Private Ezekiel Ross (1756-1845), the Revolutionary War, and the Call of the West
In the very ordinary stories of my 5th great-grandfather, a private in the Revolutionary War, lie the extraordinary heartache of war and a nation's westward expansion.
Like actors on the stage of history, they played their roles and made the nation’s story personal.
Meet my 5th great-grandparents, Ezekiel Ross (1756-1845) and Ruth Maxwell (1757-1819)1. Ezekiel was the eldest of five children born to his parents, David Ross (1720-1795) and Hanna Ogden (1722–1791). A few weeks ago, I posted a backgrounder about David Ross’ dramatic moment at the start of the war and our connection to the founding myth of the famous American seamstress:
In that post you’ll read about how David Ross played a modest part in a dramatic takeover of the Blue Mountain Valley at Sandy Hook. By comparison, Ezekiel’s record reveals no featured roles or glamorous heroism. His military career lasted about five years, from 1776 through the end of the revolution in 1781. In the end, he survived and played his part in harrowing battles as the Continentals defended the strategic shores of New Jersey.
When he joined the militia company commanded by William Simmons in the Spring of 1776 in Elizabethtown, Essex County, New Jersey, it was just a few months after his father’s January escapade with the swashbuckling Col. William Alexander (a.k.a. “Lord Stirling.”)
According to the statement supporting his pension in 1832, he was placed under the command of Captain Brookfield and marched to Staten Island, where he “took the property” up to Elizabethtown Point as the British fleet moved into New York Harbor. His company was attached to a regiment commanded by Colonel Moses Jaques. (He is referred to as Jaquish or Jaquesh in his testimony below.)
Ezekiel Ross’ memory sounds distinctly muddled in this testimony.2 By 1832, he was already 76 years old.:
“Applicant saith that he joined himself to a company commanded by William Simmons in Essex County, New Jersey, in the spring of 1776 but the month in which he so joined himself as a private, he cannot recollect that said company was attached to a regiment commanded by Colonel Jaquish, at least it was called Jaquesh's Regiment…
“He then was placed under the command of said Captain Brookfield, as the applicant thinks he was called and by him Brookfield was marched to Staten Island and remained there about five weeks, where, in consequence of the arrival of the British Fleet he, with the company to which he was attached, was ordered off by his commandant and he assisted in taking the property of said Island, with them, to Elizabeth Town point. They then stayed at Elizabeth Town point for two months or more during which time applicant was employed in building the Redoubt or Fortification at said point.3
“Elizabeth Town point was then made made the place of general Rendivouse , from which place he was occasionally marched to meet the enemy, whenever information of their approach had been received. In this way he was marched under Col. Jaquesh,4 Col. Potter, Geberal Maxwell5. Gen. Winans, Col. Frelingheysen, all of whom were personally known by the applicant.
“In the summer of that same year the applicant joined the army, as is his general belief, he fought in the battle of Trembly's Point6, under the command of Col . Scudder7 or Major Craig,8 he cannot be certain which.
“He was here taken prisoner and remained so for about six weeks, and was wounded by the but of a gun after the manner set forth in his former declaration. Col Scudder afterward got possession of some British prisoners with which an exchange was made and applicant was restored to his own army. This took place about six weeks after the battle was fought.
His statement goes on to describe several battles, including:
One other at Elizabeth Town under the command of Colonel Crane9
Battles of Connecticut Farms, Springfield10
Orange
Watsessen (Watsessing region, perhaps?)
Second River
Amboy
Woodbridge
Short Hills
Piscataway
Defense of New Jersey at Middlebrook
“In all the battles above enumerated the applicant served as a private soldier. He says that, in 1777 or 1778 at the time Washington lay at Middlebrook he applied and served under Ichabod Miller who was a wagon master. He was principally emplyed in hauling wood for the army at Middlebrook. In this situation he says he served six months.”
Hauling wood seems a modest contribution to the war effort. Given the brutality of these battles, however, it’s remarkable he survived so many of them.
Ezekiel’s adult life after the war tells another American story: Large families and westward migration.
Ezekiel and Ruth had a total of ten children while living in Westfield, Union County, New Jersey. Their first two children, Aaron and Susannah, were born during the revolution (1778 and 1780, respectively. It apparently helped that he served close to home.) Another seven or eight children were born between the end of hostilities in 1781 and 1796: Eliakim, Maxwell, Elizabeth (Betsy), Lewis, Amos, Hannah, and Jabez.
