Researching Rev. Dr. Thomas ROSS, Clachan Lochbroom.....

[kjbs]

I am sorry to be so late in giving information but I have just discovered this site so I am very much a new boy.
The information which I have about Rev Dr Thomas Ross is that he was born at Creich, Sutherland (Bonar Bridge) in 1768, the son of a farm grieve and educated at Edinburgh University. He was awarded the further(higher) degree of LL.D. by Glasgow University in 1807. He died on 25th July 1843. He married Jane Mackenzie of Dundonnelll on 10th June 1810 and they had 13 of a family. None of them were called Margaret, and his first child (Abigail) was born on 20th June 1812.
I am afraid therefore unless he was married previously, it is unlikely that he was the father of the Margaret Ross whom you are researching.
He was inducted as minister of the parish church at Lochbroom on 25th May 1808. The parish church was then at Clachan at the head of the loch as Ullapool had only been established as a village a few years earlier. His church was the Church of Scotland but in 1843 he loined those who had left the established church to form the new Free Church of Scotland. He was in any event fairly ill when this happened and he died in July 1843 as steps were being taken to evict him from the manse.

Sorry to have been of so little help. There is the possibility that he was married previously and his first wife died but I do not know which parish he was in before he went to Lochbroom. I think it unlikely however that his occupation was ever that of a catechist who was an itinerant person employed by the church to examine people on their knowledge of the scriptures and would probably visit persons who wished baptism etc. to pave the way for a visit to or from the minister.
Most of my information regarding Thomas Ross has come from 'Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae' by Hew Scott, published by Oliver & Boyd in 1928
Best Wishes; if I can do anything further to help just get in touch.

KJBS MacLeod

[scml]

Hi KJBS,
Thanks so much for your post, as it has quite a bit of info I hadn't found out, so it is much appreciated.
There is a good chance that Thomas Ross was married before, to Janet MacDonald as my Margaret Ross was born in Craggy Strath, Rogart, Sutherland on 10th Nov 1796. It isn't all that far away from Bonar Bridge. When searching for death records for Thomas Ross, I came across a sibling for Margaret, Paul Ross b abt 1787 who had married a Isabella Forbes, had two sons, Robert and Thomas and then married a second time to Janet McKenzie, whose parents are Murdoch McKenzie and Christina McKenzie, and who is with him on the 1841 census for Ullapool, Lochbroom. (Similar family line again). Paul Ross died in Ullapool on 11 Mar 1874 and his wife Janet died two days later. On Pauls death records it has Thomas Ross as a Weaver, Catechist and his mother as Janet MacDonald.
When Margaret Ross married Kenneth McLean (whose parents are John McLean and Christina MacKenzie, again a link to MacKenzies) on 19 Dec 1822, her Marriage Banns has her living in Ullapool. So I guess there is a chance the whole family moved over there? But being referred to as a Catechist and a Reverend seem to be a big difference. And there are quite a few Thomas Ross's around, I just don't seem to be able to find the right one.
The book you mention, were you able to get it from a library? I had a look online and only found very old copies that were very expensive. Did it have much more information on Thomas Ross? Would it be worth while for me to see if our library can get a copy of it in, though I don't really think they would be able to?
You have inspired me to do some more searching, and now that some of the old records images will be coming up on Scotlands People, I may be lucky. I shall have to have another look and see what I can find.

[DavidWW]

I am sorry to be so late in giving information but I have just discovered this site so I am very much a new boy.
The information which I have about Rev Dr Thomas Ross is that he was born at Creich, Sutherland (Bonar Bridge) in 1768, the son of a farm grieve and educated at Edinburgh University. He was awarded the further(higher) degree of LL.D. by Glasgow University in 1807. He died on 25th July 1843. He married Jane Mackenzie of Dundonnelll on 10th June 1810 and they had 13 of a family. None of them were called Margaret, and his first child (Abigail) was born on 20th June 1812.
I am afraid therefore unless he was married previously, it is unlikely that he was the father of the Margaret Ross whom you are researching.
He was inducted as minister of the parish church at Lochbroom on 25th May 1808. The parish church was then at Clachan at the head of the loch as Ullapool had only been established as a village a few years earlier. His church was the Church of Scotland but in 1843 he loined those who had left the established church to form the new Free Church of Scotland. He was in any event fairly ill when this happened and he died in July 1843 as steps were being taken to evict him from the manse.

Sorry to have been of so little help. There is the possibility that he was married previously and his first wife died but I do not know which parish he was in before he went to Lochbroom. I think it unlikely however that his occupation was ever that of a catechist who was an itinerant person employed by the church to examine people on their knowledge of the scriptures and would probably visit persons who wished baptism etc. to pave the way for a visit to or from the minister.
Most of my information regarding Thomas Ross has come from 'Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae' by Hew Scott, published by Oliver & Boyd in 1928
Best Wishes; if I can do anything further to help just get in touch.

KJBS MacLeod

I'm surprised that the Fasti of the Established Church doesn't include info on a first marriage. There is an earlier edition of the Fasti, which sometimes contains a bit more info, - it's always worth a check.

I'm intrigued to know where you got the info on his pending eviction from the Established Church of Scotland manse!

Also, I'd be surprised if there isn't a substantial obituary in one or more newspapers, maybe even The Scotsman, an index for which, along with images, is on-line, but it's not free.

David.

[emanday]

Hi Sandy,

Since I am already using a weeks subscription to the Scotsman, I had a look.

