The Family Detective

Evelyn Rose Cotter was my maternal grandmother, a wonderful woman that I still miss twenty-two years later. I remember the day I found out she had passed. I took to my bed and was unconsolable for hours. Those moments of grief are so etched in my mind, I don't know that I have grieved as deeply since. I was still a relatively young woman and it was an unexpected death, unlike the death of my father or in-laws.  Evelyn was born 1 October, 1914. The world was at war and her father Sidney Cotter had secured employment on a property near Condobolin, New South Wales, Australia. [1] She was the third, and eldest daugher of Sidney and Catherine (nee Coffee). Evelyn was named for her Grandmother Rose (Littlewood) and Great Aunt Eveline (Littlewood). With naming patterns in the family, Eveline was possibly Rose's grandmother. My mother was passed down the name Evelyn as her middle name but not liking the name, my mother decided not to give it to me. Grandma Hardy, as she was known to me...

On 14 March 1836, John Ross, a negro, was sentenced to 25 lashes for insolence and neglect of works.  Records show he came per the Marquis of Lansdown and was assigned to William Boughton. We don't need "another John Ross" but perhaps we can't ignore the family members that believe we have Aboriginal ancestors, mostly because of darker complexions of some relatives and family legends. My DNA results show a 1% ethnicity for Nigeria. A percentage this low could be a false reading, but it is still interesting to note.  What would be more interesting is to find out if this person was living near the Bankstown/Parramatta area at the time John Lees Ross was born. 

It is widely believed that John Ross who was a convict and shoemaker was my fourth Great-Grandfather. I started this post with the intention of outlining my research for John Ross but as I familiarised myself with some of the convict John's story, I realised that there are stories where the articles talk about Joseph and in the courts he is also called John. Is it possible that they both used the name John? While there is a question about who John Lees' father was, we do know from St Johns Parramatta baptism records his mother was Ellen Ross, a spinster living at Bankstown in September 1836. John Lees' death records name his father as John Ross, a land selector. Edward, John Lees' son, registered these details but declared the mother unknown. Edward was an adult when the family left Araluen to move to Tingha. Ellen had been alive then and married to John Seeley, why he declared her unknown is puzzling other than wanting to perhaps hide John Lees' bastard birth or th...

I wrote a previous post about Ellen Ross - A Colourful Character  and ended my post dismissing her as a possibility for our Ellen Ross...except today I was moving files around when I had a closer look at this image. There is that name again ... BIRD. There is some connection between John & Joseph Ross and Sarah Bird and now we have Eliza Ross who in other documents is also known as Elizabeth and also as Ellen. It is to be noted that our notorious Elizabeth Ross was transported on the Pyramus , and another covict onboard was Ann BIRD. So now I am going to revisit another of the stories from the previous post. This was a year previous to the above but is it possible the wife in question is Mrs (Sarah) Bird? In searching records I discovered that Eliza Ross' brother James had arrived in Sydney a few years prior to her. The Eliza of the Pyramus married  in 1839 at St John's Parramatta. Thomas arrived aboard the Layton and it is curious to see Thomas BIRD and James ROSS are fel...