Chapter 7: The Black Sheep
William2 Ross earned the label ‘The Black Sheep’ of the Ross family by his actions in
Deadwood. He deserted his family and left them to fend for themselves in a very rough place
at a very rough time. While the exact circumstances of his departure are not known to us, the
outcome is clear.
Annie Ross declared herself to be a widow immediately, in the 1880 Census, and she used this designation consistently until she remarried in 1894. However, William2 was not dead. GMGS says he was considered legally dead, but I don’t think any legal proceedings took place. No records have been found.
This explains why the existence of William2 Ross became the ‘forbidden subject’. From 1894 until 1939 when William2 died, Annie had two husbands. This would be uncomfortable today, but in Victorian times it would have been much worse. Park Head was a tiny, remote, rural community, and there were no radios or television sets. It is not much of a stretch to imagine that gossip was one of the main pastimes. Annie’s situation would have been much discussed by the neighbours.
In the early 1990s I was talking to an elderly resident of Park Head named Bob Walker. He was the farmer I had worked for in the early 1950s, and he was now over 90. I told Bob about my new interest in family history, and that I had learned about the ‘Black Sheep’ and the implication that Annie had two husbands. Bob just smiled and told me that everybody in Park Head knew the story.
However, within the Ross family it was a forbidden subject. Neither my father nor my aunt knew anything about William2 Ross until late in their teens. It was never mentioned to me until I was older than that. To be fair, I wasn’t interested and I didn’t ask, but I think my father was simply in the habit of not talking about it. He would not have wanted me to ask my grandfather or my great grandmother any awkward questions.
The result of all this secrecy within the family is that we don’t know very much about William2 Ross. There are no old letters to read, and very few stories were passed down. Some of the stories that were passed down may not be reliable, but I will write them down and let the reader be the judge. We are entering the realm of myths, legends, and tall tales.
GMGS tells us that ‘William2 left, presumably for the gold fields of California’. We don’t know whether or not William2 ever went to California, or why the author would presume this. My father used to presume the same thing, and so did my aunt, but I don’t know why. The California Gold Rush was in 1849, 31 years before William2 deserted his family in Deadwood.
‘By 1864, California’s gold rush had ended. The rich surface and river placers were largely exhausted and hydraulic mines were the chief sources of gold for the next 20 years.’
These mines were owned and operated by mining companies, and some of these California mining companies had also started operating in Deadwood by 1879. This forms a possible connection to the story about William2. He could have worked for a California mining company when he was in Deadwood, or perhaps found out about opportunities in California from someone else who did. But, he certainly did not take part in the California gold rush. I think we should categorize the California story as a legend. It may be true, and it may not. We have not found any evidence.
One of the reasons to be skeptical about California is that we think William2 was back in Toronto in 1882. That was the year his mother gave him the Bible, with the passages recommended to him by his father (Chapter 1). It is possible that she sent it to him by mail, but I think that is unlikely. My guess is that William2 went back to Toronto after he abandoned his family in Deadwood. His parents may or may not have known what had happened. If they did, the Bible may have been considered an appropriate gift.
Unfortunately the Census information doesn’t help us sort this out. We have not found the Ross family anywhere in the 1881 Census of Canada, even though we know they were living in Toronto, so we can’t check to see if William2 was back at home. We found Annie Ross and her sons in the 1880 U.S. Census, but we haven’t found William2 anywhere.
We know that William2 Ross wound up in South Africa, but we don’t know when he went there. Gold was discovered in Witwatersrand in 1886, and that was probably what motivated William2 to move again.
‘An Australian gold miner, George Harrison, had stumbled across a rocky outcrop of the main gold-bearing reef in the Witwatersrand. He declared his claim with the government of the Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek (ZAR), and the area was pronounced open diggings.
It did not take long for fortune-seekers from all over the world to flock to the area, and soon what was a dusty mining village known as Ferreira’s Camp was formalised into a settlement. Within 10 years, the town was already the largest in South Africa, outstripping the growth of Cape Town, which was more than 200 years older. The gold rush saw massive development of Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand, and the area remains the prime metropolitan area of South Africa.
