Ross, Lewis W. bio

Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County, Illinois: containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county: together with portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States, and governors of the state; Biographical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL; 1890; page 770 & 773-776; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
Hon. Lewis W. Ross. In the annals of Fulton County the name of Ross stands out in great prominence as belonging to a family whose members have been very closely identified with its highest interest since the very first days of its settlement, and in its record we find much that really forms a part of the history of the county. The first actual settler of what is now Fulton County had scarcely located in his new home when Ossian M. Ross and his family came to be his neighbors. This gentleman became conspicuous in the public life of this section of Illinois as one of its foremost pioneers. He assisted in the organization of the county, and as the founder of Lewistown his memory will ever be held in reverence unto the latest generation.
As a son of this remarkable man, and as a representative of a family whose members have been distinguished in various walks of life, and have borne a prominent part in State and National affairs, we take pleasure in placing on the pages of this biographical work, which would not be complete without it, an account of the life of the Hon. Lewis W. Ross. It was for him that his father named the city of Lewistown, and he is to-day one of its most honored citizens. As a lawyer of no mean ability, as a stateman and politician of the best type, he has been eminent in the pubic life of the county and the State; and as a merchant and practical farmer, he has been a very important factor in building up the business and agricultural interests of the community, where he has spent much of his life as a boy and man for nearly seventy years. He now lives retired from the active duties of life, having a handsome income, he being a large real-estate holder and a man of wealth.
The subject of this biography was born in Seneca Falls, Seneca County, N. Y., December 8, 1812. His father was born in the same State, and, it is thought, in the same county, the date of his birth being August 16, 1790. He was a son of Joseph Ross, who was a son of Zebulon Ross, who came to this country from his native Scotland early in the eighteenth century. But little is known of his history, however. Joseph Ross was a pioneer farmer of Seneca County, and there spent his last years. The maiden name of his wife was Abigail Lee, and she was a daughter of Thomas and Waty (Shearman) Lee. After the death of her husband she came to Illinois to live with her children, and died in Havana at an advanced age.
Ossian M. Ross was reared to agricultural pursuits in his native State, and resided there until 1819, when he came to this State to secure the land given the soldiers by the Government for services rendered in the War of 1812. He was accompanied by his wife and three children, and they made the first part of their journey by team to Olean Point, where they embarked on the long voyage on the Alleghany, Oho and Mississippi Rivers to their destination. After his arrival at Alton Mr. Ross rented a place near Milton, in Madison County. He held patents for several quarter-sections of land, located on the military tract in what is now Fulton County. During the summer of 1820 he made a trip on horseback to this part of the country, in company with three others, and decided to locate on a quarter-section of his land that lay on Otter Creek, that he might improve the water power.
From the “History of Fulton County” we extract the following interesting account of Mr. Ross’ removal to this section of the county, and the discouragements that he met that altered his plans, and caused him to locate where Lewistown now stands: “In the spring of 1821 Mr. Ross, with his family and a few men employed by him to make improvements, sailed up the Illinois River to Otter Creek in a keel-boat. After traveling up Otter Creek for some distance in their cumbersome keel-boat they came to a large tree fallen across the stream, which made a barrier that could not be passed over or around. These sturdy pioneers, however, were not easily turned from their course. They made preparations to saw the log into pieces and remove it. This scheme was frustrated, however, and the whole course of Mr. Ross’ plans changed. A heavy rain fell during the night, and in the morning the log they intended to saw was six to eight inches under water, and therefore out of reach of workmen. He ran his boat stern foremost back down Otter Creek to the Illinois, and up that stream to Spoon River. He entered this stream and started up its swift swollen waters for Mr. Eveand’s landing, intending to go where he owned three quarter-sections of land. The greatest difficulty was experienced in ascending this turbulent stream, made so by recent reavy rains. It consumed several days of constant hard labor to reach Eveland’s. At places men were put upon the bank and with ropes dragged or cordelled the boat along. They finally reached Eveland’s, in whose cabin the party found a warm welcome. There they remained until the arrival of the teams and stock, which had been brought across the country. Mr. Ross with his teams then started for his own land, where Lewistown now is. Men were sent ahead to cut down trees and clear a road. On arriving at the end of the journey, Mr. Ross jubilantly exclaimed to his family. ‘We are now on our own land.’ His daughter, Mrs. Steele, of Canton, who was then a little girl, quickly spoke up, ‘Why, pa, have we come all this distance just for this?’ Nothing but a vast wilderness was spread out before them where the little girl expected to find something wonderfully fine, else they would not have endured all the hardships that had befallen them on their long journey.” The little girl voiced the sentiments of many a tired, heartsick pioneer family on first arriving at its journey’s end on some wild prairie or in the depths of a primeval forest.
