Donald Hugh Ross (bef. 1780 - 1853)

Born before 18 Oct 1780 in Durness, Sutherland, Scotland

Ancestors

Husband of Isobel (Calder) Ross — married about 1811 in Scotland

Descendants

Died 22 Mar 1853 after age 72 in Ontario, Canada

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Donald Ross is a member of Clan Ross.

Donald Ross migrated from Scotland to Canada.

Biography

Birth

Donald Ross was baptized on 18 October 1780 in Durness Parish, Sutherland, Scotland. His baptism in the parish register did not identify his date of birth. He was the first child fathered by William Ross of Borley, and likely the only child. The Durness Parish birth register kept by Rev. John Thomson identified Donald's father as "a very young lad, unmarried," and his mother as "Janet alias Nin lye roy, a single woman in Borley," a clever phrase that intentionally omits the clan of the unmarried birth mother by identifying her as "Janet daughter of a man named Iye with red hair." The register entry leaves a blank spot where the surname should be. ^[1] The infant identifed as "Donald Ross" in the Durness Parish Register was later in life known as Donald Hugh Ross.

Life

Ancestors

Donald's two paternal Ross grandparents are known and are genealogy brick walls, while his two maternal grandparents are less certain.

Paternal Grandparents

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Maternal Grandparents

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Early Life

Donald Hugh Ross was the first grandchild of Hugh Ross and Jean Manson of Borley. Donald was two years younger than Hugh's youngest child, his aunt Janet Ross, five years younger than his uncle John Ross, and nine years younger than his uncle Donald Ross. It is likely that he knew these family members close to his age as childhood playmates, and knew his grandparents Hugh Ross and Jean Manson. It is also possible that he was raised by his grandparents. Donald was nine years older than his MacCulloch cousins in Crosple, who were the grandchildren of Hugh Ross and Jean Manson closest in age to Donald.

FIG. 1 - Map with Borley, Balnakeil, Island Hoan, and other settlements near the village of Durness. The name Island Hoan was commonly used in the Durness Parish Register in the late 1700s for the island at the seaward end of Loch Erribol on the north coast of Scotland, when it was inhabited by crofting squatters. The modern name for this island is Eilean Hoan. It is currently an uninhabited nature reserve. [2]

Later Years

Marriage

No parochial record has been found for the marriage of Donald Hugh Ross and Isobel Calder. However, the baptisms of their children are in the Durness Parish Register.

Children

1. Donald Ross was baptised 6 April 1812.
2. Merran Ross was baptised 26 June 1814.
3. William Ross was baptised 8 June 1816.
4. Mary Ross was baptised 27 September 1818.
5. Robert Hugh Ross was baptised 7 October 1820.
6. Janet Ross was baptised 26 February 1823.
7. Jean Ross was baptised 25 February 1825.
8. Willina Ross was baptised 15 July 1827.
9. Isobell Ross was baptised 10 October 1829.
10. John Ross was baptised 9 June 1832.

Ross Inheritance in 1837

Quartermaster John Ross was the firstborn son of Hugh Ross and Jean Manson, and was an older brother of William Ross the father of Donald Hugh Ross. John Ross was raised at Borley in Durness Parish. He was 19 years old when he left home in late 1777 or early 1778 to join the British Army. This was two or three years before the birth of his nephew Donald Ross. John Ross enlisted in the 71st Highland Regiment of Foot, served in the regiment for 40 years, and retired 25 December 1818 as a Quartermaster on full pay. After the army he lived at Musselburgh, near Edinburgh. John Ross never married or had children. He died on 15 March 1837. In his will John Ross named Rev. William Findlater, Minister of Durness Parish, as Executor, and bequeathed his estate of 4,000 pounds to be divided equally between five Ross family members whom he identified as follows:

... I hereby bequeath to Donald Ross now or lately residing at Pictou in Nova Scotia, John Ross residing at Boularderie Island of Cape Breton in North America both my brothers and to my sisters Barbara Ross widow of the late Kenneth McCulloch residing in Saingobeg Parish of Durness aforesaid Janet Ross wife of Angus McLeod Farmer in the said Parish of Durness and Donald Ross my nephew son of the deceased William Ross my brother and found lately residing in Isle of Hoan Parish of Durness aforesaid ... ^[3]

Each of the five heirs of the estate of Quartermaster John Ross received 800 pounds (UK) in 1837, which would be approximately equivalent to $150,000 Canadian dollars in 2020. ^[4] For Donald Hugh Ross the inheritance changed everything - within two years he moved his family to Canada and purchased a farm in Ontario.

Add details on Catherine Ross, born August 1837, baptised 8 February 1839.

Emigration from Scotland to Canada, 1839

Narrative by descendants of Donald Ross and Isobel Calder

The Ross Family - narrative written in 1944

Early in 1839, Donald Ross and his wife Isabella Caulder sailed from the small coastal village of Durness under the guidance and with the assistance financially and otherwise of his cousin John Ross. They came in a sailing ship from Leith, the Port of Edinborough to Montreal, thence up the Ottawa and the Rideau to Merrickville where they were met by a relative, Hugh Morrison ^[5], who had emigrated from the same port a few years earlier. The two elder sons proceeded on to Kingston and down the St. Lawrence to Brockville with the family effects; the balance of the family travelled across the country to Brockville.

On June 11th, 1839, Donald Ross bought of John Reid the half of Lot 4, Concession 3, of Elizabethtown for the sum of three hundred and forty seven pounds, ten shillings. They had ten children. Mary married John Thompson, and after living in Brockville for a few years came to the farm that he had acquired, and raised a family of ten boys. Four of the boys made homes for themselves in the neighboring Republic; the remainder lived in Matilda, and have now passed to the Great Beyond, except the writer of this article, who was born in 1864 and lived in Matilda until 1937, when he moved to Williamsburg. He lived for forty seven years on the farm acquired from the Johnstons.

