unknown Ross

Y-DNA testing of a presumed male-line descendant tentatively assigns him to haplogroup I2b1 (now known as I-M223), probable subclade I-L216.

The link between the Rosses in Scotland and the Ross family of Rhode Island is highly obscure. It is possible that William Ross Sr's father (or parents) came to America from Barbados.

There exists a note, in "The Original List of Persons of Quality", concerning a William Ross departing Barbados for New England:

March the 21 1678

ROSS WILLIAM in the Ketch Wm & Susan for New England RALPH PARKER Comand 1 ' time out

However, unless this was William Ross Sr's father and entire family, the date is significantly out of line.

Another possibility is that he was a Scottish prisoner of war, taken after Dunbar (3 Sept 1650) or Worcester (3 Sept 1651) and indentured to the Colonies. "Ross" may not even have been his right surname; the haplotype I-M223 is almost completely absent among Clan Ross (but is found at low frequency in Clan Rose). Some early settlers of Westerly, Rhode Island, *were* former Scottish prisoners of war who had survived their indentures and were now making new lives for themselves.