Gen. John Ross Key

• Daughters of American Revolution Ancestor #: A065323
• Service: MARYLAND Rank: CAPTAIN
• Birth: 9-19-1754 CECIL CO MARYLAND
• Death: 10-13-1821 FREDERICK CO MARYLAND
• Service Source: ARCH OF MD, VOL 12, P 555; CLEMENTS & WRIGHT, MD MIL IN THE REV, PP 95,167,168; HEITMAN, HIST REG OF OFFICERS OF THE CONT ARMY DURING THE WAR OF THE REV, 1775-1783, P 330
• Service Description: 1) COL BRUCE, FREDERICK CO MILITIA, 2) ALSO 1ST & 2ND LT, STEPHENSON'S RIFLE BATT, CL
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ross_Key
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Rubra John Ross Key (September 19, 1754 – October 11, 1821) was a lawyer, a commissioned officer in the Continental Army, a judge, and the father of writer Francis Scott Key.

Key was born in Redland, Frederick County, Maryland, to English parents Francis Key, whose parents had come to Maryland in 1726, and his wife Ann Arnold (Ross) Key. She was a strong influence on her grandson Francis when he lived with her near Annapolis when he was in school there.

Mustered into service at Frederick on June 21, 1775, Key was commissioned as a second lieutenant in Captain Thomas Price's Maryland Rifle Company. It was one of the first military forces from outside New England that came to aid General Washington at the siege of Boston, July-August 1775. By 1781 Key was a captain. He commanded a Frederick County Company of Cavalry during the Yorktown Campaign.

He was later a Justice of the Peace, a Judge, and Associate Justice of his Judicial District, which comprised Allegany, Washington and Frederick Counties. His brother Philip Barton Key, also an attorney arranged for his nephew Francis to study law under his friend, Judge Jeremiah Townley Chase in 1800 and with whom he would later be a partner in Georgetown. Francis took the practice over entirely when his uncle ran for Congress.

He married Ann Phoebe Penn Dagworthy Charlton at the city of Frederick on October 19, 1775. Four children were born to the couple, but only two reached maturity. Francis Scott Key, and his sister Anne Arnold Phoebe Charlton Key who would marry Roger Brooke Taney. Key died at the age of 67 in Frederick City and was interred there at Mount Olivet Cemetery.

I, too am a Descendant of John Ross Key. DAR No. 780442. John Ross Key was my 4th great grandfather. Line from Francis Scott Key, Sr. Francis Scott Key Jr., Daniel Murray Key, Frank Murray Key, Ophelia Key (my mother) then myself.

John Ross Key was a lawyer, a commissioned officer in the Continental Army, a judge, and the father of writer Francis Scott Key.

Key was born in Redland, Frederick County, Maryland, to English parents Francis Key and his wife Ann Arnold (Ross), who had come to Maryland in 1726. She was a strong influence on her grandson Francis when he lived with her near Annapolis when he was in school there.

Mustered into service at Frederick on June 21, 1775, Key was commissioned as a second lieutenant in Captain Thomas Price's Maryland Rifle Company. It was one of the first military forces from outside New England that came to aid General Washington at the siege of Boston, July–August 1775. By 1781 Key was a captain. He commanded a Frederick County Company of Cavalry during the Yorktown Campaign.

He was later a justice of the peace, a judge, and associate justice of his judicial district, which comprised Allegany, Washington and Frederick Counties. His brother Philip Barton Key, also an attorney arranged for his nephew Francis to study law under his friend, Judge Jeremiah Townley Chase in 1800 and with whom he would later be a partner in Georgetown. Francis took the practice over entirely when his uncle ran for Congress.

He married Ann Phoebe Penn Dagworthy Charlton at the city of Frederick on October 19, 1775. Six children were born to the couple, but only three reached maturity. Francis Scott Key, his sister Anne Arnold Phoebe Charlton Key who would marry Roger Brooke Taney and John Alfred Key who died at Edgefield, South Carolina.

Key died at the age of 67 in Frederick City and was interred there at Mount Olivet Cemetery.