History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 188

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162

USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches > Part 188

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Jehu Roberts married, 11, 23, 1792, Elizabeth Jones, born 9, 10, 1764, died 5, 15, 1842, daughter of James and Ann Jones, and settled in West Whiteland. He was ap-

715

BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

pointed an elder of Uwchlan Meeting 10, 8, 1795. His children were John, who married Harriet Fairlamb, and Ann J., who married Joseph Coates and Thomas R. Mat- thews. The children of John and Harriet occupy the homestead.

ROGERS, JOSEPH, one of the first settlers in Vincent, is said to have lived in a cave on the site where the barn was afterwards erected. The time of settlement is fixed at 1712, when his son Joseph was two years old. He died ahout 1754 leaving children,-Joseph, Mary, and Hannah.

Joseph, Jr., married, in 1741, Hannah, daughter of Wil- liam and Hannah Watson, of New Providence, born 6, 23, 1717, died 12, 6, 1778. Joseph died 6, 13, 1778. Their children were Rebekah, b. 12, 23, 1742, d. 11, 21, 1807, m. Reuben Thomas and John Meredith ; James, b. 2, 27, 1744, m. Priscilla Griffith ; John, b. 8, 4, 1746 ; Mary, b. 12, 26, 1747 ; William, b. 9, 1, 1749, died young; Wil- liam, b. 6, 3, 1752; Jonathan, b. 2, 15, 1755; Hannah, b. 1, 12, 1757.

William Rogers married, Jan. 26, 1779, Mary, daugh- ter of William Evans, Esq., of Vincent, and had the fol- lowing children : Sarah, Charles, John, George, William, Isaac, Evans, Mary, Hannah, Hannah, George, William, and Sarah.

Jonathan Rogers married, 5, 11, 1780, Ann, daughter of William and Rebecca Jones, of Whitemarsh, and had issue,-Charles, William, Hannah, Rebecca, Joseph, Ben- jamin, Jonathan, David, James, Samuel, and Ann.

Of these, William, horn 8, 3, 1782, was at one time sheriff of the county, and his daughter is now the wife of Dr. J. B. Wood, chief burgess of West Chester.

ROSS, ALEXANDER, resided in Scotland, where his son, John Ross, was born in 1637, and his grandson, John Ross (the son of John), in 1658. The latter removed with his wife and five children to the city of Derry, Ire- land, in 1689. He was in the battle of the Boyne. His son, John Ross (the third of the name), was born in Scot- land in 1685, and emigrated to America in 1706, when he was twenty-one years of age, to escape being pressed into the British army. He sailed in the ship " Northern Light," which was wrecked off the shoals of Cape May about the 1st of August of that year. He saved nothing but the clothes on his person, and traveled up the Jersey shore on foot to a point opposite New Castle, and there crossed the Delaware to that place, pledging his silver knee-buckles for the ferriage. He soon thereafter took his course into Chester Co., Pa., and stopped in New Garden with William Miller, to whom he had letters from Ireland. Here he taught school for two years, and then, in 1708, with re- mittances received from Ireland, he purchased a tract of land in the southern part of the township of Londongrove. These lands he named " Roscommon." A part of the first building he erected thereon is still standing. He married Margaret Small in 1722, and they had two sons and four daughters. He died in 1782, at a very advanced age. In his early days on the farm, the Indians were accustomed, especially during inclement weather, to sleep on the kitchen- floor, always departing early and never disturbing anything. There was an Indian burying-ground on the property, which was sacredly guarded from molestation by Mr. Ross

and his descendants. Many Indian relics have been found from time to time.

His youngest son, John Ross (the fourth of the name), was born in 1747, and in 1774 married Margaret Young, daughter of Samuel Young, Esq., of New Castle, Del. He inherited the farm, and resided thereon, and died Feb. 16, 1830. His wife, Margaret, died Oct. 24, 1808. Their children were Samuel, John, George, Washington, Eliza- beth, the wife of John W. Cuningham, and Ann Graham.

Washington Ross, his youngest son, was born Aug. 24, 1792, in the substantial stone mansion which had been built in 1780. He received the farm by devise from his father, and resided thereon until his death, in January, 1862. His wife was Margaret Cochran. He left three children,-Elizabeth, wife of Wilson Marshall, Margaret, wife of Rev. Henry Brown, of Chester, Pa., and John.

The Ross family were always among the leading, intelli- gent, and influential citizens of the southern part of Chester County.

