Over 100 years after her
death, a new marker was erected at the Bedford Co., PA grave
of our ancestor,
Rebecca (Ross) Barefoot, claiming
she was the granddaughter of George Ross, a Signer of the
Declaration of Independence.
Family tradition stated that she was the daughter of Col. James
Ross,
a Revolutionary War veteran
and son of George Ross. A number of family members joined the DAR
or
SAR claiming lineage through
Col. James Ross and "George the Signer." Among the
records cited in
support were the grave marker
and other secondary sources such as the Barefoot reunion brochures.
In 1997, my distant cousin
Becky Barefoot and I decided to research our common ancestor,
Benjamin
Barefoot of Chester Co., PA who had married this Rebecca
Ross
in 1787. Their eldest son, James Barefoot,
moved to Bedford Co., PA
in 1809. We could find little information regarding the life
of Benjamin Barefoot. We therefore decided to look more closely
at Rebecca's family, thinking that perhaps her well-documented
family would give us clues
to our Barefoots. Ironically, the opposite happened. The more
we read about
the Ross family, the more
uncomfortable we became with Rebecca's assumed place among them:
despite
diligent research we had
never seen a reference to the possibility of James having an
eldest daughter
named Rebecca in the many
works written up about this Ross family.
Among our family records
are photocopies of pages from Rebecca Ross's prayer book, which
she bought
in 1785. The entries in
the prayer book record her marriage, the birth of her children,
and an unexplained
death record: that of a
man named William Ross, who died on February 9, 1818. None of our
family records
explained the relationship
of William Ross to Rebecca Ross. Nor could we find proof of him as part of
"The Signer's"
family.
In June 1997, I sifted through
the contents of the "George Ross the Signer"
proof file at the DAR Library.
There was nothing in the
file that proved or disproved a connection to our family. Then
I came across a
copy of a typewritten page
from a genealogy compiled by Robert Brinley that had the
following information
underlined in red pencil:
"…[Mary Ann Ross] was the sister of William Ross…died
February 9, 1818…
Mary's sister, Rebecca Ross,
married into the Bearfoot [sic] family…" Could this be the
William from
Rebecca's prayer book!?
Suddenly we had indications of THREE Ross siblings (Rebecca,
William and
Mary Ann), none whom could
be documented as children of Col. James Ross.
Robert Brinley's book also stated
that William Ross and most of the family of Mary Ann Ross Brinley
were buried in Morgantown,
Caernarvon Twp., Berks Co., PA. According to tax records, there
was a James Ross (who also served in the Revolution) who lived
in Morgantown during this time period with his wife
Ruth (Robinson) Ross. Ruth's
father, William Robinson died in 1768. In his will, William Robinson
left his daughter, Ruth
Ross,
45 acres of land in Caernarvon Twp., Berks Co., PA. This land
was described
as being adjacent to that
of Col. Jacob Morgan, who employed a household servant named Martha
"Patty" Barefoot who was later freed from her indenture by Col.
Morgan's
1792 will. Patty had been in residence
at the Morgan household from
1779. Now we had evidence of a Ross family who lived next door
to a
property where there was
at least one Barefoot in residence. In Chester Co., we also found
a will that had
been filed for William Ross
who died in 1818. These estate papers stated that William Ross was
survived
by three sisters: Margaret
Ross Wells, Mary Ann Ross
Brinley and Rebecca Ross Barefoot.
We now
had proof in primary source
documents, that Rebecca Ross
had at least three siblings, but
still had no proof
connecting them to Col.
James Ross of Lancaster County. Moreover, the information
we found in various
sources regarding Col. James
Ross's
life appeared to be consistent in stating that he had, at most,
four
children: George, Catherine,
Maria, and James.
We have presented this information
to the Barefoot family genealogists so that future editions
of the
published family history
can omit the erroneous information claiming direct descendancy
from Col. James
Ross and "George the Signer." To date,
however, we have been met with silence. Most recently, one of
my letters was published
in the family newsletter, but only after the editor had excised
all information
relating to the erroneous
Ross
lineage.
Nothing would have made
Becky and me happier than finding conclusive proof, or even some
firm basis for
believing, that we are descended
from such a prominent figure as George Ross. I would suggest
that a
good rule of thumb in research
is not to believe something just because it is published in a
family history, printed on a tombstone, or has been accepted
as fact by your family for many years.
While we now have the task
of working on a line that we thought was 'completed,' we feel
good about
reuniting, at least on paper,
our Rebecca with the people she really knew and loved.
By Sharon Sheldon
Direct descendant of Benjamin
Barefoot
& Rebecca Ross
If you are interested in
contacting Sharon with questions or comments on the Barefoot - Ross
family, her address is:
