John Lees Ross' Father - Not John Ross the Shoemaker

This post will be controversial, but I hope that anyone coming across it will add something to my theory or discussion.

To date no one seems to question the validity that John Ross, the convict shoemaker is John Lees Ross' father. 

John Lees was christened at the same church John Ross, the convict, was buried at. The time was only a few years apart. But what more do we have to connect the two? Nothing that I can find.

John Ross, the convict, was closely connected to another convict Sarah Bird. In one report his brother Joseph was reported as being Sarah's brother-in-law. John and Sarah ran a brothel together in the inner city of Sydney. 

I haven't found any connection between them in England, but they had lived in neighbouring towns. Sarah (nee Hill) married Robert Bird at Whitehaven, in 1816 prior to his transportation to Australia. At around the same time John Ross, the convict, was convicted at Wigton to transportation for stealing a watch. It is most likely this time was served on the hulk Justinia as it does not seem likely he was able to travel to Australia to serve 7 years and return to England before being convicted again in 1823.

I had read Trove articles about Sarah and John and was surprised to find prison records for John Ross and noted that Sarah Bird was a prisoner a few spaces above. It is quite possible that they did cross paths in England.

Many of the "players" in John and Sarah's tale were repeat law breakers, noted as "notoriously bad". Ellen Ross though seems to have kept on the right side of the law. 

It may be possible she worked as a "lady" at John and Sarah's establishment. Another idea I have is that Joseph could possibly be the father. But, really, could it be that the John, the convict, and Ellen Ross never actually met. 

John the convict can be traced back to Wigton and we can locate his parents John Ross & Hannah Stagg. They had at least three children that survived childhood. John, Joseph and their sister Sarah. 

Sarah married Francis Gray and had a number of children. I am guessing if we can make a DNA match to John & Hannah's line through Sarah Ross then we would have a blood connection. To date I have not found this.

Ellen & John may indeed have had a relationships. A timeline needs to be established for all concerned parties to see if it is feasible. But if she was working for him in the brothel, then there is a strong chance that we will never know if John or another man was John Lees' father.

I have a lot of documents and am mid-way through drafting another referenced post. But for now I want to put this out there. If you are here searching for John and Ellen Ross, please, tell me what you think of these theories.

I have not referenced my research, as I said it is in another post I am creating, but as I have spent time and money on the research I prefer to provide references to those that ask for them.