John Ross & Sabrina Love

Sabrina was born in Maury County, Tennessee in 1818 and married John Ross in 1833. They had two beautiful children. A daughter Martha Ann, born 1835 and William Jackson born 1837. John Ross was a logger. He spent time cutting trees and hauling them down the river to make a living for his young family.  He was said to be a fine swimmer but he had on a heavy overcoat and heavy boots as he floated logs down the Red River in Northern Tennessee. Somehow floating the logs down the river he drowned and the body was never recovered.

Sabrina was young, her son was born after her husband’s death.  She had one slave who did the housework. She took in sewing because she was a good hand at the needle but had no sewing machine. The only work she could do was sew clothes for people in the town. She made the cloth and the garment.                                  —-Information from Trudie Helm Stone

“Sabra” as she was known stayed in Tennessee for some time after her husbands death. It wasn’t until Martha married that they moved the family to Dallas, Texas.  Sabra’s youngest son, William Jackson Ross (our ggg-grandfather) was weak as a young boy. They hoped moving to Texas would improve his health. He soon grew and enlisted in the Civil War. After the war he married Nancy Shepperd Griffin and started their large family. In 1880, at the age of 63 Sabra moved in with her son William, his young wife and five children.  In 1883, at the age of 66 she passed away with her children and grandchildren around her.