October of 1750 at Elizabethtown.
George had at least one son named John who was born on 24 December 1715 at Elizabeth Town, New Jersey, died 7 April 1798 in Westfield, New Jersey, and married Hannah Talmadge on 11 June 1736. John was a Judge of the Essex County Court, and Master of Chancery, he was an Alderman of the borough of Elizabeth in 1748.
John and Hannah had three children; John Jr. born on 26 August 1737, died 27 August 1800, and married Sarah Scudder; Rebecca born 14 June 1739 who married Cornelius Ludlow of Westfield; and Timothy born 26 August 1741 who married Polly Briant.
John Jr. and Sarah had three daughters; Hannah who married Samuel Freeman, Sarah who married a Mr. Tucker, and Polly who married John Stevens of Rahway. Rebecca and Cornelius Ludlow had three children; Noah who married Rachel Rouse Ridgeway, Rebecca, and John. Timothy and Polly had at least three children; Samuel who married Huldah Randolph, George, and David.
Samuel and Huldah had at least two children; Timothy who married Sarah Laing, and Milan who was a carriage maker, born 28 October 1785, died 3 August 1846 at Woodbridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey and married Susan(nah) Bird Force 2 April 1808, she was born 4 July 1788 in Essex County, New Jersey and died 7 October 1851.
Timothy and Sarah had at least five children; William, Charles, Mary who married Mr. Decker, Harriet, and Daniel who married his cousin, Susan Ross, daughter of Milan.
Milan and Susan(nah) had at least eight children; Abigail, Elizabeth, Samuel F., Randolph, John, William, Simeon born at Perth Amboy, New Jersey 2 February 1811 married Evaline Brant 29 September 1838 at Rahway, New Jersey, died 6 February 1893 at White Hall, Greene County, Illinois and Susan who married her cousin Daniel Ross, son of Timothy.
Sources for Early Ross Family History
1. Carl Boyer, Ship Passenger Lists National and New England (1600-1825) (Published by the compiler, Newhall, California, 1977).
2. John Littell, Family Records of,GENEALOGIES OF THE FIRST SETTLERS OF PASSAIC VALLEY and Vicinity (Feitville, New Jersey, 1852)
3. E. Ogden Ross, Attorney at Law, 18 State St., Troy, NY, Letter written to New Jersey Historical Society Dec. 7, 1903.
4. Herbert A. Halsey, Guide to the Colonial Cemetery of the Presbyterian Church in Westfield, New Jersey (Westfield Historical Society, Westfield, NJ 07091, 1987)
5. US Census 1830 for New Jersey
Essex County, Westfield Township
Middlesex County, Woodbridge Township
6. US Census 1840 for New Jersey
Essex County, Elizabeth Township
Essex County, Rahway Township
Essex County, Westfield Township
7. Milan Ross, Inventory of his Estate, (12307L. Inv. 1846.), NJ Archives.
8. Susanna B. Ross, Will of Susan(nah) Bird Force Ross, (12600L. W. 1851.), NJ Archives.
9. US Census 1850 and 1860 for Illinois
Greene County, White Hall Township
10. US Census 1880 for Illinois
Greene County, White Hall Precinct (M. C. D.)
11. Rahway Public Cemetery Records, Rahway, Union County, NJ
12. Calendar of Wills (1680-1817), New Jersey Archives.
13. Excerpts from the Report on Isaac Ross by Helen M. Wright, 103 Lindsley Drive, Morristown, New Jersey.
14. The First United Methodist Church of Rahway, NJ - Church Records - in correspondence from Mr. William Bolmer.
History of the Ross Family
by
Leslie W. (Bill) Ross
6 August 1985
From New Jersey to Illinois
Simeon Ross was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey in 1811. He married Evaline Brant in 1838 and soon after moved to Rahway, New Jersey. In 1843 they moved from Rahway to White Hall, Illinois. The trip from New Jersey to Illinois was made in a covered wagon. The story goes that they arrived in White Hall, in the Fall of the year and Evaline was not too pleased with the area, in fact she said that she would return to New Jersey in the Spring. When Spring came and the fields were green and the beauty of the area was more apparent than it had been in the Fall she changed her mind and decided to stay. Evaline died in 1888 at White Hall.
Simeon was a farmer and merchant. At his death in 1893 he was one of the wealthiest citizens of Greene County - his estate was estimated to be worth at least $200,000 - he owned 1300 acres near White Hall, 1300 acres in Missouri, 2500 acres in Nebraska, a farm in Piatt County, Illinois, the Union Hall block in White Hall, the controlling interest in stock ($10,000) of the White Hall Fire Clay Company and other securities worth about $25,000.
