Ariss, John (ca. 1729–1799) – Encyclopedia Virginia
Ariss was born in Cople Parish, Westmoreland County, about 1729, the youngest of five children of John Ariss and Frances Spencer Ariss. His mother was the granddaughter of Nicholas Spencer, a member of the governor’s Council in the 1680s and a sizable landowner in the parish. Within the space of two months in the winter of 1730, one sibling whose sex is unknown died and the already-widowed father drowned. John Footman became the guardian of the two boys and two girls who had been orphaned and...
Source: encyclopediavirginia.org