Mr. Ross constructed a temporary shelter by putting forked posts in the ground, extending poles between them and covering them with bark. This rude structure was used for a habitation by the family until it was replaced in a few days by a cabin built of round logs, neither sawed timber or nails being used in its construction. The floor was made of puncheon, and the boards that covered the roof were rived by hand and held in position by weight poles. At that time deer, wild turkeys and other game were plentiful, but bread stuffs were scarce. There were no mills nearer than Sangamon County, and corn had to be ground y a primitive and novel method. A hole was burned in the top of a stump, and a pole suspended after the manner of a well-sweep over the stump, which ground, or rather pounded the corn into meal. Another way of preparing it was to pick the corn in the all of the year before it had hardened, and grate it by passing it over a plane or grater, and in that way reduce it to meal.
As a man of more than ordinary intelligence, ability and force of character, Ossian M. Ross soon assumed his rightful place as a leader of the pioneers who came in to settle up this section of the country after he took up his abode here, and they ever looked to him for counsel and assistance. He bore the principal part in securing the organization of the county, going before the Legislature in 1821 and using his influence to obtain the passage of an act whereby the greater portion of Northern Illinois was organized into a county called Fulton. He was also instrumental in securing the location of the county-seat at Lewistown, and he gave the county thirteen town lots to be used for public purposes. He filled various important civic offices, serving as the first Justice of the Peace of the county, its second Sheriff, and as the third Treasurer of the county.
When Mr. Ross settled here he was so pleased with his land the beauties of the location, and its advantages as a town site, that he determined to lay off a town, and immediately put his project into execution, and the village thus platted he named in honor of his little son Lewis, and from this auspicious beginning has arisen a busy and flourishing little city, that is to-day an important agricultural and commercial center.
The founder of Lewistown did not tarry many years within its limits, but in 1829 he sought greener fields and pastures new, going to the present site of Havana, Mason County. To him also belongs the honor of laying out that town and being its first merchant, and he likewise platted the town of Bath. He was a man of large enterprise, and his energies were devoted to several business operations at the same time. He continued in the mercantile trade, and at the same time managed a ferry across the Illinois River, called Ross’ Ferry, ad was also engaged in farming and stock-raising. His death in Havana, January 20, 1837, while in the prime of life, was a severe blow not only to the community, but to the county at large, and even beyond its bounds.
In the person of his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Winans, Mr. Ross had an able coadjutor, who sympathized with him heartily in his work, and by her advice and assistance was an important factor in his success in life. She was born April 1, 1793, in Morris County, N. J., and was married in Waterloo, N. Y., July 7, 1811. She was a fine type of the self-sacrificing, warm-hearted pioneer women of this State, and at her death a source of valuable information concerning the pioneer history of this part of Illinois, whose growth she had watched with intelligent interest, was lost. She reared six children, of whom the following is recorded: Lewis, the subject of this sketch, was the eldest of the family; Harriet, deceased, was the wife of Ambrose S. Steele; Harvey L. resides in Oakland, Cal.; Lucinda, the first white child born in Fulton County, now living in Denver, Colo., married the Hon. William Kellogg, late Member of Congress; Leonard F., a resident of Iowa, was a Lieutenant in the Mexican War, and a General in the War of the Rebellion; Pike C. is engaged in the mercantile business in Canton.
