Ross family line
This is a line that I have only started to explore—my most recent ancestor from this particular branch of my family was Rachael Elizabeth Ross (1870-1938), who was one of my great-grandmothers on my father’s side.
As it turns out, this family line is very well-documented and played a significant role in Nova Scotia history. There is a multitude of archival material in the Nova Scotia Archives in the Ross family fonds. There is also a brief narrative (with more than one mistake in transcription) on another page.
William Ross (1783-1822)
Interestingly, the documentary record shows that William Ross was born on 10 July 1783 in Kilmuir-Easter, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland, yet was married at age 22 in Cork, Ireland, to Mary Williams (1784-1876).
William and Mary had the following children:
- Mary Ross (born 1807, Cork, Ireland)
- William Henry Ross (born 1811, Surinamtown, Paramaribo, Surinam) – my 3x great-grandfather
- Edward Irlam Ross (born 1813, Sunderland on the borders of Scotland)
- George Lockhart Ross (born 1815, in Fort Coteau du lac, Quebec)
- Charles Henry Lawson Ross (born 1817 at the military settlement of Sherbrooke, later called New Ross)
- James Richard Uniacke Ross (born 1822 – family diary says that he ‘went crazy and disappeared’)
The following text is from the Ross Farm Museum‘s website, under the heading “History of Ross Farm“. The farm, now a museum, is located about halfway between the Annapolis Valley and Halifax.
Lord Dalhousie was Governor of Nova Scotia. He was deeply interested in agriculture and was convinced that settlements should be established in the forested interior of the province. He persuaded William Ross, a native of County Cork in Ireland, and a lieutenant in the 16th Regiment of Infantry, to accept a captaincy in the Nova Scotia Fencibles, and to undertake the settlement of the remnants of the latter regiment on the lands of Sherbrooke (later called New Ross).
In August, 1816, Captain Ross, his wife Mary and four children, and 172 disbanded soldiers established this settlement for his men. He built a small log house overlooking Lake Lawson, and the following year, with axe and whip saw, he built the frame house which still stands. He named his new home Rosebank.
The government provided rations of food and rum to the new settlers, and tools were divided as follows:
– one axe, one hoe, and one whip saw for every man, one hand saw, chisel, draw knife and auger for every five men, and a fair proportion of nails, hammers, gimlets and spades for all.
– seed potatoes, turnip seed, red and white clover seed, shovels, garden rakes, Dutch bake ovens, fishing nets, rope, lead, cork, trout hooks, twine, wax and thread.
Rations for the first settlers were discontinued in 1818, and for later comers in 1820. By this time many of the people had abandoned their lands and left the district, but those who remained became firmly established on the land.
Captain Ross did not live long to enjoy the fruits of his labor. In the fall of 1821, he attempted to blaze a route for a proposed road to Halifax. He was overtaken by a severe storm, became gravely ill, and died in Halifax on May 2, 1822. Mary Ross was left with six young children to face life in a raw pioneer settlement. The problems she and her family faced were similar to those experienced by many throughout the rural areas of Nova Scotia, but while most of these have disappeared forever in the mists of time, the day to day life of the Ross family was faithfully recorded in the journals of the 2nd son Edward J. Ross.
From the varied places of birth of their children, we can see that the family moved around quite a bit, owing to William’s service in the military. From Ireland, they appear to have spent time in Surinam before arriving somewhere between 1811 and 1815 in Lower Canada. This coincides with the time of the War of 1812, and Fort Coteau du lac was one of many British fortifications near Montreal.
Surinam (or Suriname, as it is also spelled) was occupied by the British in 1799 after the Netherlands were incorporated by France. It was briefly returned to the Dutch during the Peace of Armiens (1802-03). It was finally returned to the Dutch only in 1816. The object of the occupation was to keep the valuable plantations out of French control. Subject to corroboration from other sources, the obvious conclusion is that William was posted to that country in the course of his military service (and it was there that his eldest son and my ancestor, William, was born in 1811). From my readings, I have learned that it was quite common for British officers to be accompanied by their spouses on their overseas postings.
Looking at the history of the British occupation between 1804 and 1816, it appears that the 16th Regiment of Infantry (or “Regiment of Foot”) was one of the units that invaded and subsequently held Surinam. Sources indicate that they were relocated to the UK over the course of 1810, 1811 and 1812 – William and his family were on the last of the ships to leave.