Evaline and Simeon had a family of ten children, four daughters and six sons. Francis A. was a merchant and a Union soldier in the Civil War. Francis (Frank) and Emily were born in New Jersey, the others were all born in Illinois. Milan Brant was a hardware dealer and Simeon Jr. was a farmer and Union soldier. Annie married F. P. Armstrong a timber contractor. Henrietta (Hettie) died of typhoid fever at the age of 20. Daniel W. was adjudged insane in 1875 and died in 1890 at age 38. Edward and Elliot were both farmers. Adelaide (Addie) married Dr. Abner W. Foreman, a White Hall physician.
From Illinois to Missouri
Simeon Jr. was born in White Hall, Illinois in 1846. He joined Co. G, 59th Regiment of Illinois Volunteers (Union) on 4 Aug. 1861 as a musician or drummer-boy at the age of fifteen. He later enlisted as a regular soldier in the same company and later still enlisted in Co. G, 9th Missouri Regiment. He was discharged 11 Jan. 1866. The story comes down that he was ill or wounded during the war in Indiana and there while he was recovering he met his future wife, Martha Carr. Simeon Jr. and Martha were married in New Albany, Indiana on the first of April 1868. Simeon Jr. was a farmer and lived most of his life near Farber, Missouri. When his father died he inherited most of the Missouri property that his father had owned. Simeon Jr. died in 1930 at Perry, Missouri of apoplexy and arteriosclerosis.
Martha and Simeon Jr. had five children. Annetta married Robert Gill and died in 1957 in Concordia, Kansas. William married Julia Katherine Spencer in 1893 - he was a farmer, carpenter and ran a mill near Wellsville, Missouri. Edith married Will Pritchard. Eva Elizabeth died at age 25. Edgar (Uncle Ed) worked on wheat ranches in the state of Washington - he died at the age of 87 in Walla Walla, Washington.
Martha died in 1877 and in 1879 Simeon Jr. married Nancy Agnes Trabue. Simeon Jr. and Nancy had five children. Bertha G. married Martin Logan Alexander in 1903. Carl W. married Ethel Lee Geery. Clarence Clyde married Stella Virginia Utterback in 1909. Blanche married Tom Alexander and Simeon B. married Anna Mae Phillips.
The Rosses in Missouri
William Ross was born on 13 November 1870 at Farber, Missouri. He was a farmer, worked as a carpenter building farm houses and ran a mill near Wellsville, Missouri. He married Julia Katherine Spencer on 18 May 1893. William and Julia had ten children. Julia died in 1945 and William died in 1950 at Liberty, Missouri.
The first two children, Joseph William and Josephine May perished as infants.
Ruth married Ferdinand Theodore Bates in 1934. Ruth was a nurse and received her training from the Washington School of Nursing in St. Louis about 1920. She became a Public Health Nurse, first around the St. Louis and then in Liberty, Clay Co., Missouri. Her husband was from Liberty and worked as a manager for Missouri Power and Lights. Ferd died in 1947 and Ruth died in 1973.
Edgar Cecil married Floy Smith at Wellsville, Missouri in 1922. They lived in Wellsville for awhile but moved to Colorado due to Floy's asmatic condition. Edgar was a boilermaker for the railroad at Englewood. He was also a veteran of WWI serving with his brother Virgil. Edgar died of a heart attack in 1964 at Englewood, Colorado.
Virgil was a veteran of both WWI and WWII. He worked for the Railway Express Company for many years in St. Louis, Missouri. Virgil died in 1983 having suffered a stroke in 1975.
Willard ("Pat") married Lillie Ann Brooks in 1927, Willard was a farmer and carpenter and served in the Army at the Panama Canal Zone. Willard died in 1980.
Vernon ("Duck") married Lora C. Stanfield at Calexico, California in 1935, he worked for Pacific Gas and Electric (PG & E) for many years in Pittsburg, California. Vernon died of cancer in 1965.
Leslie Merl ("Cotton") married Neola Alice Reinhart in 1937 at Bend, Oregon. He worked for several lumber companies and was Deschutes County Assessor in Bend. In 1977 he underwent open heart surgery to insert an artificial valve. He died in 1983.
Marguerite married John Sullivan in 1936 at Troy, Missouri. He worked for the oil pipeline company. They both grew up in Wellsville, Missouri. They lived in Princeville, Illinois for a number of years. After Virgil's stroke in 1975, Marguerite lived in St. Louis with Virgil and Forest. She resided with her son, John, in Milford, Kansas after Virgil's death. She died in 1990.
