William Cross Research Log - A Fly in the Ointment

The results of this research are likely to upset some members of the Cross family from Anderson County, Tennessee. The reason is that the conventional wisdom is that Brittain Cross (1776-1825) of Anderson County, Tennessee was a son of William Cross the Revolutionary War drummer boy. Descendants of Brittain Cross therefore have used the fact that William was Brittain's father to support membership applications for the D.A.R., the S.A.R. and similar organizations. However, I do not believe that Brittain actually was a son of William.

This rather begs the question: if William was not Brittain's father, then who was Brittain's father?

I certainly don't know, but the following is suggestive. We know that William Cross the Revolutionary War drummer boy moved from Sullivan County, Tennessee to Knox County, Tennessee in 1817 and that he moved from Knox County to Anderson County a year later.

We know that Brittain Cross was married in in Jefferson County, Tennessee in 1800 and that Joseph Cross was married in Jefferson County in 1803. We know that Brittain Cross and Henry Cross were on the tax list in Greene County, Tennessee in 1805. We know that Brittain had moved to Anderson County by at least about 1808. So my money is on Britain being connected to Joseph Cross and Henry Cross rather than to William Cross the Revolutionary War drummer boy.

I have taken a de novo approach to the question of identifying William's children. In the process, I have run into no evidence whatsoever that Brittain was William's son. With one very minor exception, there seems to be no evidence at all that would connect the two men. Contrariwise, Brittain was only 14 years younger than William. The oldest child that I have identified that actually was William's child was about 22 years younger than he was. In order to believe that Brittain was William's son, we have to believe that William fathered a child when he was 14 years old and then did not father another child until he was 22 years old. We also have to believe that William and Brittain were father and son despite the complete absence of any evidence that would suggest that they actually were father and son.