The Witwatersrand Gold Rush was a major contributing factor of the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899. Boer resentment over the large number of foreigners (Uitlanders) in the Witwatersrand led to heavy taxes and the denial of voting rights for the gold miners, and in response the uitlanders and the British owners of the mines began to pressure for the overthrow of the Boer government.’
We assume William2 Ross left for South Africa in about 1887, after gold had been discovered. We don’t know where he was or what he did between 1880 and 1887, but we do not think there was any contact with Annie Ross or his two sons during this interval.
One of the family myths is that William2 Ross did come back to Park Head sometime after 1894. There are three variations of this myth, from three branches of the family.
Eila Ross Lawson describes one version in her recollections. She is recalling what her father Harry Ross had told her about meeting his father in South Africa. ‘At some point William2 said he had returned to Canada. He said that he went up to Park Head where he found that Annie was married to Jim Longmire. He added that he had looked through the window and observed a happy domestic scene, so left without revealing his presence. He also said that he left money with his family in Toronto for Willy and Harry, but if he did it was never given to them.’
Don Mitchell, who is a grandson of Georgina Mitchell, the widow of Willy Ross, recalled a slightly different version of the same myth. In this version, William2 took the train to Park Head and asked the Station Agent where he could find Annie Ross. When the Station Agent told him that Annie had remarried, William2 waited in the station for the next train going south and got on it, without contacting anyone.
Laverne Stevenson, who is the widow of Lloyd Stevenson (Chapter 6), recalled a third version of the same myth. In this version, William2 visited Park Head to see Annie, very infrequently, after the events in Deadwood. Then, people in Park Head heard he had gone to South Africa and contracted malaria. When he didn’t show up for 4 or 5 years, Annie assumed he was dead and remarried. Then William2 did show up again and met with Annie. Annie told him that Jim Longmire had been good to her and she would prefer to stay with Jim, so William2 left.
We should be skeptical about all of these versions. However, I believe that William2 Ross did visit Park Head sometime about 1897. Annie Ross had declared herself a widow and married Jim Longmire in 1894. William2’s father had died in Toronto in 1896, and I believe William2 stayed in touch with his mother and would have learned about his father’s death. He had been away in South Africa for about 10 years. Perhaps he wanted to see his widowed mother.
When he was in Toronto, I think he took the train trip to Palmerston, and then to Harriston, Park Head, and Wiarton, along the rail line he helped build. I don’t know whether or not he contacted Annie, but I think he did make contact with one or both of his sons, perhaps in Wiarton. Willy would have been 20 and Harry 17. Both had left home, and were working in the area. My guess is that he told them about South Africa.
Two years later, in December 1899, Harry left for South Africa. Harry’s story will be told in Chapter 10. The conventional wisdom in the family was that he went to find his father, but I think he knew where to look as a result of some form of contact when William2 visited Canada. As events unfolded, the Boer War intervened, and they didn’t get together until 1902.
In 1902 William2 Ross was 45 years old and living in Johannesburg, South Africa. He must have been surprised when a young man approached him almost immediately after the Boer War ended. It was his son, Harry Ross, now age 22. According to Eila Ross Lawson’s recollections, Harry was greeted with ‘What the hell are you doing here?’
We know very little about what William2 Ross did in South Africa. He was a ‘fortune seeker’, and almost certainly had found work related to gold mining, probably as a bricklayer. He had lost a leg, apparently when he had saved the life of a British officer during the Boer War. As a result, he was receiving a military pension. He was probably still working in some capacity after he lost his leg, but we don’t know what he did. Harry Ross worked in Johannesburg for 7 years until 1909, but according to Bruce Ross, ‘they did not see each other very much and they didn’t get along too well together.’
In 2003 we discovered a mysterious photograph, which may be the only surviving photograph of William2 Ross. It was provided to us by a relative with a keen interest in genealogy named Arlene Shannon. Arlene had scanned a large number of old photos from her branch of the family, and sent them to us. Written on the back of one photograph are the words: ‘Will Ross – Aunt Annie’s father-in-law’. Annie Shannon was the wife of Harry Ross (Chapter 14), so her father-in-law was William2 Ross.
