This is the second blog of a two blog series about searching for our colonial ancestors during a visit to New England and the States. I that you start by reading the first blog at In Search of Colonial Ancestors in New England.
Before recounting our visits to ancestral sites a little background is necessary. I thought that I would try to follow the various branches of our family tree from the beginnings at the ports founded on the Delaware River, as they would merge with other branches in the westward migration across Pennsylvania.
I selected my Ross ancestors as the main family to which other would intermarry. I did so because the Ross family of my great grandmother, Anna Elizabeth Ross, can be traced directly, without going through spouses, to the progenitor, Sir Farquhar MacTaggart (Mac an Bellin), Mormaer (Earl) of Ross, Lord of Skye and Lewis, who was born in 1170 in Ross, Scotland who is my 23rd great grandfather. He is Lindas 26th great grandfather; one of many intersections of our family trees. This blog will cover the Ross family from the time they arrived in New Castle, Delaware in 1705 until now. The next blog will cover
Back in 1638, Sweden, which was then a strong European power, decided to play the game of the other great powers by establishing the New Sweden Colony at the mouth of the Delaware river as far north as present day Philadelphia. The Old Swedes Church remains from that time. My ancestors, Samuel Nils Nilsson (9th great grandfather), his son Jonas Nilsson and his wife Gertrude (8th great grandparents), and Gertrudes parents, Sven Svensson Gunnarsson and wife Brigitta (9th great grandparents), all of whom immigrated from Skaraborg, Dalarnas, Sweden were among the first Swedish colonizers. However, the Dutch who had colonized New Netherlands (the Hudson River Valley) and New Amsterdam (Manhattan) also laid claim to this area, and reclaimed it by force in 1655. In 1681, the English took New Netherlands, which included New Sweden, by force followed by a treaty that had the British cede Banda Island in the East Indies (the only place that the very valuable spice nutmeg grew) to the Dutch. The British established two colonies, Pennsylvania and Delaware, the northern border of which is a 12 mile radius from the corner of New Castle
Starting with Delaware, Rev. George Aeneas Ross, 5th Laird of Balblair arrived at New Castle DE from Balblair, Scotland in 1705. He was the founder and first rector of Emmanuel Church, the first Anglican church in Delaware. Construction began in 1702 and in 1708 under his supervision. As mentioned in my previous blog, his wife was Joanna Williams, grand daughter of John Williams, a founder of Windsor CT. They are my 6th great grandparents. George served there until his death in 1754. They had six children, including Jacob Jasper Ross (5th great grandfather). His second wife, Anna Catherine van Gezel, had two sons; one of whom, John, married Elizabeth also known as Betsy Ross, the seamstress who created the first Stars and Stripes flag; and the second son, George, who was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence.
Turning to Pennsylvania, William Penn sought to establish a colony for religious minorities, and in particular the Quakers, of which he was one. He purchased the land which Philadelphia now occupies from the aforementioned ancestor, Sven Svensson Gunnarsson. After the Pennsylvania Colony was established, William Penn granted Berks County to the Swedes to encourage
them to move away from Philadelphia which he reserved for the Quakers. Both Linda and I have Quaker ancestors who came to Pennsylvania from Ireland, Scotland, and England, but thats another story.
Returning to Jonas Nilsson, his son, Mounce (Mns) Jonasson and his wife Gertude Svensdotter (daughter of Sven Svensson Gunnarsson) (7th great grandparents), were early settlers of Douglassville, Berks County.
