John Ross of Mulatto River

Resident slave-owner, elderly in the 1830s.

1. Online sources give John Ross's dates as 1768-1840 and his wife as Elizabeth Ann Peat, daughter of William Peat of Jamaica. Eliza Ann was the sister of Bridget Alithea Peat, who married James Renny Ouchterlony (q.v.). Ouchterlony bequeathed 20 guineas "for trinkets" to Eliza Ann Peat, wife of John Ross of Mulatto River in his will (written in 1813 and proved in 1820). Eliza Lucy Ross, daughter of Mr and Mrs Ross, was born 05/09/1796 and baptised at Mulatto River 14/10/1796.

2. The slave compensation for Mulatto River was awarded to William Linwood (claimed on his behalf by his attorney James Brydon). Note that James Brydon was one of the executors of James Renny Ouchterlony and William Linwood was guardian of Ouchterlony's illegitimate daughter Susan Delpratt.

3. Sturge & Harvey met John Ross in 1837. 'John Ross of Mullatto River estate was present, but employed another gentleman, the same local magistrate, to act for him on account of his age and deafness' [p. 308]; 'he had been fined [£5] on a previous occasion for an assault on one of his apprentices' [p. 309]; Ross was the subject of further short critical comments [p. lxvii].

1. Keller Family Tree by lyn57K on Ancestry.co.uk; see separate entry for James Ouchterlony for details of his will; Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online].

2. See separate entry for James Ouchterlony.

3. Joseph Sturge and Thomas Harvey, The West Indies in 1837 (London, Hamilton, Adams, & Co., 1838).

We are grateful to Lyndall Keller for his assistance with compiling this entry.