ROSS
John b c 1852
in Scotland
married
Adelaide Elizabeth MANLEY
There are two known children from this marriage.
25 Feb 1877
John Henry Alexander born Pt Augusta, Sth Australia, ref Fro bk 179 p
203
my Grandfather
30 Jul 1898 married Mary Jane Bertram at the
home of Capt Wm Winter,
Salvation Army, Chapple St, Broken Hill, New South Wales, Aust
13 Dec 1880
Adelaide Rose born Farina Town, Sth Aust ref Fro bk 252 p 359
14 Sep 1881 Adelaide died at Farina Town.
The family story is that John
went to work on the railway line north of Adelaide.
Seems he and two others were set upon after collecting their wages and were
murdered
- or
working as Carpenter - finished job - got pay - set upon by Chinese and
murdered.
No further information has been obtained to this date (2007)
John was listed in the S A Directory as a carpenter, Port Augusta in the years,
1877/78/79/80/81/82/ 84/85 (no entry for 1883 or 1886) yet Adelaide (Rosa) died
in 1881 in Farina.
From Ross Watts (son of Gordon Watts & Doris, nee Ross) - Grandad (John H A) was
around 8 years old at the time of the disappearance of his father.
Full extract from the South Australian Police Gazette 1885 page 76 with
reference to John Ross. "Information is requested of John Ross, who left
Adelaide, en route for Port Darwin in March, 1884, arriving at the last-named
place in April of the same year. Ross was at this time accompanied by two mates,
named Sack and Born, and it is conjectured, in the absence of any news of him,
has since met his death by accident or other wise in Queensland, whither he is
believed to have gone.
Description:- Age 33 years,
height 5ft. 7in., fair complexion, dark curly hair, fair moustache only, blue
eyes, carpenter by trade, native of Scotland; came here from Melbourne some
years since (C.643)"
The C coding at the end of the entry is a police gazette reference only. From
the Gazette I am unable to tell you who lodged the missing persons report or
from which police station it came. However, if the family was living around Port
Augusta there where two police stations in the area. One for Port Augusta and
one for Port Augusta West. If you would like to check the station logs for
either of these police stations you could contact State Records who hold these
records.
Their website is: http://www.archives.sa.gov.au/contact.html
from the Research Support Officer Research Services State Library of South
Australia 27.10.2005.
I am currently trying to find who filed the missing person report to confirm
that this is indeed our John Ross.