There is a comprehesive history of the 16th Regiment entitled Historical Record of the Sixteenth, or, the Bedfordshire Regiment of Foot. In this very useful history, we can conclude the following:
“During its stay at Surinam and Barbadoes, the regiment lost twenty-seven officers and upwards of five hundred men by disease. The survivors returned to England by detachments in 1810, 1811, and 1812, and landed at Falmouth and Portsmouth. One ship, the “Islam [it was actually the Irham],” having on board the remainder of the grenadiers and of one battalion company, was wrecked on the Tuscan Rock off the coast of Ireland. By the exertions of some workmen, who were making preparations to erect a lighthouse on the rock, all were saved excepting one man, one woman, and some children; all the arms, appointments, and baggage were lost. On the following day the party was taken off the rock by a brig, and conveyed to Beaumaris in Wales.”
After occupying quarters at various stations, and receiving many volunteers from the English and Irish militia, the regiment marched to Sunderland in July; and in March, 1813, embarked from thence for Perth: in July of this year it proceeded to Ireland. [note: this accords with the year and place of birth of their son, Edward Irham. Note that his middle name was that of the ship on which they were shipwrecked a year earlier!]
Sir Charles Green, Baronet, was removed to the Thirty-seventh regiment in February, 1814, when His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, conferred the colonelcy of the SIXTEENTH on Lieut.-General Sir George Prevost, from the Seventy-sixth regiment.
During this period the war was continued in Europe, and British troops were acquiring laurels under the Duke of Wellington: at the same time the measures pursued to counteract the decrees made by Napoleon, Emperor of the French, for the destruction of the commerce of Great Britain, brought on a war between the British Crown and the United States of North America; and in the spring of this year the SIXTEENTH embarked from Monkstown to join the British troops in Canada. The regiment was commanded by Colonel Tolley, and arriving at Quebec on the 29th of May, was stationed a short period at that fortress; it was afterwards removed to Chambly, from whence it proceeded to Montreal. The British troops having failed in the attack of the American post at Plattsburg, the SIXTEENTH were relieved from duty at Montreal, sent to the upper province, and stationed at Fort Wellington.
It was after this period of service in Lower Canada during the latter stages of the War of 1812, in 1816, that Lord Dalhousie convinced authorities to settle some of the British soldiers in Nova Scotia. Once again, the Ross family was unlucky (or lucky, depending on your perspective) when they were involved in a second shipwreck within four years of their last. Their transport, the Archduke Charles, sank off of the coast of Green Island, Nova Scotia. The family finally arrived in Halifax and were hosted by one John Lawson, esq. (after whom William later named the lake below the settlement at New Ross. He also included ‘Lawson’ as one of his next-born’s middle names.
As noted in the narrative above, William died quite young, at the age of 39. His child James was born a few months after his death.
William Henry Ross (1811-1876)
My next ancestor in this line was also named William, born in Fort Amsterdam, Surinam, on 13 January 1813. He was therefore only three when the family was in their first shipwreck, and would have been only five when the family decamped to Canada with his father.
The family lived for a time in Lower Canada but, as we have seen earlier, were convinced by the Governor of Nova Scotia, Lord Dalhousie, to help settle the province. After surviving their second shipwreck off of the Nova Scotia coast, the family eventually moved to Sherbrooke (all of the settlements were named after former generals). Sherbrooke became New Ross.
William would have been only 11 when his father died in 1822. His younger brother, Edward, was a diarist and his diaries are held in the Nova Scotia Archives. Indeed, a number of papers that were discovered in the old Ross family home are preserved in the archives and because of them we have quite a bit of information about their life in Nova Scotia in this period.
William married Rachel Floyd (1803-) on 5 November 1831 in Halifax County. Rachael was born in Chester, NS, on 18 February 1803. The difference in age is notable – she was about seven years older than him.
William and Rachel had eight of children, five of whom died in infancy. Note that this source is from someone else’s research and has not, as yet, been corroborated.
