Seeking info: Alexander Joass -farmer at Burnside- married Helen Ross 23/04/1774

[Neale1961]

So (thinking out loud) Alexander the schoolmaster is Walter's half-brother and 24 years older than him...

CORRECT 

... the schoolmaster did not marry Helen Ross. ..... His father Alexander 1722 did indeed re-marry Helen.

This seems to be most likely. For better confirmation, I would look at the will for Alexander the school master, to see what information it gives.

[Alan of Kaslo]

There's plenty of missing documents with this one...

No death for Helen Ross/Joass
No death for Alexander Joass 1802
No birth for above Alexander 80 years before death
No marriage for Alexander and Beatrice Addison
No death for a Beatrice Joass
No death of Mary Duncan/Joass
No death of Alexander schoolmaster 1831(though there is a will which I shall purchase asap.)
No marriage of Alexander and Margaret Morrison

Just to be sure I search for "starts with j___" and if 10 pages of results come I'll scan through all of them so as to catch all the variations of Joss.

[Forfarian]

Just to be sure I search for "starts with j___" and if 10 pages of results come I'll scan through all of them so as to catch all the variations of Joss.

Quick people search with 'wildcards allowed' for j*ss finds 18,990 results
Quick people search with 'wildcards allowed' for j*s finds 254,516 results
Quick people search with 'phonetic variations for Joss finds 1,213,570 results #
Quick search with 'beginning with' for j.... finds 2,158,746

Have you found many variations that don't fit j*ss ?

# Much entertained to see that 1,657 pages of OPR baptisms using 'phonetic variations' of Joss include Hedger, Eggie, Cas, Zoot and a few other surprises.

[DouglasH]

Variations seen; Josse, Foss, Zoss,Jos, as well as ones with single s or no a.
 As if too many Walters and Alexanders wasn,t enough.

[Alan of Kaslo]

I've done many searches by first name also so as not to miss anything...

For instance if I was searching for Alexander Joass's around 1756:

I'd set it to search for a male in Banff (also do the same for Aberdeenshire) between the years 1754 - 1757. No surname. First name starts with AL.  11 pages pop up and I can set the surnames to show alphabetically. Now it's easy to scan , seconds per page.  I still don't jump to the J's right away.

I did the above with several people mentioned in this thread all to make sure i wasn't missing out on results.

I should mention that I'm thrilled so far at the amazing help and results here in this thread! So thankful I didn't follow auto-suggest. Sometimes I look at my tree and think , wow there is not a lot to that. Then I remember the years of constant research (and many hundreds of dollars in bought documents) that went into my wee tree.

Almost every branch came to an inevitable dead end. That's where Rootschat shines! I have received absolutely amazing help here time and time again. This thread is another example of it.

[GR2]

A candidate for Helen Ross:

Alexander Ross was born at Balgreen, Gamrie, in 1708. He married Agnes Milne and had children. Helen (1745), John (1747), Agnes (1748), Katherine (1755) and William (1758).

Alexander Ross was farmer at Mill of Balmaud, King Edward, by at least 1742 (he was an elder of the kirk that year). His first three children were born at Balmaud, but by June 1755 he had moved to Gamrie and taken on the tenancy of the Mains of Cullen. He disappears from the records in December 1765, and his son John was tenant at Mains of Cullen by 1769.

Between 1780 and 1793, John Ross had seven children baptised. Six of the baptisms were witnessed by Alexander Joass in Burnside of Cullen and one by Alexander Joass in Bauds of Cullen. While Alexander Joass may have been a witness as a friend and neighbour, it might also have been because John Ross's sister Helen had married into the family.

These Rosses can be traced back to John Ross and Barbara Reid, whose son, James Ross, married Barbara Panton, daughter of James Panton of Haremoss, Monquhitter. James Ross and Barbara Panton were the parents Alexander Ross (b. 1708). Alexander's wife, Agnes Milne, was probably the daughter of Thomas Milne in Nether Foulzie, King Edward.

[Alan of Kaslo]

Thank you so much GR2 for your generous contributions. Greatly appreciated.

I did have Helen Ross as being born in 1745 with mentioned parents in  tree...but that was only by being the most likely search result, no proof of any kind. What you just shared dovetails perfectly ... the move to Mains Cullen , the witnessing etc. Everything is clicking together!

Now to digest that info (which always takes several reads and follow-up cross-referencing).

Thanks again!

PS:   "Nether Foulzie"   

[GR2]

If you want detailed files on these Rosses, send me a personal message with your e-mail address and I'll send them off to you.

[Neale1961]

I tried to find a birth in 1722 for Alexander...couldn't see one but I did see a John Joass born at Alvah 1724 and a Walter born 1727 both to an Alexander.

Assuming the 1722 birth date is correct, I am not sure this can be your family in Alvah. These children’s baptisms are recorded (& no room for your Alexander in 1722):
James 1720, Chirstain 1722, John 1724, George 1726, Walter 1727, Walter 1728, Margaret 1730, Margaret 1731.