Annie Ross declared herself to be a widow immediately, in the 1880 Census, and she used this designation consistently until she remarried in 1894. However, William2 was not dead. GMGS says he was considered legally dead, but I don’t think any legal proceedings took place. No records have been found.
This explains why the existence of William2 Ross became the ‘forbidden subject’. From 1894 until 1939 when William2 died, Annie had two husbands. This would be uncomfortable today, but in Victorian times it would have been much worse. Park Head was a tiny, remote, rural community, and there were no radios or television sets. It is not much of a stretch to imagine that gossip was one of the main pastimes. Annie’s situation would have been much discussed by the neighbours.
In the early 1990s I was talking to an elderly resident of Park Head named Bob Walker. He was the farmer I had worked for in the early 1950s, and he was now over 90. I told Bob about my new interest in family history, and that I had learned about the ‘Black Sheep’ and the implication that Annie had two husbands. Bob just smiled and told me that everybody in Park Head knew the story.
However, within the Ross family it was a forbidden subject. Neither my father nor my aunt knew anything about William2 Ross until late in their teens. It was never mentioned to me until I was older than that. To be fair, I wasn’t interested and I didn’t ask, but I think my father was simply in the habit of not talking about it. He would not have wanted me to ask my grandfather or my great grandmother any awkward questions.
The result of all this secrecy within the family is that we don’t know very much about William2 Ross. There are no old letters to read, and very few stories were passed down. Some of the stories that were passed down may not be reliable, but I will write them down and let the reader be the judge. We are entering the realm of myths, legends, and tall tales.
GMGS tells us that ‘William2 left, presumably for the gold fields of California’. We don’t know whether or not William2 ever went to California, or why the author would presume this. My father used to presume the same thing, and so did my aunt, but I don’t know why. The California Gold Rush was in 1849, 31 years before William2 deserted his family in Deadwood.
‘By 1864, California’s gold rush had ended. The rich surface and river placers were largely exhausted and hydraulic mines were the chief sources of gold for the next 20 years.’
These mines were owned and operated by mining companies, and some of these California mining companies had also started operating in Deadwood by 1879. This forms a possible connection to the story about William2. He could have worked for a California mining company when he was in Deadwood, or perhaps found out about opportunities in California from someone else who did. But, he certainly did not take part in the California gold rush. I think we should categorize the California story as a legend. It may be true, and it may not. We have not found any evidence.
One of the reasons to be skeptical about California is that we think William2 was back in Toronto in 1882. That was the year his mother gave him the Bible, with the passages recommended to him by his father (Chapter 1). It is possible that she sent it to him by mail, but I think that is unlikely. My guess is that William2 went back to Toronto after he abandoned his family in Deadwood. His parents may or may not have known what had happened. If they did, the Bible may have been considered an appropriate gift.
Unfortunately the Census information doesn’t help us sort this out. We have not found the Ross family anywhere in the 1881 Census of Canada, even though we know they were living in Toronto, so we can’t check to see if William2 was back at home. We found Annie Ross and her sons in the 1880 U.S. Census, but we haven’t found William2 anywhere.
We know that William2 Ross wound up in South Africa, but we don’t know when he went there. Gold was discovered in Witwatersrand in 1886, and that was probably what motivated William2 to move again.
‘An Australian gold miner, George Harrison, had stumbled across a rocky outcrop of the main gold-bearing reef in the Witwatersrand. He declared his claim with the government of the Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek (ZAR), and the area was pronounced open diggings.
It did not take long for fortune-seekers from all over the world to flock to the area, and soon what was a dusty mining village known as Ferreira’s Camp was formalised into a settlement. Within 10 years, the town was already the largest in South Africa, outstripping the growth of Cape Town, which was more than 200 years older. The gold rush saw massive development of Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand, and the area remains the prime metropolitan area of South Africa.