DR. JOHN Ross was born in Bucks Co., Pa., May 2, 1762. He was the son of John Ross, who was also a physician. His grandfather, Thomas Ross, was born in the county Tyrone, Ireland, in 1708, and came to America about the twentieth year of his age. He settled in Bucks County, and, becoming a member of the Society of Friends, joined the Buckingham Meeting. He soon became an ap- proved minister among the Friends, and visited their meet- ings in various places. Towards the close of 1783 he was drawn to visit the churches in Great Britain and Ireland, whither he sailed in the 4th month, 1784. He died at Holdgate, near the city of York, at the house of Lindley Murray, Feb. 13, 1786, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.

The subject of this notice received a plain English edu- cation, and with his brother Thomas learned the trade of a millwright. Soon after they were free from their appren- ticeship the brothers conferred together, and both resolved that they would not pursue the laborious trade which they had learned; and thereupon John went to study medicine, and Thomas studied law. Thomas was for many years one of the principal members of the Chester County bar, and died 10, 21, 1822. John Ross studied under a Dr. Derby, of New Jersey. He never graduated, yet by industry and close study he acquired a very respectable standing in his profession. When he had completed his studies he married a lady of the Fitz Randolph family, in New Jersey. Shortly after this he removed to New Garden, in Chester Co., Pa., where he commenced the practice of physic, and continued it for upwards of thirty years. In 1819 he re- moved to the State of Ohio, and died at Lebanon some two or three years after his removal to the West.

He left four children, of whom Hon. Thomas R. Ross, his eldest son, was a lawyer, and formerly a member of Con- gress from Ohio ; a daughter, Mrs. Sarah R. Corwin, was the wife of Hon. Thomas Corwin, a distinguished repre- sentative and statesman of the " Buckeye State." Dr. Ross was faithful, respectable, and popular as a physician ; as a citizen, high-minded and liberal ; as a husband and parent, kind and affectionate ; as a man, endowed with warm feel- ings, and generous to a fault.

716

HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

JAMES Ross, LL.D., was born in Oxford (now Upper Oxford) township, Chester Co., Pa., May 18, 1744. His grandfather, James Ross, resided in Carrickfergus, county Antrim, Ireland, and had three sons,-John, Hugh, and William, -- who all came to America about the year 1723. John was a sea-captain, married in Connecticut, and had a son Robert, who was a Presbyterian minister. Hugh set- tled in York Co., Pa., and had a daughter, who married John Purdon, a merchant in Philadelphia. They were the parents of John Purdon, who was a lawyer, and the original compiler of the well-known " Purdon's Digest." William first settled in York County, afterwards came to Chester County, and took up and settled. on a tract of land about one mile soutlieast of Russellville. He married Elizabeth Kidd, by whom he had eight children, among them James Ross, the subject of this sketch. William Ross died in 1799, at the age of ninety-four years.

James Ross was educated at the College of New Jersey. He first taught a classical school in Philadelphia for a number of years ; was Professor of Languages in Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., from 1784 to 1792; teacher of the Greek and Latin languages, and rector of the Franklin Academy, in Chambersburg, Pa., from 1792 to 1802; prin- cipal of a classical school in the old Franklin College build- ing, Lancaster, Pa., from 1802 to 1806, and then again removed to Philadelphia, where he was principal of a clas- sical school in North Fourth Street, below Arch, until about the year 1826, one year before his death, when he was advanced in years, and old age disqualified him for his useful profession.

His knowledge of mathematics and the physical sciences was but slender, and he would not teach any of the English branches,-not a line of arithmetic or geography, or of any common English study. Like the celebrated Rousseau, he could never clearly comprehend some of the simplest propo- sitions in Euclid, and could not without difficulty calculate the change in the market when purchasing necessaries for his family. He was, however, pre-eminent as a linguist. His talents lay all in the direction of the classics, and in these-especially in the Latin language-he has had few, if indeed any, superiors in this country. His school was entirely classical. He required his pupils who were suffi- ciently advanced to speak in Latin, and he would answer no question from them in school except in that language; and when they began the study of Greek, he required them to translate from Greek into Latin, not into English. He used Latin-Greek grammars and Latin-Greek lexicons. The consequence of this system of training was that his pupils were distinguished, in the colleges where they went to com- plete their education, for their knowledge of the ancient languages. A more thorough Greek and Latin teacher has never prepared boys for college.

