Isaac Rutledge and ? | William Rutledge and Chloe Johnson | James Rutledge Sr. & Frances Skaggs | George Rutledge and Rose Boyer | James Bernard Rutledge and Nancy Estes | James William Rutledge and Rubina Wright | Wilson Alvin, Sr. and Jessie Mae Wright (Wilson's WWII page)
Daughters of the Revolutionary War lineage:
Nancy Estes's parents (John D. Estes and Catherine Jane Kirkpatrick) (John's parents unknown)
Catherine Kirkpatrick's parents (Joseph Marion Kirkpatrick and Martha Patsy Ross)
Martha Patsy Ross's parents William Ross and Eliza Jane Allen | William Hugh Ross, Jr. and Mary Griffin
Other Ancestors:
Frances Skaggs parents: James Skaggs and Frances Beeler |
Joseph Kirkpatrick's parents (David Sevier Kirkpatrick and Catherine White) | John Hugh Kirkpatrick and Margaret "Jane" Wilkins (possible Revoluntary War; there are 2 John Hugh Kirkpatricks)
Catherine White's parents (Joseph White and Janet Mebane)
Colonial Rutledges:
Rutledges in 1790 Census | John James Rutledge and Jane Anne Stewart | Edward Thomas Rutledge and Elizabeth Graem (Son Andrew/Sarah Boone) | (Dr.) John Rutledge and Sarah Hext |
Y-DNA paths - Sons of John Rutledge and Sarah Hext: (Constitution|Atty) John Rutledge and Elizabeth Grimké | (Declaration) Edward Rutledge and Henrietta Middleton | Hugh Rutledge and Mary Golightly Huger
Y-DNA paths - Sons of (Constitution|Atty) John Rutledge and Elizabeth Grimke: John Rutledge, Jr. and Sarah Motte Smith | Frederick Rutledge and Harriott Pinckney Horry |
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Rutledge DNA Connection: Edward Gent Rutledge | James Enos Rutledge | William Richard Rutledge | Richard William Rutledge | Harry Milton Rutledge | Edgar Rutledge Taylor | (This line is connected by DNA, but we have not yet put together the puzzle pieces)
THIS IS MY WORKING GENEALOGY BIOGRAPHIES, PLEASE DO NOT COPY AS FACT. Some photos are personal and are not to be copied and republished; other images are okay. Documentation I collected as proof to support facts (i.e. dates, relationships, etc.) are available for your use. I share freely, but please do not abuse copyright or perpetuate any information without supporting facts that may or may not be in error. I try to mark in red my questions or documents I need to look for, so your assistance in making this a complete collection is always appreciated.
William Ross and Eliza Jane Allen
William Ross was born January 17, 1760, to William Ross and Mary Griffin.
The Life and Times of Elder Reuben Ross (published 1882) was written by his son, James Ross (1801-1878), the brother of William Ross herein. My download contains applicable pages that are highlighted. The entire book is here on Google as well as the East Carolina Digital University Collection and the Internet Archive. The March 1985 Collage of Cape County contain excerpts of the book. The book states William's birthdate and his parents and grandparents.
(Note: find birth location, confirm Roanoke, Virginia or Martin County, North Carolina; book says parents moved unknown. Some trees list his birth year ast 1758 in Tyrell County, Virginia. Why?)
Elizabeth Jane Allen. (Note: find source of birth information. On Family Search I see both 1763 in Missouri, and January 1766 in Newton Township, Faulkner, Arkansas.; Who are her parents? What is the source of her last name of Allen? Where do people get the shortened name of Eliza?)
1762: France cedes the Louisiana territory west of the Mississippi to Spain.
April 19, 1775 to September 3, 1783 was the Revolutionary War. William was the first of his siblings to leave his native State, soon after the war of Independence, settled in Missouri. After leaving the army at the close of the Revolutionary Wary, still unmarried, he came west to settle in the Louisiana Territory, now Missouri, near Cape Girardeau along the Mississippi River, in a "bottom." The bottoms are now known as "The American Bottoms" and are over 100-mile-long, beginning around Alton, Illinois. The area along the river is a fertile because it is in a floodplain. It is noted that William settled in the area before he was married. Read the book excerpt below of his hard travels to Missouri, walking with his rifle.