The Witwatersrand Gold Rush was a major contributing factor of the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899. Boer resentment over the large number of foreigners (Uitlanders) in the Witwatersrand led to heavy taxes and the denial of voting rights for the gold miners, and in response the uitlanders and the British owners of the mines began to pressure for the overthrow of the Boer government.’
We assume William2 Ross left for South Africa in about 1887, after gold had been discovered. We don’t know where he was or what he did between 1880 and 1887, but we do not think there was any contact with Annie Ross or his two sons during this interval.
One of the family myths is that William2 Ross did come back to Park Head sometime after 1894. There are three variations of this myth, from three branches of the family.
Eila Ross Lawson describes one version in her recollections. She is recalling what her father Harry Ross had told her about meeting his father in South Africa. ‘At some point William2 said he had returned to Canada. He said that he went up to Park Head where he found that Annie was married to Jim Longmire. He added that he had looked through the window and observed a happy domestic scene, so left without revealing his presence. He also said that he left money with his family in Toronto for Willy and Harry, but if he did it was never given to them.’
Don Mitchell, who is a grandson of Georgina Mitchell, the widow of Willy Ross, recalled a slightly different version of the same myth. In this version, William2 took the train to Park Head and asked the Station Agent where he could find Annie Ross. When the Station Agent told him that Annie had remarried, William2 waited in the station for the next train going south and got on it, without contacting anyone.
Laverne Stevenson, who is the widow of Lloyd Stevenson (Chapter 6), recalled a third version of the same myth. In this version, William2 visited Park Head to see Annie, very infrequently, after the events in Deadwood. Then, people in Park Head heard he had gone to South Africa and contracted malaria. When he didn’t show up for 4 or 5 years, Annie assumed he was dead and remarried. Then William2 did show up again and met with Annie. Annie told him that Jim Longmire had been good to her and she would prefer to stay with Jim, so William2 left.
We should be skeptical about all of these versions. However, I believe that William2 Ross did visit Park Head sometime about 1897. Annie Ross had declared herself a widow and married Jim Longmire in 1894. William2’s father had died in Toronto in 1896, and I believe William2 stayed in touch with his mother and would have learned about his father’s death. He had been away in South Africa for about 10 years. Perhaps he wanted to see his widowed mother.
When he was in Toronto, I think he took the train trip to Palmerston, and then to Harriston, Park Head, and Wiarton, along the rail line he helped build. I don’t know whether or not he contacted Annie, but I think he did make contact with one or both of his sons, perhaps in Wiarton. Willy would have been 20 and Harry 17. Both had left home, and were working in the area. My guess is that he told them about South Africa.
Two years later, in December 1899, Harry left for South Africa. Harry’s story will be told in Chapter 10. The conventional wisdom in the family was that he went to find his father, but I think he knew where to look as a result of some form of contact when William2 visited Canada. As events unfolded, the Boer War intervened, and they didn’t get together until 1902.
In 1902 William2 Ross was 45 years old and living in Johannesburg, South Africa. He must have been surprised when a young man approached him almost immediately after the Boer War ended. It was his son, Harry Ross, now age 22. According to Eila Ross Lawson’s recollections, Harry was greeted with ‘What the hell are you doing here?’
We know very little about what William2 Ross did in South Africa. He was a ‘fortune seeker’, and almost certainly had found work related to gold mining, probably as a bricklayer. He had lost a leg, apparently when he had saved the life of a British officer during the Boer War. As a result, he was receiving a military pension. He was probably still working in some capacity after he lost his leg, but we don’t know what he did. Harry Ross worked in Johannesburg for 7 years until 1909, but according to Bruce Ross, ‘they did not see each other very much and they didn’t get along too well together.’
In 2003 we discovered a mysterious photograph, which may be the only surviving photograph of William2 Ross. It was provided to us by a relative with a keen interest in genealogy named Arlene Shannon. Arlene had scanned a large number of old photos from her branch of the family, and sent them to us. Written on the back of one photograph are the words: ‘Will Ross – Aunt Annie’s father-in-law’. Annie Shannon was the wife of Harry Ross (Chapter 14), so her father-in-law was William2 Ross.