He possessed the rare gift of being able to inspire his pupils with a permanent and enthusiastic love for these studies. Among his pupils were several prominent men of the last and present generations. Of these may be named Rev. Nathaniel Randolph Snowden, the father of Hon. James Ross Snowden, late director of the mint at Phila- delphia, who partially named his son for his learned pre- ceptor and friend ; Rev. James P. Wilson, D.D., now of

Newark, N. J., Rev. James W. Alexander, D.D., Hon. Henry A. Muhlenberg, of Reading. Pa., and Dr. Samuel Humes, of Lancaster, the latter of whom kept up his read- ing of the classics to the day of his death. Mr. Ross was also a frequent visitor of the celebrated botanist, Rev. Henry Muhlenberg, D.D., president of Franklin College, Lancas- ter, who had been educated at the University of Halle. Their conversation was often carried on in Latin.

He taught three generations; in some instances chil- dren and their fathers and grandfathers were his pupils in succession. He used to carry his cat-o'-nine-tails, his in- strument of punishment, dangling from his little finger, and it is related of him that he not unfrequently ate his dinner with it hanging that way. He is said to have been somewhat deficient in governing talent.

Mr. Ross was a fluent speaker, and exhibited his learning on all occasions. He was rather eccentric in his manners, and as the classical languages were his hobby, his ordinary discourse was tinctured with a dash of pedantry. Of this amiable weakness, it is said, his scholars took advantage to quiz him.

He wrote and published a grammar of the Latin lan- guage, which was greatly in advance of all its predecessors, and was for many years a favorite text-book in our colleges and academies, and was extensively used until superseded by those of more modern date. It was first published at Cham- bersburg in 1798, where the author was then principal of the Franklin Academy. The second edition was published at Lancaster in 1802, and the subsequent editions in Phila- delphia. It passed through several editions under the supervision of the author, one of which appeared wholly in Latin, and received the commendations of the most learned classical scholars of the day. Among those who recommended it may be named Rev. Dr. Henry Muhlen- berg, Rev. Dr. C. Becker, of Lancaster, Rev. Dr. Ashbel Green, Chief Justice Tilghman, Rev. Dr. James P. Wil- son, and Prof. Wiltbank, of the University of Pennsyl- vania. Dr. Becker's recommendation of the second edition was in these words : " Quo libro a me perscrutato, ex animo applaudo," which may be thus rendered in the vernacular, -" which book, being by me thoroughly examined, from my conscience I approve it." It is said that, owing to the deficiency of the author in the English branches, the preface to his grammar cost him more trouble in preparation than any other part of his work.

This grammar is a most admirable work of its kind, and well deserved the popularity which it enjoyed, and there is certainly room to question whether those which have taken its place are better, if indeed as good. In all the essentials of a text-book-in simplicity, clearness of arrangement, accuracy of quantity and accent, and the absence of un- necessary details-it excels. And this is a rare merit. To a careless observer it may seem an easy thing to compile a good text-book, but every teacher who seeks what is exactly adapted to his wants knows that they are very hard to find, even amid the teeming multitudes that flood the land, and follow each other as the waves of the ocean. Que feature in this grammar is worthy of note, which, while it betrays the eccentricity of the man, shows at the same time his love for the language and his desire to aid the learner, and

717

BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

that is the quaint rhymes io which lic sums up the excep- tions under the several declensions of nouns. The prosody of Ross' grammar was, however, defective in many respects, and being for the most part in Latin, presented innumera- ble difficulties to the student. To remedy this defect, and to make the grammar correspond to the advanced state of classical philology, a new edition was published in 1844, with additions and emendations by Professor N. C. Brooks, of Baltimore. This edition is still in use. Besides the grammar, Mr. Ross edited editions of several elementary Latin books, among them " Cordery's Colloquies," "Æsop's Fables," "Select Colloquies of Erasmus," " Selectæ e Pro- fanis Historæ," and " Ciceronis Epistola." He was most remarkably particular in the quantity and accent, and in these was very accurate. He translated the Presbyterian "Shorter Catechism" into Latin, and taught it in his school. He also compiled a Greek grammar, founded on the West- minster grammar. It was first published in 1813, and a second edition appeared in 1817. No portion of it was in English. It was entirely Greek and Latin. The trus- tees of the University of Pennsylvania directed it to be used in their grammar-school. He always retained the copyright of his books, and they yielded him a handsome revenue.