- William James Ross (1833-1924), born at New Ross
- David Edward Ross (1834-1901), born at New Ross, my ancestor
- Elizabeth Ann Ross (1836-1837), born at new Ross, died in infancy
- Edward Walker Ross (1837-
- Mary Williams Ross (1840-1842), born at New Ross, died in infancy
- Sophia Elizabeth Ross (1842-1842), born at New Ross, died at one month of age
- Mary Magdalene Ross (1846-1848), born at New Ross, died in infancy
- Mary Ross (1850-1851), born at New Ross, died in infancy
William died on 5 November 1876, at Cornwallis. The cause of death was listed as “weakness”. David Edward Ross was the ‘informant’ on the death record.
David Edward Ross (1834-1906)
David Ross was born on 5 October 1834 and was one of the lucky few of his siblings to have survived past infancy. His date of birth is established by the entry on the 1901 census, at the time of which he was 66 years old and described as being a “miller”.
But to back up, David seems to have been born at New Ross. I have searched the 1841, 51, 61, and 71 censuses without finding any mention of him. There would very likely be some light cast on his movements by taking a close look at his uncle Edward Ross’s diaries.
In the 1881 census, there is the following entry for Lakeville (Lakeville is in the Annapolis Valley, just west of Wolfville). It appears, at that time, that his mother Rachael was living with them (second entry from the bottom):
The following members of the household are shown on the census:
- David Edward Ross, aged 46
- Jane L. Ross, aged 44
- Ida Ross, aged 21
- William Ross, aged 17
- George O. Ross, aged 15
- Rachael E. Ross, aged 10 – my ancestor, born 23 April 1870*
- Clark R. Ross, aged 9 (10 October 1871)**
- John Ross, aged 8
- Jessie M. Ross, aged 6
- Henrietta E. Ross, aged 4 (29 August 1876)*
- Eunice Ross, aged 5 months
- Rachael Ross, aged 78 – David’s mother
- Mary J. Ross, aged 25 (unknown relation – could be an older child or possibly a niece?)
* Date of birth from Nova Scotia vital statistics records – birth record
** Date of birth from Nova Scotia vital statistics records – death record
On the 1891 census, the family is recorded as living at Somerset, which is a bit closer to Aylesford from Lakeville. It is not clear whether there was a physical move or whether it is simply a change in how the division was labeled. Note that in this census, James Cochrane has now entered the household (via his marriage to Rachael) and is a ‘lodger’. Also listed on the census is little Donald Cochrane, then only 2 years old. For details on those two individuals, see the Cochrane family line.
On many of the records, David is described as being a farmer. His last appearance is on the 1901 census. In that record, David’s occupation is noted as being a “miller”. The household consists of himself, his sons Clark and John, and his daughter Eunice.
As a bit of trivia – David’s son Floyd apparently moved to Massachusetts, where he married Lillian A. Barnaby in Boston in 1890. On Floyd’s marriage licence, he is described as being a “lumber dealer”.
David passed away in 1906 (exact date unknown). His wife, Jane, predeceased him in 1899. Floyd and Lillian appear on the same grave marker, having died in 1931 and 1951, respectively.
It is interesting to note that David is described as ‘Major David’ on the grave marker at the Berwick Cemetery in Kings County, Nova Scotia. There is no online record of his death or that of Jane in the Nova Scotia vital records.
Rachael Eliza Ross (1870-1938)
Rachel is the intersection point with the Cochrane family line, having married James Cochrane (who was many years older than her). She was born in Chipman Brook, Nova Scotia, on 23 April 1870 and died at the Digby Hospital in Digby on 18 July 1938, at the age of 68.
Her birth record is recorded with the Nova Scotia archives:
Her marriage with James Cochrane took place sometime before the birth of their first child, Donald Cochrane, though an exact date has not been established with a documentary record. There is no birth record for Donald, and all we have to go with is the record showing that he was 2 years old at the time of the 1891 census.
James and Rachael had the following children:
- Donald Stuart Cochrane, born 31 March 1889 in Nova Scotia – my grandfather
- Mable Estra Cochrane, born 29 September 1893 (married Herman Percy Brennan in 1912, died 1951)+
- Hilda Grace Cochrane, born 28 January 1898 (married Frederick John Parker in 1920, died following childbirth in 1922)
+ Note that Mabel is shown as being spelled ‘Mabel’ and ‘Mable’ on different documents. It appears from later documents, such as her name on both of her parents’ death certificates, that she used ‘Mabel’.
According to her death certificate, Rachael was employed as a cook at the time of her death, having been widowed a few years previously. She is buried in Auburn, presumably in the same cemetery as her son Donald.