(Note: When and where did William and Jane marry?) Some genealogist believe William married twice because the name Elizabeth is on a land sale and the name Jane is in his Will and elsewhere, but I believe it to be her first and middle name, and he only married once.
1783 to 1821 Spain offered land grants to settlors. The United States acquired that land and agreed to honor all valid land grants. Years of litigation over the validity of many of the Spanish land grants were recorded.
In 1795, William and Jane have a son, Enoch Ross, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. (Note: what is the source of his birth and birth place; online trees have his death before October 27, 1823 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, why?)
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Read the complete document, transcription, notes on people and processes for the Spanish Land Grant to William Ross.
No date. (September 16, 1805) William Ross gave notice to James L. Donaldson of his Concession and it was recorded by him as the 108th land claim and Concession 206.
September 15, 1797. Don Louis Lorimier receives a request from William Ross to settle the land on the bank of the Mississippi.
September 17, 1797. Lorimier on indicates the request is legal and forwards it to the Lieutenant Governor Zenon Turdeau for approval.
January 5, 1798. Zenon Trudeau approves the request and orders Antonio Soulard to survey the land.
December 7, 1799. Antonio Soulard surveys the land
January 5, 1800. Antonio Soulard presents a certificate for survey
There are two hand drawn survey maps in the above download. I overlayed them over a present day map.
The date on this survey is December 7, 1799, by Antonio Soulard.
This is an overlay of the 1799 survey map to the present day map.
We took a country drive and located William Ross's land. The video is here.
On March 17, 1800, William and Jane have a son, John Ross, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. (Note: what is the source of his birth and birth place;) He would marry Annis Mae Galloway and have a lot of children, and die in Hempstead, Arkansas on April 7, 1872.
William and Jane may have had a second son, John Ross, because William's Will lists John's name twice in one sentence. Other genealogists must have wondered the same thing because tree suggestions had another son in my tree, but I removed it because he clearly had other parents in the area with the name Ross.
William and Eliza have a daughter, Mary Ross. Her name is found in William's Will. (Note: At first I thought Margaret was mentioned twice in the will and that her name may have been Mary Margret, but the 1803 census lists two younger females, so Mary must have been born before Bethany. Therefore her birth date could range from 1793 to 1801. )
In 1802, William and Eliza have a daughter, Bethany Ross, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
(Note, what is the source of her date of birth and location? Trees with Bethany marrying John Burris/Burrow give her a birth date of 1793 rather than 1802, and a name of Bethina Catherine Ross, so there must be records with that spelling. Where do either date come from? If she was born in 1793, she could have been born in North Carolina or Virginia. When did she die? Suggestions are that she had at least 8 children. One child, Amelia, is shown to be born May 19, 1815 in Cape Jerde, Missouri. Where did they get that spelling? The daughter moves to Arkansas with her spouse and then California.)
October 1800: Spain secretly agrees to return the Louisiana Territory to France under the Treaty of San Ildefonso. Spain controlled the Territory until October 1800 when it went back to France.
1802: Spain formally transfers the Louisiana Territory to France. Spain closes the port of New Orleans to Americans, sparking crisis.
January 1803: President Jefferson sends James Monroe to join Robert Livingston in Paris to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans.
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(Above is a cropped in version of the 1818 survey below.)
On April 5, 1803, (See Deed) William Ross buys 240 acres from Peter Godaire along the Mississippi River for $200. Peter has not yet received the Patent (confirmation certificate) and promises to sign additional legal documents if necessary once he receives the Patent. This land can be seen directly above the land William Ross has received as a land grant. It would have enlarged his land, but he did not keep it. On September 20, 1804, William Ross assigns the land to John and Robert Gibbony. Their names are also shown on the 1818 survey for the same plot as Peter Godaire.
April 30, 1803: The Louisiana Purchase Treaty is signed in Paris by Livingston and Monroe.
