searching for Susan Ross, Wythe Co. Va.

I have been trying to find a birth record for John Wesley Ross born Oct. 16, 1860 in Rural Retreat Virginia. Just finished reading the Wythe County Virginia birth records for 1860 and 1861. His birth was not recorded there. However I ran into only one Ross birth recorded in those two years. It was in 1861. The father was listed as Peter Powell Ross. The child was listed as Sampson Ross. The birth place was listed as Mt. Airy which was the old name for Rural Retreat. In checking the 1860 and 1870 census for Wythe County, Peter Powell Ross was not listed in either. Sampson Ross was not listed in the 1870 census for Wythe County.

Does anyone have any information on Peter Powell Ross?

From the family Bible:

John Wesley Ross born Oct. 16, 1860 Va.

Wife, Alice Virginia Pierce born Feb. 15, 1863 Va.

Children: Amanda Myrtle born Sept. 1883 married John F. Coley

Mary Edith born March 28, 1885 married James James

Lottie Jackson born Apr. 8, 1893 died age 3

Hallie Virginia born Oct. 1, 1894 married William Shelby

McFarlane (she was my grandmother)

John Carl born Mar. 12, 1900

From copy of original marriage record 1882:

John Wesley Ross mother, Susan Ross-father, unknown

Alice Virginia Pierce mother, Ellen Heldreth-father Andrew

Jackson Peirce.

From Alice Virginia Pierce obituary: She was the oldest of 17

children. The records I have show these as follows:

Nancy (no birth date) married Bishop

Stewart (no birth date)

William (no birth date)

Alice Virginia born Feb. 15, 1863

Jennie born 1865

Charles born 1870

Joseph born 1871

Minnie born 1872

George W. born 1874

Cordelia A. born 1875

Guy Lawrence born 1877

Lewis born 1878

Oliver born 1879

John G. born 1880

Robert born 1881

Price born 1884

Edna born 1885.

Copy of a death record I believe is John Wesley Ross’s mother:

Wythe County VA Death listings:

Susan Ross (died) Aug. 18, 1891, Female, POD Speedwell,

flux, 67 years, Parents Cherine and ____ Ross, POB Grayson

County Va. Informant J. W. Ross, son.

Copy of Alice Virginia (Pierce) Ross’s parents marriage record:

Jan. 7, 1869

Andrew Jackson Peirce/23 yrs 14th Apr. last/single/Wythe Co./

(s/o) Andrew Peirce and Susan Ross.

Ellen Heldreth/23 years Nov. last/single/Wythe Co/ (d/o)

Jacob Heldreth & Nancy Crigger (Creger)

Copy of death record for Andrew Jackson Peirce:

Andrew Jackson Peirce, Aug. 21, 1888, male, 44 years,

4 months, 4 days, dropsy, POD Black Lick, farmer,

spouse, Ellen Peirce, mother Susan Peirce, informant-wife.

This leaves me with two original records that show Susan (Ross)

Peirce as Andrew Jackson Pierce’s mother. There is one original

record that shows Andrew Peirce as Andrew Jackson Pierce’s

father. I’m not just looking at transcriptions. A lady went in

and took photos of the original records for me. This makes me

think that John Furr Pierce and Elize Jane Jolly had a son named

Andrew Jackson Pierce, but not the Andrew Jackson Pierce in

my family.

I have been trying to find the two Susan Ross mentioned above

for over a year. The Ross families are very complicated. There

are many instances of different families having children with the

same name. There are also instances of two children in the

same family having the same name if one died.

Some confusion arose until I found that Andrew Jackson Peirce

and Ellen Heldreth had 4 of their 17 children before they

married and the other 13 after they married.

I really appreciate all the information you posted. Will go over

it very carefully. Thank you again.

Stacey,

I really, really appreciate all your help.

I believe that the Jackson Peirce living with John Clemmons, the school

teacher is my Andrew Jackson Peirce. Also James Heldreth is probably

Ellen’s brother.

I have a court record that shows an Andrew Jackson Peirce (pauper)

bound out to Joel and Company. At the moment I would have to hunt

for the record in my two foot deep pile of notes. However this

particular Andrew Jackson Peirce was the correct age. Some of the

agreements for the person bound out included a minimum amount

of education. The age when he was with the school teacher matches.

250 acres of Rural Retreat remained in the ownership of Peter Cormany,

a son of Michael. These lands became the lands of Joel Company.

Peter’s son who married a sister of Solomon Buck, was named Joel.

Joel and Company remained in the hands of that family till the

early 1900s.

In one of the census records I have notes on I remember the Cormanys

living in Black Lick also.

I ran across one other interesting article early in my research which I

did not save and have never been able to find again. It was when

I was reading about the lead mines in Wythe County making shot

for the confederacy. In the article there was a mention of some kind

of boarding house for the mines. There was a really long list of mens

names and one woman. The woman was a Susan Ross.

Thank you again.

Found my notes: In The Lost Children of Wythe County 1790-1878 by Mary

Kegley on Page 186: April 8, 1853, Darius Gose, overseer of the poor, agreement

with Joel Company to bind out Andrew J. Pearce, a pauper till age 21, as

ordered by the court on December 13, 1852, to learn the trade of farming. To

have a good horse, saddle, bridle, and a good suit of “Janes” clothes at 21

and $12.

Stacy,

You are really good at genealogy research.:D

I agree with you on the first two paragraphs. I have been thinking the

same thing about the 1850 census listing Susan Ross. That Andrew

could possibly be the Andrew J. Peirce that married Ellen Heldreth.

I’ve also thought that possibly the two Susan’s were the same person

and John Wesley Ross and Andrew Jackson Peice could be half brothers.

Then I am slightly lost on the reasoning. I have seen all the census

records you mention. I do not have the cemetery records. The place

I get lost is in the 1850 census Margaret J. Pierce is listed as the

wife of Andrew J. Pierce. In the same 1850 census Susan Ross is

listed living with David and Andrew Ross. I do not think Margaret

and Susan were the same person. I do not follow how later you

think that Margaret was his daughter rather than his wife.

The scenario I’ve been kicking around in my head is that maybe this

is the same Andrew J. Pierce. The Andrew Jackson Pierce that married

Ellen Heldreth was born in 1845. Marriage records show that Andrew

J. Peirce married Margaret in 1846. I’m wondering if he could have

been living with Susan. Then he left her and married Margaret.

The possible reason that comes to mind for me is that if Susan was

native american according to Virginia law at the time only the

oldest white male child was entitled to inherit. Then he was

expected to take care of his mother.

Also none of the census for Andrew and Margaret Pierce list a child

named Andrew.

Hope you don’t mind my questioning your conclusions. I don’t mean to

be negative. I’m just trying to sort this all out. During my research

I have followed over 80 Susan Ross (both birth name and married

name) and keep coming up with something that doesn’t quite fit. If

I can figure out which Susan Ross these are I can probably put the

rest of the history quite a ways back from my notes.

Thanks for all the effort you are putting into this. I know what it

takes to find all the things you are finding. It really helps to have

another perspective on this from someone as apparently talented

at research as you are.