As if they’d been waiting for their children to reach maturity, Ezekiel and Ruth decided to move west when the youngest was about 18. Ezekiel’s pension application statements, filed in Butler County, Ohio, in 1832, reference the family’s move west 18 years earlier, on or about 1814. I have no data on the family’s means of support as they raised this large family in New Jersey.
While looking for the details of the move and sorting through records of a land purchase for $800, I bumped into this charming report11 that captures an undated story of the family’s migration to Ohio:
The report tells a story about how the family moved west to Butler County, north of Cincinnati, Ohio:
Ezekiel Ross, a Revolutionary soldier, and his wife, Ruth Williams Ross,12 came from Newark (?), Essex Co., New Jersey around 181213. When they arrived, all his family and many relatives,14 including his son-in-law Samuel Jaques, his wife Betsy Ross Jaques, and their young son Richard Lewis, who was about a year old, were there.
This underscores the connection between the Ross and Jaques families. Both families included father-son pairs who fought in the revolution. We’ve heard about David and Ezekiel Ross. The groom’s father, Samuel Jaques, Jr. (1739-1803), and grandfather, Samuel Jaques, Sr. (1703-1780) fought in the Revolution. (Yes, that’s three generations of Samuel Jacques.)
Further, when the youngest Samuel, our groom Samuel Jacques (1772-1841), married Elizabeth (Betsy) Ross (1784–1870), he was connecting the Jaques and Ross families that fought together during the war. During his war service, Ezekiel Ross served under Col. Moses Jaques, his future son-in-law’s 2nd cousin twice removed.
The report continues to describe the Ross and Jaques families floating down the Ohio River to Cincinnati from Wheeling, Virginia, with their “horses, wagon, cattle, and household goods.”
Offering a tip about their destination, the report goes on to explain:
They went to the home of Daniel and Susan (Ross) Stagg, who had come to Cin. the year before.
Susan Stagg was probably Susanna Ross15 Betsy’s sister, Ezekiel, and Ruth’s eldest daughter.
From there, the report concludes with a land purchase after the men ditch the women and walk to inspect a future purchase.
The women and children were left here while the men walked up the Miami River to Venice, Ohio. From here, they went up Indian Creek to Millville, Butler Co., Ohio. When they found suitable places, cabins were built, later replaced by brick houses. Samuel Jaques entered 800 acres of land near Millville.
This walk introduces all sorts of questions, like:
Cabins “were” built? By whom?
Why did they set out to walk to this location?
Did they have an option to purchase this land?
Did Ezekiel have a special offer to acquire land as a war veteran?
800 acres? Or $800? Where did he get that money?
Here, he lived and reared his family of six children: Richard, Sarah Ann, Susan, Clark, John, and Ruth Elizabeth.
This is describing Ezekiel and Ruth’s children, Betsy Ross and Samuel Jaques, and their children:
John Maxwell Jaques (1819–1902) — my 3x great-grandfather.
I expect our family will remain confused about a connection to the myth of Betsy Ross. I hope this post lays out a structure that is a little more transparent and gives me an infrastructure to build on.
I hope to build on this for future stories that explore our ties to Quakerism in Ohio and Indiana. Looking back, I realized that I’d discussed this briefly in a project recipe for an interactive story in 2023.16 Such is the nature of family storytelling. You go back over the same stories — again and again.
Family Endnote
Mentioned in this story:
Samuel Jaques, Sr. (1703-1780)
Samuel Jaques, Jr. (1739-1803)
Ezekiel Ross (1756-1845)
Ruth Maxwell (1757-1819)
David Ross (1720-1795)
Hanna Ogden (1722–1791)
Daniel Stagg (1774–1855)
Susanna Ross (1780-deceased)
Richard Lewis Jaques (1811–1896)
Samuel Clark Jaques (1814–1854)
Sarah Ann Jaques (1816–1864)
Susan Jane Jaques (1817–Deceased)
John Maxwell Jaques (1819–1902)
Ruth Elizabeth Jacques (1822–Deceased)
Ruth Williams (Ross), or is it Ruth Maxwell (1757-1819)
More to Come
It doesn’t end here. In the coming weeks and months, I’ll continue to explore and expand on these stories.
I hope you’ll see this My Stories series as an example of how you can still make progress on your family story by diving into different lines as their tales become relevant in a current context.
This one was fun to explore in the context of the Stories250 series and an exploration of the young American nation before and after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
I hope you’ll consider joining this series with your own stories, or perhaps joining us for one of our live Stories250 conversations. Based on Ezekiel Ross’s life span, 1756 to 1845, and birth in Essex County, New Jersey, I've added this story to the Stories250 timeline and Stories250 map.