July 4, 1803: The purchase is publicly announced in the United States.
October 20, 1803: The U.S. Senate ratifies the treaty.
In the November 1, 1803 Missouri Territorial Census, taken of the Louisiana Territory by France. This census is found in the 1888 Goodspeed's History of Southeast Missouri, page 266, and the 1909 Houck's Spanish Regime, Volume 2, Page 407 and a footnote on page 412.
William Ross's household had 2 first class white males (his sons Enoch and John), 2 second class white males (himself
and one other), 2 first class females (his daughters Bethany & Mary), and 1 second class white female (his wife Jane).
Daughter Martha was born June 4, 1804.
The household had no slaves. Who was the other adult male? Was it another son? Maybe a border to help him farm.
William Ross had no wheat, 800 bushels of corn, no tobacco, 100 lbs. of flax and hemp, 1,000 lbs. of cotton, 50 lbs. of
maple sugar, 10 horned cattle, and no horses.
The footnote #96 on page 412 states "William Ross settled at what is now known as "Gray's Point," but at first known as a "Cape la Cruz," and then as "Ross's Point." Rev. John Mason Peck stopped here when he came up the river and delivered a sermon."
November 30, 1803: Spain officially transfers colonial control of Louisiana Territory to France.
December 20, 1803: Just twenty days later, France formally transfers the Louisiana Territory to the United States. A census was taken in December of that year.
March 10, 1804: Official transfer ceremony of Louisiana Territory to U.S. takes place in St. Louis.
1804–1806: The Lewis and Clark Expedition explores the new territory.
On April 12, 1804, William Ross is a witness to the marriage bond of John Tucker & Phaney (Fany) Smith. I wonder the association William had to these two. Witnesses present to sign a marriage contract or bond could be family, friends, neighbors, or the clerk of the court.
On June 4, 1804, William and Eliza have a daughter, Martha Patsy Ross. She would marry Joseph Marion Kirkpatrick and die in about 1848 in Washington County, Missouri. (Note: What is the source of Martha's birth date?)
On January 9, 1804, (See Power of Attorney) William is a witness on a Power of Attorney from Joseph McGee of Moore County, North Carolina, to James Currin, to conduct business on his land on the East side of the Mississippi (Illinois) for the purpose of an open road from the Ohio River to his land which he bought from William Smith to establish a public ferry. William Ross would have an interest in this ferry that would be crossing from Illinois to his land across the river in Missouri.
On September 20, 1804, William Ross assigns the land to John and Robert Gibbony. (See purchase above) (See Deed) One year, 5 months, 15 days later, William sold the landfor the same amount he purchased it in the amount of $200.
On January 6, 1806, William Ross signed a Petition with other citizens of Cape Girardeau to keep Governor Jeames Wilkinson. (Click on the link to read the .pdf as I included a lot of my research and information in a synopis, as well as links to original books of interest.) This is where learning about my ancestors to bring them to life causes me to learn history! Many Missourians petitioned to keep Governor Wilkinson in his position, but in the end, it was revealed he was a scoundrel. Wilkinson and Aaron Burr had conspired in treason wanting to take over the whole west of Mississippi River to start his own country as a separate Western United States when Wilkinson betrayed Burr and turned him in to President Jefferson. It turns out that Wilkinson himself was the worst scoundrel! He was the highly paid secret "Agent 13" for Spain giving them intelligence! I believe a reason for these petitions involved land claims and concessions and include those thoughts in my writing.
On November 1807, William lost his first sibling, Mildred, who was 3 1/2 years old. He traveled to visit family in the area of the Kentucky and Tennessee border, to a place near what is now known as the Port Royal Mills, where his brother Reuben was living (per the book mentioned herein). Here is a book excerpt of this visit,
"While living here your grandfather (Reuben) was visited by his brother William Ross, who had heard of his arrival in this country. This brother, soon after leaving the army at the close of the Revolutionary War, had come west and settled in what is now Missouri, but was at that time known as Louisiana, a part the then vast domains of Spain* (This is a historical mistake. The Louisiana territory originally belonged to France, but in 1762 was ceded to Spain. In 1800 it was ceded back to France, and in 1803 during Mr. Jefferson's administration, it was purchased by the United States for fifteen million dollars. If this were the place, it would be interesting to show why the great Napoleon was willing to sell so valuable a possession at that time.) The place he selected for a home while still unmarried was near the Mississippi River below the old French town called by the early French adventurers Cape Girardeau, and in a "bottom" famous for its deep and fertile soil. They had not met before since your grandfather (Reuben) was a little boy.
