Bella Ross and Family

Family portrait of William Cowie and Charlotte Donaldson with their children, Donaldson, William, Turner, Charles, Jean, Sophia, and John. South Shields, County Durham, England, ca. 1893. Copyright J Hudle 2010, used with permission from Clive Cowie.

NPS/Photo:

NPS staff were beyond delighted to have made acquaintances with the Ross family and descendants of Sophia Ross, the daughter of John Ross, overseer of the Elliott plantation also known as Stobbs farm. Sophia was born enslaved on the Elliott plantation in about 1772, to her enslaved mother, Bella. John Ross, overseer of the plantation, started a family with Bella, and had become the father of two daughters, Peggy and Sophy.

When John Ross was fired as overseer of Elliot Plantation in 1774, he was concerned about their fate. Under English law in the colonies, Bella, Peggy, and Sophy were ‘chattel property’ owned by William Elliot, despite Ross’s familial relationship. If he wanted to preserve his family, he needed to purchase Bella and their two daughters, which he did.

Bella, Peggy, and Sophy were formally emancipated at the register office in St. Augustine in 1776, and later in 1782, Ross sent his daughters to Scotland to be taken care of by his sister Christiana Ross and father.

Sophy’s great-granddaughter was born in Tyne Dock, South Shields, England on December 4, 1890. While no photographs of Sophy Ross are known, a photograph of her granddaughter Charlotte Donaldson and great-granddaughter Sophia Ross Donaldson Boyce have been shared with us.

It is an immeasurable honor to now be in touch with the Cowie family, and to be able to connect with living descendants and share this incredible history. Many, many thanks to Clive Cowie and Janet Huddie (Cowie) for connecting with us and for sharing their family history.

William Elliot, a London merchant owned and oversaw Stobbs Plantation at Mosquito Lagoon and North Indian River in British East Florida, from 1767-1779.

Resource-
Schwadron, M., Rothrock, O. A., Schafer, D., Rooney, C., Hawthorne, P., Hellman, R., O'neal, L., & Mclin, M. J. (2018). Archeological Investigations of the Elliott Plantation Site (8vol9407), Canaveral National Seashore, Volusia County, Florida (p. 25). Southeast Archeological Center.