Where will your family stories appear? Let’s get them on the form.
Unfortunately, I don’t know much about Ruth Maxwell’s family. That’s an area for further research. This story will focus on the Ross and Jaques families.
Most of this comes from testimony written with the assistance of Ichabod Miller, who described himself as a boyhood friend and his boss and wagonmaster at one point during their joint service. This is important because Ichabod Miller validated his pension in 1832, over forty years after they served together in the war. I wish I knew more about him.
See title map, “Plan of the road from Elizabeth Town Point to Elizabeth Town: shewing the rebel works raised for its defence.” loc.gov/item/gm72003610.
Likely Col. Moses Jaques, findagrave.com/memorial/6892545/moses-jaques Created by: Rich H, ID# 46489213; Added: 29 Oct 2002.
I haven’t found a direct connection, but here’s our added Betsy:
Col. Moses Jaques (23 June 1747 – 16 July 1824) was a second cousin to Samuel Allen Jaques (3 Nov 1703 - 1 May 1780).
Samuel Allen Jaques’s son, Samuel Jaques Jr. (29 April 1739 – 2 September 1803), served with the Middlesex County and New Jersey Militia.
Samuel Allen Jaques’s grandson (conveniently, is also named) Samuel Jaques (28 Oct 1772 - 4 Jun 1841) goes on to marry our Ezekiel’s daughter, Elizabeth (Betsy) Ross (24 March 1784 – 8 August 1870), on 2 February 1802 in Westfield, Union, New Jersey.
This is likely General William Maxwell, who commanded Continental Army and New Jersey Militia forces in the Battle of Connecticut Farms. Gleaned from Union, New Jersey, offers a description of the battle. Revolutionarywarnewjersey.com/new_jersey_revolutionary_war_sites/towns/union_nj_revolutionary_war_sites.htm
I can’t guess what battle they’re referring to. Statements from respected sources like the Sons of the American Revolution don’t list a Trembly's Point battle.
Likely Nathaniel Scudder, See Adelberg, Michael “Nathaniel Scudder Killed during Loyalist Raid” monmouthhistory.org/250/nathaniel-scudder-killed-during-loyalist-raid. Unclear when he might have been in New Jersey.
Unclear what Major Craig this is a reference to.
Might this have been Stephen Crane, who played various political roles in Essex in the late 1770s? According to his Wikipedia entry, he was “bayoneted by Hessian soldiers passing through Elizabethtown on their way to the Battle of Springfield on June 23, 1780.”
More about the battles in New Jersey from Connecticut Farms to Springfield in the resources on this Wikipedia page.
I’ve assumed it was written by a child as if for a school report, but there’s no detail in the original file. The image is attached to the record for Pvt. ARevW [NJ Miltia] Ezekiel George Oury Ross (7 Sep 1756-13 Feb 1845) in the Mills/Johnson Family Tree. Other pension details and records are consistent with those of Ezekiel Ross.
I have more research to do here, as other records reference Ruth Maxwell, but this Ruth Williams is consistent with my family tradition.
I’m willing to accept a possible error between 1814 and 1812. Pension records say 18 years before 1832.
“Many relatives” might refer to Ezekiel and Ruth’s ten children, the youngest of whom would have been 16 in 1814. The oldest, Betsy Ross, comes up again, here married to Samuel Jaques, along with Richard Jaques, who was apparently the third child, yet the first to survive childhood. Born in 1811, he would have been very young in 1814.
I’ve assumed this is a reference to Daniel Stagg, 1774–1855, and his wife Susanna Ross (1780-deceased). However, the FamilySearch record doesn't make that connection. There’s a likely duplicate file for Susannah Ross, who was born in 1780, had no death date, and married Daniel Stagg in 1814. The eldest of their children is also a Richard, born in 1802. By 1814, young Richard would be 12.
Maybe this story will be a good one for me to revisit when exploring this family line after they moved to Indiana.
Firewood detail may sound routine, but it was one of the most dangerous tasks in a Revolutionary War camp. Soldiers had to leave the safety of the encampment to gather the wood needed for cooking, warmth, and building shelters or defenses. Even with guards posted, these small groups were vulnerable to attack from Loyalists, Native allies of the British, or enemy troops. Many men were wounded, captured, or even killed while performing this essential duty.
Few soldiers served in the Revolutionary War as long as Private Ross. Not only was he in numerous battles, he was even a prisoner of war and suvived those harsh conditions. I would be proud to be a descendant of Ezekiel Ross.