Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/354

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ROSS
ROSS

time, the others having been destroyed. In 1862 he enlisted in the National army as a private, and in 1865 became major. On his return to Kansas, after the war. he was appointed to succeed James H. Lane in the U. S. senate, and was elected to fill out the term, serving from 25 July, 1866, till 4 March. 1871. He voted against the impeachment of President Johnson, thus offending the Republi- can party, with which he had always acted, and was charged with having adopted this course from mercenary and corrupt motives. After his term ended he returned to Kansas, united with the Democratic party, and was defeated as their candi- date for governor in 1880. In 1882 he removed to New Mexico, where he published a newspaper, and in May, 1885, was appointed by President Cleveland governor of that territory.


ROSS, Frederick Augustus, clergyman, b. in Cobham, Cumberland co., Va., 25 Dec., 1796: d. in Huntsville. Ala., 13 April. 1883. He was educated at Dickinson college, Carlisle, Pa., entered the Pres- byterian ministry, emancipated his slaves, and from 1825 till 1851 was pastor of a church in Kings- port, Tenn., where he had removed in 1818. In 1828 he labored as an evangelist in Kentucky and Ohio. At the division of the Presbyterian general assembly in 1837-'8 he adhered to the new school branch, "and in 1855 he became pastor of the 1st Presbyterian church in Huntsville, Ala., holding this charge until 1875 and continuing pastor emeri- tus until his death. With James Gallaher and David Nelson he edited a monthly publication en- titled "The Calvinistic Magazine," founded in 1826, and he published a book entitled "Slavery as ordained of God" (Philadelphia, 1857).


ROSS, George, signer of the Declaration of In- dependence, b. in Newcastle, Del., in 1730; d. in Lancaster, Pa., in July, 1779. His father, George (1676-1754), left the Presbyterian ministry for that of the Church of Eng- land and came from Scotland to Delaware about 1703. He very soon rose to promi- nence, becoming one of the pillars of the Episcopal church in the American colonies, and acting as chaplain to several of the pro- prietary governors of Pennsylvania. The son at the age of eighteen began the study of the law, and on his admission to the bar, in 1751, set- tled in Lancaster, Pa.

He was a member of

the Pennsylvania assembly in 1768-70, and ap- pointed by the convention that assembled, after the dissolution of the proprietary government, to prepare a declaration of rights. Mr. Ross was elected to the 1st general congress at Philadel- phia in 1774, and continued to represent his state until June, 1777, when, through failing health, he resigned his seat. On this occasion, the citizens of Lancaster having voted him a piece of plate worth 150, he declined the gift on the ground that " it was the duty of every man, especially of every representative of the people, to contribute by every means within his power to the welfare 01 his country without expecting pecuniary re- wards." On first entering congress he was ap- pointed by the legislature to report to that body a set of instructions by which his conduct and that of his colleagues were to be guided. lie was among the foremost leaders in the provincial legislature in espousing measures for the defence of the com- munity against British aggression, and in 1775 drew up a reply to a message of Gov. Penn that deprecated any defensive measures on the part of the colonies. He was also the author of the report urging vigorous action for putting the city of Philadelphia in a state of defence. On 14 April, 177!. lie was appointed judge of the court of ad- miralty for Pennsylvania, which post he filled un- til his death three months later. Judge Ross pos- sessed a benevolent disposition, which often led him to espouse the cause of the Indians and to save that people from the consequences of the frauds that were practised on them by the whites. As a lawyer he was early classed among the first of the profession, and as a judge he was learned and upright, and remarkable for the ease and rapidity with which he despatched business. He was the last man of the Pennsylvania delegation to sign the Declaration of Independence. His half-brother, John, lawyer, b. in New Castle, Del., in 1714 : d. in Philadelphia, 8 May, 1776, was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, 27 Aug., 1735, and so rapidly rose in his profession that in 1743 he was the chief rival of Andrew Hamilton before the courts. In 1744 he engaged in the manufacture of pig-iron in Berks county with John Lesher, and he continued his interest in the same until his death. In 1759. with others, he was con- sulted by the governor and council in relation to a law for recording warrants and surveys, and thus render the title to real estate more secure. In 1760 he took part in the organization of St. Paul's Epis- copal church, and was its first warden. Alexander Graydon says : "Mr. John Ross, who loved ease and madeira much better than liberty and strife, declared for neutrality, saying that, 'let who would be king, he well knew that he should be subject'"; and John Adams writes of him in his diary, 25 Sept., 1775, as "a lawyer of great eloquence and heretofore of extensive practice, a great Tory, but now they say beginning to be converted." He was a friend and correspondent of Benjamin Franklin, and an early member of the American philosophi- cal society.


ROSS," George William, Canadian statesman, b. near Nairn, Middlesex co., Ont., 18 Sept., 1841. His family came from Ross-shire, Scotland, in 1832. He was educated at his native place and at the Toronto normal school, and taught from 1857 till 1871. when he was appointed inspector of public schools for the county of Lambton. He was active in the movement for the creation of county model schools, and did much to perfect them when they were established, preparing the syllabus of lectures, and serving for a time as inspector of model schools. He was a member of the central committee of examiners from 1876 till 1880. Mr. Ross was elected to the Dominion parliament in 1872, re-elected by acclamation in 1874, j and chosen again in 1878 and 1882, but he was unseated in October, 1883, for bribery by agents during his canvass. He was appointed minister of education for Ontario, 23 Nov., 1883. elected to the legislative assembly of Ontario. 15 Dec., 1883 and re-elected in 1886. Mr. Ross has been for ninny years active in the temperance and prohibitory movements in Canada, llf was mi honorary commissioner at the Colonial and Indian exhibition in London, England, in 1885. He has edited the Strathroy "Age" and the Seaforth "Expositor," and was also one of the conductors of the "On-