James Ross (1757 - 1825)

Born 1757 in Ireland

Son of John Ross and Jane Rebecca (Cross) Ross

Husband of Marie Henriette (LeJeune) Lejeune — married 18 Dec 1792 in Sydney, Cape Breton Colony

Descendants

Died Dec 1825 at about age 68 in North East Margaree, Inverness, Nova Scotia, Canada

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Dawn Horn [send private message] and James Randall Adamakis [send private message]

Biography

According to the United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada, James Ross was born ca 1757 and died Margaree on December 251825. He served in the American Revolution as a Private in William Cunningham's Company,76th Regiment of Foot, the MacDonald of Sleat Highlanders. He was discharged Nov. 1 1783 in Shelbourne, N.S. and arrived in Cape Breton by 1787 and was living in Little Bras d'or. On March 18, 1793, James married Marie Tharsile Henriette LeJeune, age 31, widowed twice. James and his family were living in Margaree by the year 1800.^[1]

Lark Szick wrote: " In 1800 James and Henriette arrived in North East Margaree Valley from Scotland. His brothers William born 1757 Ireland, Edmund born 1770 Nova Scotia, and David born 1772 Nova Scotia, all arrived Nova Scotia between 1801 and 1805. These are the son's of John, born Feb 17,1732 in Glenbucket Aberdeenshire Scotland & Rebecca Jane (Cross) Ross, born in 1736 Ulster Ireland of an Irish soldier, who was granted 600 acres in Nova Scotia in 1772.

James and Marie Henriette or as fondly named Granny Ross, have 5 children: l. James Ross Jr. b. 1795 d. 1796 age 1. ll. Mary Barbara Ross born 1797 d.1798, age 1. lll. John Ross b. 1798 lV.Joseph Ross b. March 14, 1799 died Aug 7, 1879. He married Sarah "Sally" Burton on June 29, 1821. b. Dec. 19, 1799, d. July 1, 1887, d/o William & Nancy(Cranton) of Dorsetshire, England."^[2]

This is what the J.L. MacDougall had to say about the Ross brothers...

THE PIONEER ROSS FAMILY.

In the last quarter of the 18th century four unmarried Ross brothers came, with other Scottish emigrants from Scotland to America. The names of these brothers were James, William, David and Edmund. Naturally, they wished to be and remain near unto each other in this new world of wilderness. Finding no suitable place to locate on in Nova Scotia proper, they moved eastwardly into the Island of Cape Breton. They first visited and examined the Southern and Southeastern sections of the Island coast, but fell upon no place that appealed to them for a settlement side by side. Then they proceeded Northwardly to a place now called The Little Narrows." Here they tarried for a time; but did not yet feel that they had found the place they wanted.

In the summer of 1800 the brother James Ross set out from the Little Narrows, with an Indian guide, to explore the more northern lands of Cape Breton. At that time it was a tense and tedious track from the Little Narrows to the lower part of the river of North East Margaree. Mr. Ross knew nothing of the country; the Indian was as familiar with it as were the roving moose and caribou. After a tiresome journey the redman conducted his white charge to the summit of a high mountain, and, with a theatrical gesture, pointed out to him the promised land, "The North East of Margaree," exclaiming in broken English,—"Dat place best in worl" for paleface good man?" Mr. Ross was impressed. The following summer he came and blazed out a future home and farm for himself. One year later his three brothers above named came and settled by his side.

the four brothers together appropriating unto themselves 2200 acres of superior land. This was the nucleus of colonization in the noble valley of North East Margaree.

It may be worthy of mention that those four brothers took unto themselves four wives of four different nationalities. James' wife was French; William's Scotch; David's Irish and Edmund's Dutch. The numerous descendants of those Ross pioneers thus represent, not one but several noble races.

The wife of James Ross was a French lady by the name of Harriet Le Jeune. She was the first white woman that came to North East Margaree. She was married three times. At the time of her first marriage in France she was but thirteen years of age. By that marriage she had one child named Eusebe. Shortly after this event her husband was drowned. She was married a second time, without issue, to a Captain Briand who was killed in the second seige of Louisburg in 1758. This was shortly after their marriage. She subsequently married James Ross, with issue: James, Mary Barbara, Joseph and Jean. The first two named died in infancy. Joseph settled down on the 400 acre farm formerly owned by his father. Jean married Brazeil Ryan: subsequently she and her husband moved away to Grand River, Codroy, Newfoundland.