I (James Ross the author and son of Reuben) was present at their meeting. It was very affectionate. They held each other in a long embrace and shed tears freely. He had wandered so far from home--nearly a thousand miles--and been so long absent and lost sight of by his family, that he had come to be regarded very much as one dead. I have heard that he encountered almost incredible hardships and dangers during his long journey on foot from the shores of the Atlantic to the Mississippi, while passing with his rifle on his shoulder through the deep forests and savage Indian tribes. He was very gentle and affectionate, and in consequence we all became much attached to him, considering the short time he remained with us.
He greatly desired your grandfather (Reuben) to remove from where he was and settle near him, describing the country in which he lived as surpassed by none in point of fertility of soil, and in the fall of the next year, your grandfather (Reuben) went to see him and to look at the country. But from what he saw of it he concluded it must be unhealthy, and was afraid to take his family there.
In the autumn of 1836, long afterwards, I (James Ross the author) had occasion to visit that country myself. I learned that he, his wife, and some of his children had been dead many years, and the rest had left there and gone farther west, no one could tell me where. I went to the house where he had lived, but it was occupied by strangers, who knew nothing of the family. It was a pretty place, situated on a little stream called Cape-la-Cruce, near the western bank of the great river."
In December 1816, William Ross paid a territorial tax imposed on the first Monday in December for the amount of $5 for a ferry license, as found in the December 2019 Collage of Cape County. I believe this to be a ferry across the Mississippi River to Thebes, Illinois.
In February 1818, William Ross's land is included in a survey in Cape Girardeau District, and Twyappity Township (click to view).
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This is the survey overlaid a current day section map. Read more about it in the download.
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This is the overlaid survey over the section map of today, zoomed in, so that we can see where the tract is located in relation to present day roads. Again, see the download for more information.
William Ross died in May 25, 1820, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri. According to his Will & probate file, he has one wife, Jane, and five children, John, Enoch, Bethany, Martha, and Mary. Since John is listed twice in the same sentence, he may have had a sixth child. His Will was signed on May 24, 1820, and was proved & filed on on May 26, 1820. It would seem he signed his Will on his death bed, so likely died on the 25th between the two dates. Of special interest to me, I note Joseph Kirkpatrick, Martha's husband-to-be bought one steer from the estate at the cost of $12.50. also, see page 44 of my transcription for some interesting facts on Judge Steinbeck.
(Note: Where is he buried?)
Eliza Jane Allen Ross died in 1840 in Cape Girardeau, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri.
(Note: What is the source of this death date and place? Where is she buried?)
William Ross, as a Baptist, was the delegate representing the Tywappity Church for a Bethany Association. Apple Creek and Bethel Church were also a part of the Association. (Note: where is documentation on this?)
There is an Apple Creek Presbyterian Church just east of Pocahontas, Missouri, which is an inactive congregation, but descendants periodically have events at the church building. The founders were a number of families from North Carolina (just as was William Ross). This is not to be confused with Apple Creek Baptist Church that was just about a mile east of Oak Ridge, Missouri. The cemetery is still there, but has lost its original name, which technically should be Apple Creek Baptist Church. It is called Wilson Cemetery for the African American family that still uses the cemetery, or Concord Cemetery, which is for an unincorporated African American community that used to be just south of the location.
In OLD APPLE CREEK CHURCH and Its Early Membership by John A. Hope of St. Louis Mo, published in 1926 by The Missouri Cash-Book in Jackson, Missouri, a Ross family is mentioned. Please read my notes with page extractions and fix your genealogy trees. This book is about the Presybterian Church, but in error mixes in this Baptist family.
