History

In The Beginning Daniel  Cameron-(Slave Owner of) Virge & Fannie Cameron Ross

Heritage Our Heritage Family Surname and How It Originated During the time when the Western African Coast and the West Indies Islands were being ravaged by European nations and colonial North America to secure cheap labor for building the fortunes of newly settled immigrants in the colonies of the emerging United States of America, Daniel Ross was stolen away from his family in the West Indies and brought to colonial North America. Daniel was purchased at an early age by a white colonist from North America. Daniel was purchased at an early age by a white colonist from North Carolina named Paul Cameron. Paul Cameron was the son of Duncan Cameron (1776-1853) who had settled in Hillsboro, North Carolina in 1797. Duncan Cameron served as a superior court judge and headed the State Bank of North Carolina for twenty years. By the time of his death in 1853 he was one of North Carolina's wealthiest citizens (Gutman, p.574). It is reported that "Judge Duncan Cammon(Cameron) was a very rich man who lived in Raleigh, North Carolina and owned a plantation....He used to carry a large cane and if he met a negro on the road, and he did not raise his hat or hand to him, he would beat him with his cane" (Blassingame, p. 135). Duncan Cameron owned several plantations in North Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi. Paul Carrington Cameron (1808-1891) managed his father's several estates and 1,900 slaves and also served in the North Carolina legislature in 1850. Paul Cameron came to own at least 30,000 acres of land.

A former slave by the name of James Curry, who indicates that he was born in Person County, North Carolina, attested to the following: "I have been told that Paul Cammmon (Cameron) son of Judge Cammon (Cameron), who owned a plantation out of the town where he lived used to go out once in two to three weeks, and while there, have one or two slaves tied and whip them unmercifully, for no offence, but merely, as he said, to let them know that he was their master" (Blassingame, p. 139). This same Paul Cameron purchased Daniel Ross at an early age because of Daniel's ability to remove the taste of onion from milk & butter. Daniel, because of this skill, became know as the "Butter Man."

At the same time of Daniel's purchase by Paul Carrington Cameron, a young woman by the name of "Kizzy" was also purchased. Kizzy had been brought to this country from Africa and was given the surname of "Cameron" as were Daniel and other slaves owned by the slaveholder, Paul Cameron.

During their enslavement, Daniel and Kizzy Cameron were married and begot two sons, Streede and Virge. Both Streede and Virge were subsequently sold away from their parents by Paul Cameron to a slaveholder by the name of Henderson. As it was customary for the slave to become know by the surname of his master, Streede accepted and retained the name Henderson. Vurge (1853-1927), on the other hand, reclaimed the name Ross after emancipation, the surname which had been his father's surname prior to his purchase by Cameron. It is reported that Virge's refusal to accept the name Henderson was related to Henderson's cruelty to his slaves. Given the cruelty of Paul Cameron, one can surmise that the name Cameron would not have been reclaimed for the same reason. Virge Ross, when he became of age married Fannie (Cameron) Satterfield shortly after emancipation in the year 1868. To this union were born eleven children, five boys and six girls. They were from oldest to youngest as follows: Isaiah, Jinnett, Paul, Polly Al, Clem, Lanie, Lucy, Jack, Ola and William. Virge and his family settled in Person County in a place called Hurdle Mills, North Carolina.

As Virge and Fannie's offspring married, the branches of the family tree grew and spread. Isaiah married Millie (Mitchell) and produced two children, Mebane and Marie Ross. Jinnett neither married nor had children. Paul, Fannie and Virge's third child married Hattie Pondexter, his brother Jack's first wife's mother. No offspring resulted from their marriage. Polly Ross was married to Earnest Holman Young and Hattie was Polly's only children. Al Ross was married twice; first to Mary Louise and on the second occasion to Angeline (Sis) Toraine. Mary Louise bore Al two children and Angeline bore seventeen. Born to his union with Angeline were George, Willie, Walter, Betty, Ginnett, Bertha, Christine, and one other child. Clem Ross married Roberta Roundtree and produced four offspring: Isaiah, John Collins, Annie and Tiny. Lanie Ross married Jordan Cates and begot four children: Lucy, Ginnett, James and Mildred. Virge and Fannie's daughter Lucy Ross, married Levi Mitchell and bore nine children: Johnny, Marie, Julia, Virge, Charlie, Effie Fannie, Mollie and Freaman. Jack Ross was married twice: first to Clara Pondexter and subsequent to her death Mollie Cooper. To his Union with Clara were born six children: Sadie, Al, Foy, Odell, Hassell, and Wycliff. His second marriage to Molly Cooper produced ten births but seven surviving children: Mozelle, Gladys, Lacy Ozzie, Addie, Sylvester and Gerlene. Virge's youngest daughter Ola married William Edward Cole. To this union were born nine children: George, Lanie, Ann Polly Pearl, William Gentry, Nannie, John Junius, Clyde, Nedir Mae, and Mary Magdeline. William, the youngest of Virge's sons, married Agnes Torain and begot one daughter by the name of Freddie. Subsequent to Agnes death, William married Luvania Chavious and produced no children in that union. However, Luvania brought her two children, Beatrice and Jack Chavious, to that union. Streede Henderson, Virge's brother, settled in Durham County.

Streede married Nellie Henderson and produced three children: sons Green and John and only daughter, Lea. Green Henderson married Sarah Ann and bore four children: Jamie Bell, Easter, Ervin and Fred. John married Leslie Caroline and produced nine offspring: Lucille, Gladys, Beatrice, John Marshall, Aubell, Willie Kern, and Jessie Catherine. Lea Henderson married John Justice and produced seven offspring: Winthrop, Julian, Bernard, Stewart, Sandy, Owen and Foy