Forest ("Flop") married Mary Virginia Whiteside in 1940. Forest is a veteran of WWII and worked for the Railway Express Company in St. Louis, Missouri. Forest died in 1985.
THE FIRST TRIP TO OREGON
(As told by Mr. Leslie Merl "Cotton" Ross to his son Leslie Wm. Ross, Jan. 1974.)
I had just graduated from Wellsville High School in Wellsville, Missouri. I was 20 years old and the year was 1926. I had worked at some odd jobs but could not find any steady employment so I decided to go out West. I told my Mother that I was going to hitch-hike out West and the night before I left she gave me a silver dollar which I placed in my shoe.
I don't remember just where I stayed the first night but I recall that the second day I was in Manhattan, Kansas. I stopped at an Old Folks Home and asked for lodging for the night. They said they would be glad to put me up for the night and so I stayed there that night.
The next day I hooked up with another young fellow and got to a town named Guypetty or something like that. That night I could not find any place to stay so I spent the night in an outdoor toilet. The next day I got to Goodman (Goodland?), Kansas. The only place we could find that looked promising for a place to stay was the Fire Hall. We went in but there didn't seem to be anyone around. This other fellow started rifling the files and even though it seemed that it would probably be all right to stay there over night, I decided to leave and part company with him.
Now you have to remember that this was all new to me - I hadn't been away from home much and bumming around was completely new to me. My main objective was Denver, Colorado where my older brother Cecil (Cecil Edgar Ross) lived. About the fourth day from Missouri I arrived in Denver. I knew my brother's address so I went out to his place. It was about the first of July, I can remember because when I walked out to Cecil's place there was a kid out on the sidewalk hollering "Fire cratchers - Boom, Fire cratchers - Boom" and I recognized him right away because he looked just like my brother. So I stayed there for a couple of days until I got the soreness out of my ankles from walking, and then I decided to look for a job. I only had a suit and an extra pair of slacks besides the clothes I was wearing with me.
About the third day in Denver I decided to go out and look for a job. I went downtown to a place called Pell's Oyster House. At that time it was quite a famous place. They had a sign in the window which read "Help Wanted - Pearl Diver". They called the dishwashers "Pearl Divers". I went in and got the job as a Pearl Diver. I worked there about a month and I got along fine but it was a long way from Cecil's so I thought I would keep working there but look for something closer. They had asked me if I didn't want to work as a salad man - it didn't pay any more but it was easier work. While I was thinking about this and looking for something closer, the Diamond Cafe in Englewood advertised for a waiter. Now I had never worked as a waiter in my life but I went in and they hired me as a salad man. I hadn't worked there more than a week when they had me change to a waiter. I worked there for a few weeks until I had enough money, I thought, to get to Oregon. It turned out that I completely misjudged how much money it would take. At any rate, I quit the job as a waiter, went to downtown Denver and got a bus ticket on a Blue-Way bus to Salt Lake City. It turned out that the bus wasn't much - it had broken windows, we had flat tires and everything that could go wrong did. The roads weren't anything to holler about back then either - remember it was 1926.
By the time I arrived in Salt Lake City, I didn't have much money and I figured I had better conserve what money I did have, so I stayed in a hotel where they had rooms for a dollar a night. Well I hadn't been in bed more than a few minutes when I felt something biting - it turned out the place was infested by fleas. I got up and spent the rest of the night walking around Salt Lake City rather than in the hotel.
The next morning I decided to leave Salt Lake City but I thought before I left I would visit the Mormon Temple, which I did. They were building a dam some miles west of the city then so I thought maybe I could get a job out there. I caught a bus out there but I couldn't find whoever was doing the hiring or was in charge so I went on. Some years later I found out that Clyde Spencer, my cousin was the Engineer in charge of building the dam for the Army Corp of Engineers.
In high school we had studied Oregon and all the books had pictured it as being a beautiful, green and grassy kind of country. I had thought that when I got to Ontario, Oregon the trip from there on would be through lush green forests and pastures. Well from Ontario to Vale that was true, but from Vale on to Bend the country was high desert country which was hot during the day and bitter cold at night.
