Reverent Aeneas Ross Sr. (1716-1782)

Welcome to the BIRD Chronicles

Reverent Aeneas ROSS Sr., (1716-1782)

3^rd great-granduncle of Jeff Augustus “Gus” BIRD (1893-1954)

4^th great-granduncle of Evelyn Virginia BIRD Linton (1922-2012)

Linton Research Fund Inc., Publication © 1987-2020 "Digging for our Roots"

Reverent Aeneas ROSS Sr., (1716-1782)

3^rd great-granduncle of Jeff Augustus “Gus” BIRD (1893-1954)

4^th great-granduncle of Evelyn Virginia BIRD Linton (1922-2012)

updated August 25, 2016

updated August 20, 2020

Aeneas Ross, the son of Reverent George Aeneas Ross (1679-1753) & Johanna Williams (1680-1725), Aeneas was born on September 17, 1716, in New Castle Colony, New Castle County, Delaware. Aeneas was christened on October 17, 1716, in the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, New Castle Colony. Aeneas died in 1782, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at age 66. Aeneas was buried in the Immanuel Episcopal Churchyard, New Castle, New Castle County, Delaware.

Aeneas married Sarah LEACH (1716-1770), on January 3, 1745, in the Christ Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sarah was born in 1716, in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. Sarah was the daughter of the emigrants John "Toby" LEACH (1680–1726) & Mary Harrison (1680–1748). Sarah died in New Castle County, Delaware.

After his ordination in 1739, in England, On Febuary 26, 1740 Aeneas started his first ministeral at the St. James the Greater Episcopal Church, Bristol Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Christ Church in Philadelphia. From 1742 to 1758 he was the church rector at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Oxford Township , in Chester (now Pennsvania) County, Pennsylvania. Then at SaintThomas Church and in 1758, he ministered as his father had, at the Immanuel Episcopal Church in New Castle, Delaware, until his death. Aeneas was the Episcopalian Minister who baptized, the celebrated, Doctor Benjamin Rush (1746-1813) and numerous others.

Aeneas son, John ROSS (1751-1776), eloped with Quaker seamstress Betsy GRISCOM (1751-1836). Aeneas half-brother George ROSS (1730–1779) signed the Declaration of Independence and his half -sister Gertrude ROSS Read (1735–1802) husband Chief Judge George READ (1733-1798) who also signed the Declaration of Independence.

Aeneas & Sarah had six children:

1. Aeneas ROSS Jr., (1745-1759) was born in 1745, in Oxford, Chester County, Pennsylvania. He died in 1759 age 14, in Oxford and is buried in the Trinity Oxford Episcopal Churchyard, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania

2. Maria ROSS was born in 1749, in Oxford, Chester County, Pennsylvania.

3. Sarah ROSS was born in 1750, in Oxford, Chester County, Pennsylvania.

4. Johanna ROSS was born in 1751 in Oxford, Chester County, Pennsylvania and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Johanna married Captain Thomas Holland about 1771, in New Castle, New Castle County, Delaware. Thomas was born about 1751, in England and died in Pennsylvania. Thomas during the Revolutionary War enlisted in the Pennsylvania Militia in 1776.

5. Mary ROSS was born in 1753, in Oxford, Chester County, Pennsylvania and died in 1782 in Pennsylvania.

6. John ROSS was born in 1752, in New Castle County, Delaware. John died on January 21, 1776 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at age 24. John was buried in January 1776, in the Christ Church Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. John Ross was the nephew of Mary Ross (1744-1790)

John ROSS, the son of a Episcopalian clergyman and Elizabeth Griscom ,the daughter of devout Quakers married without the blessings of their parents. John, a upholsterer's apprentice, eloped with seamstress Betsy Griscom. John Ross married Elizabeth "Betsy" Griscom, daughter of Andrew Griscom and Mary Bacon, on November 4, 1773, in the Huggs Tavern, Gloucester County New Jersey. Betsy was born on January 1, 1752, in Gloucester County, New Jersey.

John and Betsy operated an upholstery shop at 89 Arch Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. John Ross enlisted in the Pennsylvania Militia in April 1775, just after the battles of Lexington and Concord. John was station near Philadelphia leaving Betsy to take full charge of their upholstery shop. John died on January 21, 1776, from wounds he received from an explosion of gunpowder on the city wharf. John Ross's "broken, bleeding and unconscious form was carried through the snow from the wharf by four militiamen to his shop. He never regained consciousness and was buried at the nearby Episcopalian Christ Church." Betsy died on January 30, 1836 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at age 84. Betsy was buried in February 1836, in the Mount Moriah Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

All of the children of Jeff Augustus "Gus" BIRD (1893-1954) & Clara Myrtle GRAY-Sadler (1900-1988) are all are the half 4th cousin once times removed of Elizabeth GRISCOM, (1751-1836) Better known as Betsy Ross. Betsy was asked to stitch the first new flag for the Continental Navy. Then later Betsy was asked to stitch the new flag for the New Republic. We are related to Elizabeth Griscom through the Mary ROSS (1744-1790) Branch of the LINTON & BIRD Family Tree. John Ross (1752-1776) was the nephew of Mary Ross.

Reverent Aeneas ROSS Sr., (1716-1782) on Find-a-grave