Plenty of stories on this blog have been told about people with the Ross name. Today, I will attempt to tell the story of the first Ross’s to be found in Perry County. I certainly will not be able to definitively explain all of the facts in this tale, and I will not have many documents to share. However, one of the Ross’s would be celebrating his 225th birthday today. How can I resist telling a story like that?

Johann Ross was born on June 17, 1811. At least, that is what our German Family Tree states. John’s information on Family Search gives him a birthday of September 26, 1811. GFT gets its date from a death record. Family Search probably gets its source from Findagrave.com which also gives him a September date of birth. However, Findagrave does not list a source for that date. All of these resources agree that John Ross died on June 17th. Family Search says that Johann was the son of Johann George and Susanna (Schilling) Ross.

Here’s where things get interesting, if not confusing. Johann Ross came to this country in 1852 or 1853. I found two different records for this ship on Family Search. One says it was the ship, Emma, which arrived in 1852, and the other says it was the shop Johann Smidt, which arrived in 1853. Each of those sources show the same passengers. I am going to display 3 different images that are all from that ship’s passenger list. First, here is one that includes Johan. His name is at the bottom of the page, so I will have to display 2 images to get all of the Ross’s.

There are 3 Ross’s listed…Margaret (age 45), John (age 40), and Gertrude (age 21). As near as I can figure, Margaret and John were siblings, and Gertrude either was, or was about to become, John’s wife.

Also on that ship were 2 more Ross’s. One was another Margaret Ross (age 25), along with a baby, Eberhard Ross. Right below these two was a man named Johann Popp. Johann Popp would soon marry Margaret Ross after their arrival in America. All of the passengers shown in these lists were said to be going to Ohio.

On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1853, John Ross married Gertrude Distilerin. Our German Family Tree lists Gertrude’s maiden name as Distle. This couple was married in Hamilton County, Ohio where Cincinnati is located.

By the way, Johann Popp also married Margaret Ross in Cincinnati. According to the Ohio marriage license below, they were married on January 23, 1853 in Hamilton County. This might give more credence to the Popp’s and Ross’s arriving in America in 1852.

According to our German Family Tree, the Ross couple had 10 children. Their first child was born in Ohio, and the next one born in 1856 was baptized in Perry County. That child and the remaining children were baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. When the 1860 census was taken, the Ross household is found living in the Brazeau Township with 3 children. John was a farmer.

Next, we find the Ross’s in the 1870 census with 7 children.

Two more children were born in the 1870’s. Then in 1877, John Ross died at the age of about 65. His death record from the books of Concordia, Frohna is shown below.

The above record says that John died on June 17th, and in the column describing his age, it simply says 66 years. Other nearby death records give a number of years, months, and days for their age at death. Since it says just 66 years for John, that would mean that he was born on the same date as when he died. I am not sure that this was the case. Perhaps the pastor, in this case, Rev. J.F. Koestering, who was the pastor of both Trinity, Altenburg and Concordia, Frohna, was unaware of John’s date of birth and just wrote the age someone told him for John’s age at the time he died. I did not find any other document that confirmed a June 17th birthday for John.

Gertrude Ross was a widow when the 1880 census was taken. She was living with 7 of her children. She is called a farmer, but 2 older sons were said to be laborers. I figure they were helping with the farming.

It would be interesting to look at the 1890 census to see what kind of Ross household was left, but we are unable to do so. The 1900 census shows Gertrude living by herself, still in the Brazeau Township. This census included a place to record the month and year of birth. If John was still alive, then we could possibly eliminate an incorrect date of birth for him, but we cannot.

Gertrude Ross died in 1909 at the age of 77. She died the year before Missouri started keeping death certificates. I am able to display her death record from the books of Concordia, Frohna.

John and Gertrude Ross each have entries on Findagrave.com for the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in Frohna, but only Gertrude has a gravestone photo. Gertrude’s stone says she was born on July 3, 1832. This is the only place where I found evidence that this was her date of birth, other than her death record shown above which tells how old she was in years, months, and days. I did not take the time to see if the birthdays agreed with one another.

After looking at all the evidence, I now think that John Ross was not born on this day, but on the other hand, I also have no idea where the alternative date, September 26th, came from. I am also speculating that if there is a gravestone for John in the Concordia cemetery, it is unreadable. It may have had his date of birth on it, but at least for today, I cannot confirm any date of birth for John.