PLEASE CLICK ANYWHERE ON IMAGE TO MAGNIFY
‘Will Ross – Aunt Annie’s father-in-law’
We are not sure whether or not this is a photograph of William2 Ross. It could simply be an old photograph mislabeled by someone at a later date. Some family members believe it is William2 Ross, and others believe it is not. There are strong arguments for both sides.
The arguments for William2 Ross are:
- Whoever wrote his name on the back thought they knew who it was
- There appears to be a family resemblance
- It is possible William2 Ross visited Canada again around 1908
The arguments against William2 Ross are:
- Whoever wrote his name on the back had mislabeled another photo as Will Ross, and could easily have made two mistakes.
- Eila Ross Lawson never saw or heard of a photograph of William2 Ross, and she was the daughter of Harry Ross and Annie Shannon. How could Annie Shannon’s brother in Saskatchewan (Chapter 13) have got one?
- There is a family myth about one trip back to Park Head, but not about two.
My best guess is that this really is a photograph of William2 Ross. As I write this down I may be inventing another family myth, or even a conspiracy theory, but the following scenario seems plausible to me.
I think William2 came back to Canada for a second visit, in about 1908. His son Willy had drowned in Georgian Bay in November 1906 (Chapter 9), and his mother Isabella had been widowed for the second time in 1904 (Chapter 4). It had been about 10 years since his first visit, and he probably wanted to see his mother in Toronto and his three grandchildren in Wiarton. While he was in Wiarton he had the photograph taken. He would have been age 51 at that time, which looks about right.
Annie Longmire was living in Wiarton at this time, and William2 may have made contact with his ‘wife’ on this second visit. Or, perhaps she just heard he was back. Even worse, perhaps the neighbours heard he was back. Any of these possibilities would have reinforced her determination to keep his existence as quiet as she could.
When Harry Ross came home from South Africa in 1909, I think his mother swore him to absolute silence about his father. This would have been the time when the subject became the ‘forbidden’ subject. Almost immediately Harry went out west to bring Annie Shannon back from Saskatchewan so they could get married (Chapter 14). Maybe they decided to leave the photo with Annie’s brother to avoid any possible problems with Harry’s mother when they returned to Park Head.
(Family history is often untidy. There are some things that we will never know, even under the best of circumstances. Family secrets and forbidden subjects make it more difficult to learn the facts, but it is interesting to speculate.)
As far as we know, there were no direct contacts between William2 Ross and Harry Ross after 1909. As part of maintaining the family silence, future communications were via an intermediary named Malcolm McGregor who lived in Brantford, Ontario. Malcolm McGregor had lived in Johannesburg and had known William2, and he had a brother who continued to live in Johannesburg. This arrangement avoided problems that would have resulted from letters to or from South Africa showing up at the Park Head Post Office. They would have been noticed by neighbours and caused the gossip machinery to start up again.
William2 Ross died in Fordsburg, Johannesburg on September 24, 1939. He was almost 83 years old. For many years we were confused about his date of death. GMGS says he died in 1933. Bruce Ross thought he had lived until about 1944. A professional researcher named Anne Lehmkuhl, who specializes in South African genealogy, finally resolved the question.
We have a small file of documents called ‘Boedel van Wyle (Estate of the Late) William Ross’, that Anne retrieved for us. It will help us complete the story.
The information on the Death Notice was provided by a Mr. Paoliello, who was a friend of William2 Ross and who discovered the body. The occupation given was Bricklayer, and William2 was described as a Widower. The Death Certificate, which was prepared a few days later, said he was a Military Pensioner. He died at home as a result of a heart attack.
His estate consisted almost entirely of a two-room building on a small plot of land, which he owned. It was valued at 275 pounds. William2 Ross died without a will, so the court appointed an executor. One half of the net proceeds was distributed to his son Harry, and the other half was shared by the three children of his deceased son Willy. The Liquidation and Distribution Account document describes William2 as a Retired Bricklayer.