[part of a family history compiled by Edmund Henry Thompson, Williamsburg, Ontario, 1944]

The Ross Family - narrative written in 1936

Below is the text of a two-page, hand-written account of the Ross family, undated and unsigned, that appears to have been utilized by Edmund Thompson in the excerpt from his history noted above. It is believed to have been written in January, 1936, probably by Isabella M. Ross.

Page 1

Early in June 1839 Donald Ross and his wife Isabella Calder sailed from the small coastal village on the north shore of Sutherlandshire called Durness under the guidance and with the assistance financially and otherwise of his cousin Captain John Ross. They came in a sailing ship from Leith in the Port of Edinburg to Montreal thence up the Ottawa and the Rideau to Merrickville where they were met a relative Hugh Morrison who had emigrated from the same port a few years earlier. The two older sons William and Donald proceded up the Rideau to Kingston and down the St. Lawrence to Brockville with the family effects On June 11 1839 Donald Ross bought of John Reid the rear half of Lot 4 3rd Co Elizabethtown for the sum of £347–10 shil

They had ten children

Mary married John Thompson

Jenett married John Cranston

Donald married Miss McKay lived on the northeast ten acres of the farm

Page 2

And died leaving one daughter Hughena MacKay Ross

Robert married Mary Dalton

Jane unmarried and died at the age of 93

William unmarried died a young man

Willeamena married Sidney Easton

Isabella married George Cranston

Catherine married Frank Ashton

John born in this country died a child

The descendants of Donald Ross and Mary Dalton are as follows

Donald W Ross whom we buried on Monday 13

Dr Walter Ross dead

Jaenett Ross "

Wm Ross "

Scott Ross "

Isabella M Ross very much alive at the present time at the age of 76

The Eastons were 4 boys all gone

" Cranstons 2 " & 3 girls all gone

The George " family one or two alive

Of the Ashtons 2 surviving and two Thompsons

[Note - the spelling and punctuation has been kept as found in original document (hopefully without typos!); the family shown as “the descendants of Donald Ross and Mary Dalton” should be those of Robert Ross and Mary Dalton.]

1851 Canada Census

Canada West, Leeds County, Elizabethtown Township ^[6]

1. Daniel Ross*, farmer, birthplace Scotland, religion Presbyterian, age next birthday 71 years, male.
2. Iasbella Ross, birthplace Scotland, religion Presbyterian, age next birthday 60 years, female.
3. Maryan Ross, birthplace Scotland, religion Presbyterian, age next birthday 19 years, female.
4. Robert Ross, labourer, birthplace Scotland, religion Presbyterian, age next birthday 27 years, male.
5. Catherine Ross, birthplace Scotland, religion Presbyterian, age next birthday 12 years, female.
6. Mary Ross, birthplace Scotland, religion Presbyterian, age next birthday 21 years, female.

Notes: Donald, not Daniel.

Death and Legacy

Donald Hugh Ross died 22 March 1853. He was 74 years old. ^[7] He was buried at Read's Cemetery, Augusta, Grenville, Ontario, Canada West, British North America. ^[8]

Research Notes

1. FamilySearch ID - LCX4-VMQ
2. Family histories written by Edmund Henry Thompson and [apparently] written by Isabella M. Ross as presented above.

Sources

1. ↑ Donald Ross baptism, 18 October 1780, son of William Ross and "Janet alias Nin Iye roy", Durness, Sutherland, Scotland, Old Parish Registers Births 048/ 10 34, page 34 of 184, National Records of Scotland, https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, accessed 11 May 2019. ["1780 - William Ross alias Machustian mac Eunicoun, a very young lad unmarried in Borley and Janet ... alias nin Iye roy a single woman in Borley had a Child baptized but not in lawful marriage called Donald 18th October"]
2. ↑ "Eilean Hoan," island in Loch Eribol, Wikipedia contributors, web site accessed 31 May 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eilean_Hoan
3. ↑ Last Will and Settlement of the late John Ross, filed 16 June 1837, Wills and testaments Reference SC70/1/55, Edinburgh Sheriff Court Inventories, images 406-409, digital images of hand written records, National Records of Scotland, https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, accessed 27 March 2019.
4. ↑ Inflation calculator, based on statistics publish by USA Department of Labor, https://www.in2013dollars.com, accessed 8 December 2020.
5. ↑ Hugh Morrison was the husband of Donald's first cousin Joanna MacCulloch. Donald was an only child but he had 15 Ross first cousins in Durness and 16 more Ross first cousins in Canada. Next, count the Calder first cousins of Isobel.
6. ↑ 1851 Census, Canada West, Leeds County, Elizabethtown Township, Part 1, Daniel Ross household, lines 2 through 8, page 38, item 19 of 24, enumerator Liberty Wativus, Library and Archives Canada, https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng, digital image of analog photograph of handwritten census enumeration form, document name e002356511.jpg, accessed 23 November 2023.
7. ↑ Donald Ross death, 22 March 1854, age 74 years, Births, Marriages, Deaths, Notices from the Brockville papers 1850-1868, Leeds and Grenville Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society, (Brockville, ON: The author, 1989, pub. 89-2), Family History Library, 35 N. West Temple Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84150 USA, 971.373/B1 V2j; v. 2, p. 19.
8. ↑ Donald Hugh Ross, Find a Grave memorial 128122156, Find a Grave database with images, citing Read's Cemetery, Augusta, Leeds and Grenville United Counties, Ontario, Canada, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/128122156/donald-hugh-ross, accessed 24 November 2023.