The sun., 1916-01-06

KING ROSS.
Facts About the Royal Family OF the
Cocos- Keeling Islands.

To THE EDITOR OF THE SUN-Str: As
a great daughter OF Captain j.
Ross. first King of tho Cocos-keeling
Islands. was interested in the article
about this kirrship in THE SrN OF
January .. some of It's statements
do not quite tally with the stories cur
rent in my family regarding these
Rosses. though OF course you may be
right and ] wrong, since families are
not always the best historians Of their
ancestors think my Information
comes from a nearer source than yours
since my home Is still Java, only 600
miles away.
Two OF Captain J. Ross daughters
married Scott hmen living I'm Java, by
name Wilson and Grey. and the Wilson
ard Grey families are still in Java.
NV mother is one of the Wilson's, and
she married an Englishman who lived
over thirty years in Java, where We
were all born. | know many Of the
Wilson and Grey families in conse-
quence
We have legend that all the Ross
family IN the Cocos Islands are i'm
rnensey wealthy, whereas YOU seem to
Imply that the crabs require most -
| the cocoanuts and leave very little for
commercial purposes We always say
that II we only had some Of that wealth
/ this generation.
| We have another legend that CAP
tain ]. Rosss wife was only half
! Malay, her father having been "A
| Spaniard. aud Judging from the Eura-
/ sian traces IN our family and those of
the Grey descendants, II looks as though
my generation belongs to the fourth
generation and not the third. There
are such millions OF Eurasiaus in the
very far East that comparison is very
easy indeed and we feel almost certain
of that.
king George Ciunies Ross. who died
in 1910, was said to have been the NTH
king SO presumably the present one Is
the seventh We know so little II the
present losses that | do not know his
name Mother keeps up with the
| Greys and Wilson's, but has hersel!
largely lost sight of the Rosses
The inhabitants Of the island in 1910
numbered 500 people. ali f!urasian and
all descendants OF the first king II
male or female lines. and they ar,
fairly well educated. The first two OF
three kings in any case kept up tn,
: 'otch habit nf sending their children
by native wives to scotland for theil
80 thoolinE. This same hahit was seer
in this country. Canada, when the iirs'
/ scotch pioneers of the liudsuu's BAY
Company sent the children. they haC
by the Indian squaws over to Scotland
to he educated, and they came back t,
Canada Scotchmcn. This habit is still
being carried out in the East. whcr,
nearly all the British are Scotchmen
and when ! was in IionRSong In 1905
there was actually no school in Hong
kong or Singapore where my ncphew'
OF seven and eight could go. Thcr,
were only missionary schools for th,
native and Eurasian children Of tn
poorer classes, The choice is Europ,
or else the Dutch Government schools
In Java even to this day one Of tn,
Crews who met King George Cunie
Ross n England IN 1870 told my mothe
that although his complvNtou was Yer,
dark, yet h" was an educated man, AN,
very pleasant He said he had sen
his children to school in Scotland
| believe I am the first member o
this family to have mtrr"ed an Ameri
can citizen ALICE WARREN liANAKER.
MONTREAL, Canada, January 4