The first night in Oregon I stayed in a little town called Drusey at the Heppner Hotel. The next day I got a ride with a guy driving a wagon and a team of horses. I rode about 19 to 15 miles with him until he came to a farm where he turned off the main road and I walked four or five miles before I got another ride. My next ride was with a fellow driving an automobile. He wanted to know all about my travels and he invited me to stay overnight at his ranch which I was more than happy to do. We were talking that evening and he asked if I knew who the man was that had given me the ride on the wagon with the team of horses. I told him I didn't and he explained that the man was Bob Brown and he had been involved in several shootings in which men had been killed, As far as I was concerned he was very nice and quite courteous.
The next day I started out walking and I walked most of the way to a wide spot in the rode called Burns. I finally got there in mid-afternoon and decided to stay there overnight. I had been carrying with me a loaf of bread and in the middle of it I had a chunk of baloney. That's what I had been eating. I got up the next morning early and decided I would try to make it to Bend that day. The road then wasn't a straight all-weather road but more like a winding trail. When I was in Burns they were building a mill. I tried to get work there but they wouldn't hire me so I continued on to Bend. I did find out that the name of the outfit building the mill was Hines. I hadn't walked very far when a guy in an automobile came along and gave me a ride into Bend. Coming into Bend from the East I thought it was the most God-forsaken place I had ever seen but I soon found it was much better than the hot, dusty high desert country to the east of Bend. The first thing I could see coming into Bend was the Pilot Butte Inn.
(In 1923 or 24 the Douglass family moved from Wellsville, Missouri to Bend, Oregon. Mr. Douglass had worked as a miner for the Wellsville Firebrick Company and Mrs. Douglass' brother (Les McQuie) was working for the O'Donnell's Meat Market in Bend. (The O'Donnell's and the Smith's had moved from Wellsville to Bend earlier.) Mr. Douglass worked for the Shevlin-Hixon Lumber Company when he came to Bend. This paragraph is from an interview with Mr. Bill Brandenburg on Sunday October 22, 1989 in Columbia, Missouri.)
I had quite a bit of trouble finding out where the Douglasses lived. I asked someone where the Douglasses lived and they told me they lived on Columbia. I didn't know Bend so I asked for directions and they said to cross the Newport bridge and go down Harmon until I came to Columbia. Now that is not quite true, because when you get to Galveston Avenue the street on the other side is not Columbia. Columbia is one street west. Well I finally found Columbia and walked down to the Douglass house. When I got there I found that Buzz Douglass had been in the hospital. He had an operation for appendicitis and was just coming out of it.
My intention was to stay in Bend a year and then return to Missouri. My one year stay will be 48 years next June. I got into Bend on June 26 and I didn't get a job until about October. I had been going to the mills each morning and evening and I finally got a job at Shevlin-Hixon and the following morning I got on at Brooks-Scanlon. I couldn't make up my mind which place to work at so for awhile I worked both the day and night shifts.
I went to work that night and two of the fellows I worked with were named Hoover, Merl Hoover and Maurice Hoover. Also there was another fellow with a name remarkably similar to mine there - his name was Merrill Ross. I couldn't make up my mind whether I wanted to work the night shift or the day shift. I got acquainted with the Hoover brothers and all they talked about was that they wanted to buy a couple of trail-alls and start a bus line from Bend to Burns. This was later to become the Trailways bus line.
When I first came to Bend it only had two streets that you could say were paved - they were Wall and Bond and they weren't really paved. All the other streets were just dirt with big puddles and chuckholes. The sidewalks were all made of boards. The major part of Drake Park and the west side of the river was all under water, a kind of big swamp. Right through the middle of that they had a big boardwalk on stilts. The swamp extended all the way to the Tumalo Street bridge.
Bend has changed a lot over the years, where the Police Station now stands there was the old Town and City Outdoor Pavilion dance hall. On down the street was the livery stable. Of the two streets, Wall and Bond, the business district was mostly on Wall and it was the nicer of the two. Bond had all the pool halls and liquor joints. Both streets are considerably cleaner now than back then. The entire business district was contained in Wall and Bond from the Pilot Butte Inn to about the Post Office.
(After a year or so in Bend, Dad returned to Wellsville, Missouri where he again tried to find work and to go to college. He hoped to get a job as a baseball umpire in the minor leagues. He had umpired some semi-pro baseball and Mr. Douglass, who had played Major League Baseball, was trying to help him get a job as a minor league umpire. He attended Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois for a year or two but couldn't meet the financial burden. He had hoped to become a Presbyterian minister, but had changed his mind about this before leaving Blackburn College. Since he was unable to find a job, he decided to return to Oregon where it was easier to find employment. Bill Brandenburg was a classmate of Dad's at Wellsville High School. The Douglass family were neighbors of the Ross family in Wellsville and had moved to Bend. This note added by his son Leslie W. Ross.)
