Stacey,
I have checked the microfilm birth records for Wythe County. I have been able
to find the birth records for Smyth County and whether or not they are
available on interlibrary loan.
I mentioned earlier the article I found that showed a Susan Ross as the only
female in a boarding house for men that worked making lead shot for the
confederacy. While researching I also found one other possibility for Andrew
Pierce, but he was listed in the census for Virginia in 1860. He was living in
a boarding house that housed railroad engineers and other people who worked
for the railroad. In 1860 there was a railroad station in Rural Retreat (Mt. Airy).
So thinking outside the box, he could have been in that area at the time.
The thing that makes me think John Wesley Ross’s mother Susan was never
married, is his marriage record. He was only 22 when he married. At that age
you would think he would have known his father’s name if anybody knew who
his father was.
I found no other children in the Lost Children of Wythe County that I thought
could be even remotely connected. I have seen the first four volumes of Mary
Kegley’s “Early Adventurers of the Western Waters”. I have yet to see her
volume five.
Thank you again for all your help. It would be really wonderful if I could figure
this one out. I have a niece that is very interested in the family genealogy.
She is currently struggling with the West Nile Virus. It would be nice to have
some interesting addition to the family history to give her.