According to tradition, the Rose family was established in Scotland by a descendant of the Norman, "de Roos." He settled in Nairnshire under King Alexander in the early part of the twelfth century. Some genealogists believe that from him are descened both the "Roses and the Rosses". However that may be, the Nairnshire family is the ancestral in of the Virginia Roses. The ancestral home of the Clan Rose is near Nairn, in Northern Scotland. The Roses of Kilravock, Lairds of the Castle today and Chiefs of the Clan Rose, settled on these lands in 1236. Of Norman descent, they followed William the Conqueror across the Channel, later emigrating to Scotland where, in 1236, they received a Crown Charter of the barony of Geddes from King Baliol. Half a century later the first Hugh Rose acquired the lands of Kilravock and probably a castle or dwelling of some sort of which today there is no trace. It was Hugh, 7th of Kilravock, who began to build the present to in 1460. It is a significant fact that with a few exceptions the families who remained longest on their lands in Scotland were those who loved learning and the arts better than politics or power. The Roses of Kilravock were in the main, peaceable, unambitious men who preferred the comforts and quietness of home life to the excitements of travel and war.

Again according to tradition four brothers came to America shortly after the first settlement of Jamestown. This has been generally accepted as true, but due to the fragmentary character of the early colonial records, cannot be proved. However, appearing in the records as early as the middle of the seventeenth century are such names as Maurice (sometimes recorded Morris), William, Alexander and Robert Rose. The record shows that William Rose, in 1650 "witnessed the conveyance of a lease to the widow of John Cooper". And, in 1657, "Maurice Rose secured a grant of 1400 acres of land on the south side of the James River." The Land Office reveals further grants to William, Alexander, and Robert.

It is agreed that the first Roses came from the same part of Scotland and settled in Virginia about the same time. It is reasonable to assume that they came from the same family. "From these seventeenth century settlers sprang the hundreds of Rose families scattered all over the south, and to some extent, the North."

In many of the Roses houses in the South one could find the clan coat of arms, varying somewhat in minor detail, but all have the water "budgets," the one essential feature.

References:
Scotland - Ancestral Home
The Roses of Surry County Virginia

Rose Ancestoral Home