Charlotte Ross (1846-1891)
Family Details
Birth 13 APRIL 1846 • Meadville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania
Death JULY 18, 1891 • Bayonne, Hudson, New Jersey
Burial – New York Bay Cemetery, Jersey City, Hudson, New Jersey PLOT grave 4,lot 562
Parents Hester Wirt / Wert and William M Ross
Spouse William Johnston McGill
Marriage -
Nov. 1865 • Sugar Lake, Pennsylvania. Preformed by McDill, Justice of the Peace. At inquiry for medical care/ military this is the answer given for when, where and by whom he was married.
As recorded in the book: The McGills, by Capt Augustus McGill, page 260. The wedding was
Nov. 23, 1866 • Crawford County, Pennsylvania, USA
Children – Margaret Gertrude “Gertie” McGill (Dilworth) , Anna Tina McGill (Golden), Emma Jane McGill (Kevlon), Charles McGill, Julia McGill, Rose Agnes McGill (Pearson), William Johnston McGill, Jr, Edward Everett McGill, Alfred Raymond McGill.
Siblings – Mary Ross, Syrenius Ross, Miller Ross, William Ross, Jr., Matilda Ross (Beers, Cook), Delila J Ross, Gilmon (or Gilbert) Ross, Orlando Ross,
Charlotte Ross McGill
In honor of Charlotte Ross McGill’s birthday, I’ve put together a short biography—and with a little help from AI, reimagined it as if it were Charlotte herself sharing her memories from The Great Beyond. This version doesn’t go too deep into the details; instead, I wanted it to feel more personal, more like a quiet reflection than a history lesson.
The Remembrance of Charlotte Ross McGill
(April 13, 1846 – July 18, 1891)
I was born on a spring day in 1846, the sixth child of Hester and William Ross. My father was a shoemaker by trade, quiet and steady, and my mother, Hester Wirt—of proud German stock—had the patience and strength that only a mother of nine could possess. We lived in Meadville, Pennsylvania, a place of hills and hearths, where my childhood was filled with the bustle of siblings and the smells of bread and leather.
Of those early days, I remember most the rhythm of home and the whispers of war beginning to stir. I knew of a boy—William Johnston McGill—whose people were also in Meadville. Whether we were sweethearts then or merely familiar faces, I cannot quite say now. But I know he left with the war in his eyes on April 22, 1861, when he answered the Union’s call.
Those were cruel years, the war tearing at the fabric of so many families, mine included. William J came home changed, carrying wounds that never quite healed. His brother, John Patrick McGill, fell near Chickahominy Swamp in ’62. My own brother, William Ross, died that same year at Antietam. And then Syrenius—dear Syrenius—who was wounded at Gettysburg and lingered for years before passing in 1867. The war took much from our family, more than just names carved in stone.
But William came back to me. Broken, maybe, but mine. He was discharged in May 1864, and we were married on November 23, 1865, by Justice McDill in Sugar Lake. It wasn’t a grand wedding, but we didn’t need much—just each other and a bit of hope.
Life began anew for us with our first child, Margaret Gertrude, born the following year.
Then came Anna Tina—our bright-eyed girl who would one day marry Edward Golden and name her own daughter after me: Charlotte Ross Golden. That name, carried forward, warms me even now, although you know her as Gram Hostetter.
By the time of the 1870 census, we had set our roots in Cornplanter, Pennsylvania. Our house grew full—Emma, Charles, Julia, and little Rose all came into the world under our roof, each with their own place in my heart.
We counted our blessings, held our children a little tighter, and wept a good number of tears in 1876 when Louisa and Nancy, my sister Mary’s girls fell through the ice and died. Two years later, our grief deepened when grave robbers violated their final resting place.
On February 26, 1884, I found my way to the Lord. At 36, in our Bayonne home, I was baptized by a priest from St. John’s Cavalry Church.
Almost nine months later on November 6 our Edward Everett arrived, as if to seal the blessing. And though some might have paused, we did not. In 1889, our last son, Alfred Raymond, was born.
Two years later, on July 18, 1891, my time on earth came to a quiet close. Consumption, another name for Tuberculosis, took me, as it did so many. I passed in our home on Denny Road in Bayonne, surrounded by the echoes of laughter, prayer, and lullabies. I was laid to rest in New York Bay Cemetery—Plot 4, Lot 562—beneath the grass and sky.
William J did what he could, but grief and illness wore him down. He sought help for our youngest, entrusting them to the care of family back in Pennsylvania. Not long after, he himself was admitted to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. In January 1902, he came to join me in eternity.
I remember it all—the love, the loss, the warmth of a baby in my arms, the hymns sung softly by candlelight, the heavy silence after war. But above all, I remember the family we built, the lives that continued after mine, and the name I passed on, carried gently through the years by those who still remember me.– Charlotte Ross McGill
Some of the sources and records consulted in our research
findagrave Memorial ID 141447821
FamilySearch ID LH64-F3N
Charlotte Ross in United States, Census, 1850
Charlotte Ross in United States, Census, 1860
Charlotte Ross in United States, Census, 1860
Charlotte Mc Gill in United States, Census, 1880
