The Sterling genealogy

374 THE STERLING GENEALOGY
the North Society, Lyme, says :
" Capt. William Ross of Wilks-
bury to Miss Betty Sterlin, Lyme.")
The following account of Gen. Ross' life is prepared by a
great-grandson, Sidney R. Miner, Secy, of the Wyoming (Penn.)
Hist, and Geological Society
William Ross came with his father and family from Montville,
New London Co., Conn., some time in the early part of the year
1774, to Wyoming. On the 1st of July, 1778, he marched with
a scouting party of nearly four hundred men, under command of
Col. Zebulon Butler, from Forty Fort, where the settlers had gath-
ered for protection from Indians, to Exeter, the scene of the mas-
sacre of the Hardings, which had occurred on the 30th of June.
On the 3d, being without arms, his two elder brothers, Perrin and
Jeremiah, having taken them into the battle, he remained in the
fort. His brothers were both killed. On receiving news of the
defeat, he and all his father's family fled (thus escaping the " Mas-
sacre of Wyoming," which occurred in the fort, July 5). He and
his mother and sister, Sarah Slocum (wife of Giles Slocum), took
the Nescopeck path, through Fort Allen to Stroudsburg, where
the latter entered the wolf's den, as is so often recorded. Jeremiah's next elder brother,
Simeon, was killed at the battle of Germantown, Oct. 4, 1777. Of Jeremiah's children,
Perran, was a lieutenant in the 24th Regt. of Infty., usually called the "Westmorland
Regt." He m. Mercy Otis of Montvill and was the father of five children. He and his
brother Jeremiah, Jr., were killed July 3, 1778, at the Wyoming (Penn.) Massacre.
William Ross, youngest son of Jeremiah, m. Elizabeth Sterling.
The Paine family of County Norfolk, the English house of Stephen Paine, the first
of them to come to America, can be traced back to before 1341. Stephen Paine, originally
from Shropham, near Hingham, County Norfolk, Eng., came to New England
in the ship Diligent, of Ipswich, in 1638. Settled first at Hingham, Mass., freeman there
in 1639, representative to Assembly in 1641, elected deputy to the court at Plymouth in
1645, which office he held until 1660. Stephen m. 1st, Rose , who d. Jan. 20, 1660
m. 2d, 1662, wid. Alice Parker of Plymouth, who d. Dec. 5, 1682. He d. Aug. 1679.
Had, b. in England in 1629, Stephen Paine, who came to Massachusetts with his father,
removed to Rehoboth, was a farmer by occupation, served in King Philip's War, d. at
Rehoboth, in Jan., 1678. His fifth child was Samuel Paine, b. in Rehoboth, May 12,
1662, who m. 1st, Anne Peck, Dec. 16, 1685, dau. of Samuel, granddau. of Joseph Peck.
She d. Feb. 26, 1703. Samuel m. 2d, Jan. 8, 1709, Abigail (Bartholomew) Frizzell,
wid. of Joseph, who d. in 1752, aged 79. Samuel Paine d. May 11, 1735, leaving a large
estate. His eldest son was Samuel Paine, b. Sept. 14, 1686 ; removed from Rehoboth
to Pomfret, Conn., about 1706; m. in 1709 Ruth Perrin, dau. of Abraham and Sarah
(Walker) Perrin, b. in Rehoboth, Mass., Mar. 30, 1688 ; selectman and deputy to General
Assembly. He d. Feb. 15, 1733; she d. June 5, 1725. Their dau, Ann, b. Feb.
11, 1720; m. Jeremiah Ross. (Hist, of Rehoboth; Paine Gene.; Bailey's Plymouth
Coll.; Tanner's Gene. Reg.; Savage's Gene. Diet.; Hist, of Dedham; Plymouth Col.
Records.)