The memory of Mrs. James Ross will always be honored in this district. She was an ardent Catholic, her husband an equally ardent Protestant; but they lived a happy, useful, peaceful wedded life. She was an admirable helpmeet "but and ben", and was kindly and charitably disposed. Her willing ministrations to her sick and suffering neighbors will never be forgotten. She was brave, also, and would not always run away from difficulty and danger. She brought her own musket from Louisburg, and could shoot an evil-eyed bear with deadly presence of mind and precision. She died at her home at the Northeast in May 1860, one hundred and two years after the death of her second husband! Her mortal remains lie buried in the Catholic cemetery overlooking her long loved home at Margaree. She made several trips across the Atlantic before the fall of Louisburg. Some years after her marriage to Mr. Ross she went back to France to see her parents. On arriving there she found that her mother had died, whereupon she brought her father, Dionne La Jeune, back with her to the North East, where he remained till his death in 1825. Her last husband, James Ross, also, attained to a ripe age, and was buried on his own farm where a stately apple tree, well attended and preserved, marks his last earthly place of rest. His fine old farm is now owned and occupied by his great-grandson Thomas E. Roes.^[3]

James Ross (61) appears on the 1818 census of Margarie. He had been on the island for 35 years and states his birthplace as Ireland, but that his parents were from Scotland (this verifies some of the information from his father's profile). He is married at this time and has 2 children living with him^[4]

James Ross was the third husband of Marie Tharsile Lejeune a.k.a. Marie Henrietta LeJeune a.k.a. "Granny Ross". Marie was Roman Catholic and James was a Scottish Soldier who was Protestant. When they married, they agreed their male children would be raised as Protestants and their female children as Roman Catholics.

Research Notes

I think I should note that this Ross family is extremely tough to track because they are very abundant and ALSO because in the History of Inverness County by JL MacDougall the family tables to begin with are quite confusing (i.e. they are not in order in the literature). This confuses everyone from the get go and leads to a lot of misunderstanding.

The family of William Ross has no table (John, William Donald, Jennie, Esther and Mary) and is the family which moved to Washabuck, Vic Co and has very little info in History of Inv Co. The family of James Ross is the first table (James, Mary Barbara, Joseph, and Jean). The family of David Ross is the second table (John, David, William, Jacob, Jennie, Sarah, Margaret, Ann, and Mary) The family of Edmund Ross is the third largest table inserted sideways (Eliza, William, James, Armenia, Harriet, Edmund, David, Rebecca, Theophilius, Ann, and Phoebe) Both Hart and Macdougall claim that William's son William moved to the Pacific coast (true) and never married (not true).

People looking to learn more about and connect with Ross descendants can join the online facebook group^[5]

The History of Inverness County can be read online and one can see the names of the descendants of James and his brothers.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada,"Loyalist Trails 2008-24: June 15, 2008, [1]
2. ↑ Szick, Lark B. , Ross Family of Margaree, Cape Breton: Pioneers and Descendants. Family History Library; International
3. ↑ MacDougall, J. L., History of Inverness County, Nova Scotia, 1922, published Truro, Nova Scotia, Chapter XXX-North East Margaree
4. ↑ Holland's Description of Cape Breton, Census 1818 accessed via Ancestry.ca
5. ↑ Ross Families of Margaree Cape Breton Nova Scotia,[2]
6. ↑ History of Inverness County-The Pioneer Ross Family, 30.htm

• History of Inverness County, JL MacDougall, 1922
• Holland's Description of Cape Breton, Census 1818 accessed via Ancestry.ca

DNA CONFIRMATION * Paternal relationship is confirmed through Y-chromosome DNA test results on Family Tree DNA. Greg Ross, FTDNA kit # B726713, and his 5th cousin 1x removed, Mark Ross, FTDNA kit # 956400, match at a Genetic Distance of 3 on 111 markers, thereby confirming their direct paternal lines back to their most-recent common ancestor who is John Ross, the 4x great grandfather of Greg Ross and 5x great grandfather of Mark Ross.

• **Genealogical Listing for Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nations complied by Scott Garnier.
  • Canadian Biography of "Granny Ross"