In 1810, Mr. Ross wrote a Latin poem on the Yellow Springs, in Pikeland township. In 1815 he wrote a similar poem descriptive of the battle of New Orleans, then re- cently fought, which he addressed to Thomas Jefferson, and which was highly laudatory of Gen. Jackson, the hero of the battle. He also wrote a Latin ode addressed to Lafay- ette, on the occasion of his visit to this country in 1824- 25. These poems were in imitation of the odes of Horace, and were published in the newspapers of the day. He was very fond of composing and reciting Latin verse, and a large quantity of manuscript in that language was found among his papers after his decease. He was a hard student, and had collected a large library, which was por- tioned out, as directed by his will, among his friends and relatives. It was his practice to write remarks on the margin of the book while reading it, such as " Hic ignare erras.''

As illustrative of his Latin proclivities, it is related of him that being in court during the trial of a cause, in which one of the counsel said there was no rule without an excep- tion, Mr. Ross in an audible voice denied the statement, adding, by way of illustration, that " nouns of the second declension in um are always of the neuter gender."

He was an attendant of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, of which Rev. Dr. James P. Wilson was then pastor. His seat was in the gallery, and before him on a little shelf he had several books,-Hebrew Bible; Greek Testament, concordance, lexicons, etc. When the text was announced he would turn to the passage, and was always much interested in the critical explanation of portions of the Scriptures.

He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Prince- ton College in 1818. He must have had that degree, how- ever, in course, as in the first edition of his grammar, pub- lished' in 1798, he styles himself " A.M." He was in after-life honored with the degree of LL.D.

In the days of " Federal" and " Democrat" he followed the fortunes of the latter party ; was a great friend of home manufactures, and encouraged them by wearing domestic clothing when better could have been purchased of English manufacture at a much less price.

Mr. Ross was tall and well proportioned, of erect car- riage and ruddy complexion, dignified, but courteous and gentlemanly in his demeanor. He was of very quick tem- perament, nervous and excitable, and seemingly could not remain long in one position. He was an honest, upright man, of spotless moral character, and artless as a child. He died in Philadelphia, July 6, 1827, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. His remains were interred in the burial- ground of the Methodist church, at the old Academy, in Fourth Street, near Arch, Philadelphia, but were subse- quently removed by his widow to Carlisle.

He was twice married,-first to Rosanah Sharp, second to Catharine Irvine, of Carlisle, who survived him, and died at the latter place in 1846. He left no descendants.

RUSTON, JOB, was born in Berwick, near the line be- tween England and Scotland, and came to this country early in the eighteenth century. He was of the Presbyte- rian faith, and settled on Fagg's Manor, and in 1739 pur- chased from James Logan and Peter Lloyd, attorneys for Letitia Aubrey, the owner of that manor, 425 acres of it on its western side and pear its southern boundary, and partly within the present limits of Upper Oxford township. On this tract he settled and erected buildings, including a mill, now known as McDowell's mill. His dwelling stood near the mill, and on the site of the present dwelling-house late of Marshall W. Aitkin, deceased. Here he resided during his life. The present mill building was erected by him, and took the place of a former mill near by, which had also been built by him. A pair of stones in the present mill, now in use, were sent to Mr. Ruston from England, it is believed by his son Thomas. He afterwards purchased 44 acres adjoining this tract, and also a tract of 436 acres sit- uate in Penn's Manor, in the same township, a little north- west of Penn's Grove meeting- and school-house, and on and near the road leading from his residence at the mill to the present village of Russellville. One-half of this tract he sold to his son-in-law, Rev. John Evans Finley. He received funds from England, which enabled him to make these large purchases, and he was, for the times and local- ity, a man of considerable wealth.

Job Ruston was one of the founders and stanch sup- porters of the Fagg's Manor Presbyterian Church, of which his son-in-law, Rev. John Evans Finley, was pastor from 1781 to 1793. During the French and Indian war he commanded a company from Chester County. He was one of the most intelligent, energetic, and useful men in the western part of the county. He was twice married. His first wife, Mary Ruston, died June 19, 1757, at the age of thirty-nine years. On her tombstone in the graveyard at Fagg's Manor it is recorded that " she bore unto him in twenty-two years twelve children," and underneath are these quaint lines :

"The dame that lieth underneath this tomb Had Rachel's face and Leah's fruitful womb, Abigail's wisdom, Lydia's open heart, With Martha's care, and Mary's better part."

718

HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Job Ruston died in January, 1785. Among his children were Dr. Thomas Ruston and Sarah Ruston. The latter married Dr. Samuel Kennedy. They were the parents of Dr. Thomas Ruston Kennedy, and grandparents of Joseph C. G. Kennedy, who is now connected with the Census Bureau at Washington.