William2 Ross had moved around a lot, just as his parents had a generation earlier. He was seeking his fortune by moving to places like Deadwood and Johannesburg, where gold had recently been discovered. There is no evidence that he was a prospector. More likely, he was just attracted by the economic activity that surrounded the new gold mines.
He died alone, and without a fortune. A note in the estate file indicated that Mr. Paoliello was his only friend.
- Whoever wrote his name on the back had mislabeled another photo as Will Ross, and could easily have made two mistakes.
- Eila Ross Lawson never saw or heard of a photograph of William2 Ross, and she was the daughter of Harry Ross and Annie Shannon. How could Annie Shannon’s brother in Saskatchewan (Chapter 13) have got one?
- There is a family myth about one trip back to Park Head, but not about two.
My best guess is that this really is a photograph of William2 Ross. As I write this down I may be inventing another family myth, or even a conspiracy theory, but the following scenario seems plausible to me.
I think William2 came back to Canada for a second visit, in about 1908. His son Willy had drowned in Georgian Bay in November 1906 (Chapter 9), and his mother Isabella had been widowed for the second time in 1904 (Chapter 4). It had been about 10 years since his first visit, and he probably wanted to see his mother in Toronto and his three grandchildren in Wiarton. While he was in Wiarton he had the photograph taken. He would have been age 51 at that time, which looks about right.
Annie Longmire was living in Wiarton at this time, and William2 may have made contact with his ‘wife’ on this second visit. Or, perhaps she just heard he was back. Even worse, perhaps the neighbours heard he was back. Any of these possibilities would have reinforced her determination to keep his existence as quiet as she could.
When Harry Ross came home from South Africa in 1909, I think his mother swore him to absolute silence about his father. This would have been the time when the subject became the ‘forbidden’ subject. Almost immediately Harry went out west to bring Annie Shannon back from Saskatchewan so they could get married (Chapter 14). Maybe they decided to leave the photo with Annie’s brother to avoid any possible problems with Harry’s mother when they returned to Park Head.
(Family history is often untidy. There are some things that we will never know, even under the best of circumstances. Family secrets and forbidden subjects make it more difficult to learn the facts, but it is interesting to speculate.)
As far as we know, there were no direct contacts between William2 Ross and Harry Ross after 1909. As part of maintaining the family silence, future communications were via an intermediary named Malcolm McGregor who lived in Brantford, Ontario. Malcolm McGregor had lived in Johannesburg and had known William2, and he had a brother who continued to live in Johannesburg. This arrangement avoided problems that would have resulted from letters to or from South Africa showing up at the Park Head Post Office. They would have been noticed by neighbours and caused the gossip machinery to start up again.
William2 Ross died in Fordsburg, Johannesburg on September 24, 1939. He was almost 83 years old. For many years we were confused about his date of death. GMGS says he died in 1933. Bruce Ross thought he had lived until about 1944. A professional researcher named Anne Lehmkuhl, who specializes in South African genealogy, finally resolved the question.
We have a small file of documents called ‘Boedel van Wyle (Estate of the Late) William Ross’, that Anne retrieved for us. It will help us complete the story.
The information on the Death Notice was provided by a Mr. Paoliello, who was a friend of William2 Ross and who discovered the body. The occupation given was Bricklayer, and William2 was described as a Widower. The Death Certificate, which was prepared a few days later, said he was a Military Pensioner. He died at home as a result of a heart attack.
His estate consisted almost entirely of a two-room building on a small plot of land, which he owned. It was valued at 275 pounds. William2 Ross died without a will, so the court appointed an executor. One half of the net proceeds was distributed to his son Harry, and the other half was shared by the three children of his deceased son Willy. The Liquidation and Distribution Account document describes William2 as a Retired Bricklayer.
William2 Ross had moved around a lot, just as his parents had a generation earlier. He was seeking his fortune by moving to places like Deadwood and Johannesburg, where gold had recently been discovered. There is no evidence that he was a prospector. More likely, he was just attracted by the economic activity that surrounded the new gold mines.
He died alone, and without a fortune. A note in the estate file indicated that Mr. Paoliello was his only friend.