Only found a Death Notice for Lillias Ross, died 21 October 1899 at Bronte Place in Forres, daughter of the late Rev Thomas Ross LL.D. of Lochbroom.

Maybe her Death Certificate on SP will give you a bit more info. I'd also think that with that first name she'd be easy to find in censuses.

[scml]

Hi Emanday,
I downloaded the image of Lilias Ross which give her age as 75 when she died, so born about 1824. She must be in about the middle of the 13 children that kjbs mentions. I also found a brother, Patrick Campbell Ross who died in 1905 aged about 72. So born about 1833. Lilias's record lists her father as Thomas Ross, LLD, Established Church Minister and Patricks has him as Thomas Ross LLD Minister of Lochbroom. Both have mother as Jean Ross MS MacKenzie.

On my Margaret Ross's death record for 1870 it has her father as Thomas Ross, Catechist and Mother as just Ross, no maiden name.
On Margarets brother Pauls death records for 1874 it has his father as Thomas Ross, Weaver & Catechist, mother Janet Ross MS MacDonald.

Would Catechists be recorded, and would they work with the Minister? Perhaps they are brothers or cousins? They all seem to have lived around Lochbroom area or in Ullapool at some time. I will try to check the census records on ScotlandsPeople later on. The site won't accept payment for more credits at the moment, so will try later tonight.

Does anyone have access to the old OPRs that we can't download online, who could check the marriages of these two couples?
Thomas Ross m Jane MacKenzie 10 June 1810
Thomas Ross m Janet MacDonald abt 1785
It would prove that he either married twice or they are two different couples.

[kjbs]

Hi Sandy,

Thanks for your remarks. I'm afraid that I cannot make things add up as far as Thomas Ross is concerned. He was born in 1768 so presumably went to Edinburgh University when he was 18 although it was then quite common for a bright lad to go earlier. So if he went at age 18 this takes him to 1786. And he would have been at University for 3 or 4 years - say 4, this takes him to 1790. He was a very scholarly gentleman, he reda Greek, Hebrew and Latin fluently and was a considerable Gaelic scholar, indeed he aided the translation of the Bible into Gaelic. Indeed he later in 1822 produced a complete translation of the Bible into Gaelic which was spurned by the Church of Scotland at the time. I cannot see how he was married with two children in the 1790s, but I may be mistaken.
It is some years since I obtained the information from Fasti so I will visit my local library and look it up again and see if it mnentions anearlier marriage.

My information about him about to be evicted from the manse came from
'Disruption Worthies' which I will consult again to see if it mentions a first marriage. The possibility of eviction was indeed a very real one - he had afer all left the established church and the appointment was by the landlord who wanted to install his own nominee.(which he did - but that nominee received so poor a congregation that he only lasted a week!

I will post again when I have further information.

KJBS MacLeod

[emanday]

Hi Sandy,

Does anyone have access to the old OPRs that we can't download online, who could check the marriages of these two couples?
Thomas Ross m Jane MacKenzie 10 June 1810
Thomas Ross m Janet MacDonald abt 1785
It would prove that he either married twice or they are two different couples.

All going well, SP are believed to be putting the OPR images online on 25th January, if you can hang on till then

I've got a list of them I am waiting to look at - if my credit card doesn't go into hiding

[kjbs]

Sany,

Hello again. I have visited my library here in Inverness and I now have more information. I have looked out Fasti and also seen an addebdum to Fasti which updates the information.

It is wrong to say that he received all his education at Edinburgh. Apparently he graduadted MA(Master of Arts) from Marischal College, Aberdeen in 1796 and then went on to Edinburgh University to study divinity. He then became tutor to Sir James Matheson of the Lews. I don't have a date for this but Fasti says that he became a tutor in the family of Rev John Kemp, DD minister of Tolbooth Parish Edinburgh. This of course may have been to help finance his way through his divinity studies - and to give him accommodation. He was licenced as a minister by the Presbytery of Edinburgh on 19th Feb 1802 and ordained by that Presbytery as one of the ministers of the Scots Church in Rotterdam on 14th April that year. And he depated to Rotterdam to take up his charge, but returnedto Scotland after a few months because of his health and was employed by the SPCK in sperintending a second edition of their Gaelic Bible. Fasti then says that he was presented by the Hon Mrs Maria Hay Mackenzie on 12th November 1807 and admitted on 25th May 1808. Thus he was inducted to the charge of the parish of Lochbroom in 1808. He was awarded the degree of LL.D. by Glasgow University in 1807; this may have been an honorary degree but I do not know.

There is absolutely no mention in Fasti of an earlier marriage until his marriage to Jane Mackenzie in 1810; she was the daughter of the local laird from Dundonnell in Little Lochbroom. Considering his activity as I outline above then he would not have had the time to fit in an earlier marriage, have two of a family and cope with the early death of that first wife(as so many did at that time.) And what did he do with the children when he was away on his studies and going off to Rotterdam?

I am afraid therefore that the possibility of him being the same Thomas Ross as you have been seeking looks increasingly remote. He was never a weaver, and he was never a catechist. Sorry !

K J BS MacLeod

[scml]

Hi kjbs

Thanks for going to all that trouble and finding the extra information for me. It does settle my queries, and I agree with you, sounds like they are two different Thomas Ross's. At least I now know to start searching elsewhere for the one in my family line. I can be patient now and wait until the OPR's come online and see if I can find records for my Thomas Ross. At least I know his daughter Margaret was born near Rogart, so I should be able to find either his birth or marriage from around there.

Thanks again for your help and to all the other folks on this Forum, it really is a great help to us all.