DR. THOMAS RUSTON, the eldest son of Job Ruston, was born in 1742, in Upper Oxford township. He was given the best education that the times afforded, and in 1762 was graduated at Princeton College. The following year he went to Europe, and graduating at the Medical Depart- ment of the University of Edinburgh, at once took such high rank in his profession as to be appointed surgeon in charge of the Devon and Exeter Hospital, at Exeter, Eng- land, where he remained for more than fifteen years. Dur- ing this time he married Miss Mary Fisher, of London, and in the year 1785 they came to America, and resided in Philadelphia. The doctor was the first American who had graduated at Edinburgh, and only won his way by the severest study. His wife was possessed of an ample for- tune, and she brought with her to this country forty thou- sand guineas, equal to two hundred thousand dollars, a large sum for those days. They lived in Philadelphia in style, and entertained lavishly, and had at their board from time to time the wealth and culture of the land. A diary was kept by Mrs. Ruston, now in the possession of one of her descendants, in which she recorded an account of the din- ners given by them, and containing diagrams showing the position and names of the dishes on the table, and the names of the guests. Among those with whom they were on friendly terms was Dr. Benjamin Franklin. On Jan. 12, 1786, the year following Dr. Ruston's return to America, he addressed a letter to Dr. Franklin on the sub- ject of "smoky chimneys," and a remedy to cure the evil, which was published in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society.

Dr. Ruston, after his return from England, engaged with others in extensive land speculations, which, although prom- ising well, subsequently proved disastrous, and his wife's ample fortune, as well as his own, was dissipated. He died in Philadelphia in 1811.

He wrote several books and pamphlets, which are referred to in another part of this volume. Although so identified with the early history of the county, the family name has become extinct.

His father devised his real estate to him, subject to the payment of legacies to his other children. In the settle- ment of the estate litigation ensued, which was carried to the Supreme Court of the State. The case will be found reported as Ruston vs. Ruston, in 2 Yeates' Reports, page 54, and 2 Dallas' Reports, page 243.

Dr. Ruston left three children,-Charlotte, Mary, and Thomas. Charlotte married Richard M. Hannum, a son of Col. John Hannum, one of the founders of West Ches- ter. Mary married first William Harrison, by whom she had one son, Charles Harrison, who became a lawyer, and second John Wheeler, by whom she had two children,- John and Mary. John was educated at the New London Academy, and subsequently resided in West Chester, and carried on the mercantile business with Cheyney Nields.

Mary, born in 1807, at Valley Forge, married Uriah V. Pennypacker, Esq., of the Chester County bar, in 1834. Thomas Ruston, Jr., was engaged in the iron business at Valley Forge, and afterwards removed to Kentucky, where he died childless.

RYANT, CHARLES, of Concord, became a member of Concord Meeting, 3, 2, 1752, by request, and married Ann Chamberlain, daughter of John and Lettice, of Aston, 5, 27, 1752. The name as recorded at this time was Reyon. By this marriage there were two children,-Lettice, who mar- ried Abraham Darlington, Jr., and Elizabeth, who married Charles Dilworth, 4, 22, 1790. Charles Ryant, now of Goshen, married Hannah Sharples, widow of Nathan, of Goshen, and daughter of Joseph and Martha Townsend, of East Bradford. They had two children,-Ann, born 1, 13, 1759, who married Caleb Haines, and Nathan, b. 8, 27, 1762, who died young. They lived on the Sharples farm, in what is now West Chester, for several years. Hannah died 12, 31, 1790, and he married again, 9, 22, 1791, Mary Carrell, but his further history is unknown.

SAVAGE, SAMUEL, was admitted a freeman April 9, 1705 (of Philadelphia ?), and paid for the same £1 2s. 6d. He married Anna, the eldest daughter of Thomas Rutter, of Germantown, and with him went up to the Manatawny region to establish iron-works. (See memorial of Potts family.)

The will of Samuel Savage, of Mahanatania, in the county of Philadelphia, is dated Sept. 25, 1719, and proved July 19, 1720. He appoints his wife, Anna, sole execu- trix, but "she is to take the advice and consent of my brother, John Savage, and my father-in-law, Thomas Rut- ter."

The children of Samuel and Anna Savage were Thomas, d. 1739, unmarried, in Coventry; Samuel, d. 1742, m. Ann Taylor, 1731 ; Joseph ; John, died young, from bite of a rattlesnake; Ruth, d. Jan. 7, 1786, m. John Potts, April 11, 1734; Rebeccah, d. 1800, m. Samuel Nutt, Jr., and Robert Grace.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 188

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts Number of Pages: 1162

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162