THE SECOND TRIP TO OREGON
(As told by Mr. Bill Brandenburg in a letter to Mrs. Marguerite (Ross) Sullivan, March 1985.)
On January 28, 1929 Cotton and I left for Bend. We had bought a 1925 Model T Ford from Dorsey Griffith for $25. It was a roadster model, had one seat and no windows, just side curtains. We tore the rear end of the body out and put a 2 by 4 on each side and built a frame and covered the frame with metal. We made a door that opened from the top and we had two 2 by 4s that would hold the door up. We got a mattress from a half bed that would fit in this compartment. We also had a canvas that would cover this opening, got some blankets and this was our bed. We would sleep out two nights and the third night we would get a motel room so we could shave and clean up.
The day we left it was minus 16 with about 8 inches of snow. We went as far as St. Louis and stayed the first night with Ruth and Virgil. Ruth made us park in the alley as she was ashamed of the car. Wallace Steele had given us $5 if we let him put a sign on the car advertising his hatchery.
Next day we left and got below Blyville, Arkansas, it was cold and raining. The next morning we got started and in a few miles we got to the White River and it was flood stage and all over the country. We talked to the Captain of the ferry and he said he could take us across but he would have to take us about 5 miles farther down river. So we started out. When he arrived he let us out and when we pulled up the river bank as far as we could see there were cars in ditches and stuck. He never mentioned this. We sat there all day and night with nothing to eat or drink. The next morning the ferry brought another batch of cars. Among the cars was another Model T and there was a man and his three sons. They were all over 6 feet tall and weighed 225 pounds. The man looked things over and he said "I believe we can make it. Me and my boys and one of you will push your car a ways and then we can come back and get my car". We did this and after pushing through about 5 miles of mud we came to hard road. This was about 11 AM. Cotton and I had not eaten since 6:30 AM the day before. A short distance away we saw this cabin off the road a piece. We drove up there and were invited in. The cabin had a cook stove, table and a bed, just one room. There was a pile of straw in the corner for their little boy to sleep on. They used wooden boxes for chairs. We were ashamed to ask for something to eat, but they said they did not have much but they never turned anyone away hungry. They had a coffee pot on the stove, a little bit of fat back bacon, no lean whatsoever, and she cooked some corn meal mush, no bread. This was the best breakfast I ever ate. We wanted to pay but they got mad. When we got ready to leave their boy wanted to ride to the big road, said he had never been in a car. His folks let him ride to the road and walk back. When he got out we gave him $5. He probably got spanked.
Nothing else happened and we went on down to Robstown, Texas where Vernon was working. We stayed two days with Vernon and when we got ready to leave, Vernon said "I believe I will go with you". So the three of us traveled to Brawley, California. We took turns sleeping, two in the back and one in the front seat. We stopped over night in Lordsbury, New Mexico. At the place we stopped for the night, they wanted one of us to sign in at the office. I signed in from Wellsville, Missouri and the man said they were from Vandalia, Missouri and insisted that we all come up and eat supper with them. He and Vernon had played ball against each other. They gave us our breakfast and would not take a cent for it. Burnam Smith was in Bend and we had sent him some of our money. We were getting low on money, as we crossed Arizona we kept stopping and places were so small you could not wire for money. We kept going until we made Yuma, Arizona. The three of us had 18 cents between us. Vernon had left without getting his pay. We tried to send a collect telegram for money, but they would not send it because if it was turned down they knew we were broke. Finally, the next morning a fellow took a chance and sent it. They tried to deliver it to Burnam but he had gone to work so he could not send the money until he got home from work that night. We got the money about 8 PM and we had gone from 5 PM one day to 8 PM the next on 18 cents. We bought some stale doughnuts from a bakery to eat. The next day we got to Brawley and found Vernon's friend and he told Vernon to stay and he could have a job. Cotton and I left for Oregon.
I remember one night we were at Hollywood and Vine with that old car and seeing all those fine cars. Nothing else happened that I can remember except we were trying to make Bend and the car froze up and we had to leave it. We were 18 miles south of Bend and we had to walk all the way. We got there about 4 AM and got Buzz Douglass up and he went out and pulled the car in. It took us three weeks, 4000 miles and $65 a piece to make the trip.
The next summer Vernon came up and Virgil and Forest had come out. About Labor Day Virgil sold his car to Cotton and went back to St. Louis. Forest stayed and next May he and I came home.
Leslie W. (Bill) Ross
55175 Foster Rd
Sunriver, Oregon 97707-2565
BillR16643@aol.com
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