You will often see mentions of the Baptist church in regional records, but I do not believe they survived Civil War times as an active congregation. I have never seen any indication the church minutes or other records survived. (Bill Eddleman when I asked him about any possible baptism records)
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The below is from other information online, here to help me find records. William Ross WikiTree. I will delete the below when I insert the information in the above biography I am writing. ----
In John Mason Peck's Memoirs he reports visiting and preaching there. William was an active Baptist in the Bethany Association and named a daughter Bethany.
Publication Citizens of Missouri, 1787-1810 Vol. 1 by Frances Ingmire, page 13 William ROSS claiming 420 arpens of land situated on the Mississippi District Cape Girardeau, produces to a board of concession from Zenon Trudeau, Lt. Governor, dated 5 January 1798 a plat of survey dated 7 December 1798 certified 5 January 1800.
The following testimony in the foregoing claim taken by Frederick Bates, Commissioner by authority from the Board at Cape Girardeau, 2 June 1808.
Andrew Ramsay, Sr. duly sworn says claimant settled in the spring of 1797, lived in a camp and in the following year, cleared, enclosed and cultivated premises inhabited and cultivated by or for claimant to the present day. Upwards of 20 acres now in cultivation, an orchard planted some years ago. The board confirmed to William ROSS 420 aprens of land as described in a plat survey certified 5 January 1800 and found on record in Book A page 197 of the recorders office (Certificate No. 226).
In American State Papers volumne 2 Land Claims in Missouri Territory, page 571 the land commissioners confirmed the Spanish Territorial Grant to William ROSS 1 May 1809 No. 226 of 420 arpens on the Mississippi River in Cape Girardeau District.
Giving special attention to the following we find in Deed Book C page 134 18 January 1810 William ROSS and Elizabeth, his wife, to Steven Stilley. For diverse good causes, ___ acres in Tywappity Twp; beginning at William ROSS upper corner on the bank of the Mississippi River, and bounded by the river. Signed William ROSS, Elizabeth ROSS. Witness Joseph Mosby, John Mosby, Edmond Hogan (Justice of the Peace). Recorded 25 January 1810.
In Carter's Territorial Papers William is in the lists Cape Girardeau residents who signed petitions
1806 Petition to Congress to inhabitants of the territory 9 September 1811 William's son Enoch also signed. A Noah ROSS signed also. Pages 389 and 471.
Goodspeed History of Southwest Missouri embracing a Historical Account of ____ is Cape Girardeau. At this time Tywappity was in Cape Girardeau County. Now is Scott County page 550.
Several land records list William land location, such as bounded on the South of William ROSS land. These are not listed here. Two that might be of interest to other people are the following: 1 September 1813 Edmond Hogan and Tatsey, wife, of Stuart County, Tennessee selling Cape Girardeau, Missouri land 31 September 1817 Deed Book D Stephen Stilley, late of Cape Girardeau County. The following most important to us is:
Deed Book E page 536, 20 November 1819 Stephen Stilley and Elizabeth, wife of Polk County, Illinois to William ROSS and Jane, wife, for the sum of $300 for ___ arpens in Tywappity Twp on the Mississippi River, beginning at the NE corner of William ROSS's survey. Signed Stephen Stilley, Elizabeth Stilley. Witness Edward Kew, John Baldwin, A.G. Young, Justice of the Peace in Gallatin County, Illinois, William Kelso Justice of the Peace. Recorded 17 November 1820. Stephen had given William $400.00 in 1817 for this land.
NOTE: Here we have Jane as William ROSS wife and is not the first wife in land transaction bottom of preceeding page named Elizabeth. Source of land records in Collage of Cape County volume 23 number 2 pages 20 and 21.
On the second sabbath in June 1816 the organization of Bethel Association met at Bethel Church and was opened by prayer by Thomas Donohue. A serman was delivered by Elder James Edwards, after which an organization was effected. William ROSS was one of the delegates represented with Tywappit Church. Apple Creek Church was first known as an arm of Bethel Church and was given a second organization about 1820