The Hon. Lewis W. Ross, in whose honor these lines are written, was in his eight year when he came to Illinois with his parents. He received his education in the pioneer schools. The first he ever attended was taught in the log schoolhouse of yore, with its puncheon floor, benches made of splitting a log, hewing one side smooth, and inserting wooden pins for legs, and greased paper covering the hole made by removing a log from the side of the cabin serving instead of glass for a window. He subsequently became a student at Jacksonville College, of which Edward Beecher was then President, and during his three years course there obtained high rank for good scholarship. He had a taste for jurisprudence, having a logical, analytical mind, and good powers of oratory, and in 1835 he commenced the study of law with Josiah Lamborn, at Jacksonville, Ill. He applied himself closely to his books under the instruction of that gentlemen, remaining with him a year, and at the end of that time went to Havana, where he continued his studies. In the winter of 1836-37 he went to Vandalia, then the State Capital, and when the Legislature was organized was appointed clerk of one of the committees.
While [performing his clerical functions in the Assembly, Mr. Ross received the sad tidings of the death of his father, in the month of January, 1837, and he immediately set out on his return home. He borrowed a horse, and made his way home across the intervening wild and sparsely settled country as rapidly as possible, and at the end of two weeks arrived at his journey’s end at Havana. He had been appointed one of the executors of his father’s estate, and at once entered upon his duties as such. He resided in Havana until 1839, when he came to Lewistown and formed a partnership with J. P. Boyce for the practice of law, and they were together some years.
In 1846 Mr. Ross enlisted to take part in the Mexican War, and was elected Captain of Company K, Fourth Illinois Infantry, commanded by Col. E. D. Baker. Our subject continued in the service until his honorable discharge in June, 1847, with his regiment, he having proved a brave and able officer. He returned to Lewistown and resumed the practice of law, and his time was devoted to the interests of an extensive clientage until he was elected to Congress and entered upon his distinguished career as a statesman. When he returned to private life he embarked in the mercantile business, and at one time was also extensively engaged in farming. He is now living in retirement, in the enjoyment of a handsome income from his landed estates and other valuable property.
Fifty-one years ago, June 13, 1839, the subject of this biography was wedded to Miss Frances M. Simms, who was born in Virginia July 18, 1821. Theirs has been a felicitious marriage, as she has found in him a devoted husband, and he in her a true companion and faithful friend, who has filled in a perfect measure the duties of wife and mother. Much of the comfort and pleasantness of their attractive home is due to her untiring efforts and her able management of household affairs. While life has brought to them many pleasures, the sorrow common to mortals has befallen them in the death of some of their children. They celebrated their golden wedding June 13, 1889. They have four children living: John W., Postmaster of Washington, D. C.; Lewis C. and Pike C., at home with their parents; Jennie, wife of G. K. Barrere, of Canton.
Mr. Ross has exerted a marked influence on the civil and political life of this county, has taken a deep interest in its welfare, materially and otherwise, and has borne a prominent part in promoting its rise and progress to its present high standing among its sister counties as a wealthy and well-developed country and the richest agricultural centre of Illinois. He has long been prominent in the councils of the Democratic party. When a young man he was in sympathy with the Whigs. While he was in college he joined a debating society, of which he was for a time President. He took a leading part in the debates, always preparing his speeches with great care. In his search for knowledge upon which to base his arguments, his political opinions were formed, and he became a member of the Democratic party, and has since been a zealous supporter of its principles. His fellow-citizens have honored him and themselves by calling him to responsible public positions, which he has filled with ability and with a conscientious regard to the highest interests of the State and country. He was elected to the Illinois Legislature in 1840, and again in 1844. In 1862 he was elected Congress from the Ninth District, and so well pleased was his constituency with his course during that term, it re-elected him in 1864, and again in 1866, and his whole career while at the National Capital marked him as an able and wise legislator. Mr. Ross has been a member of two constitutional conventions in Illinois, and a delegate to many of the State and National Conventions. He acted in that capacity at the Charleston Convention in 1860, and at Baltimore in the same year, being one of the strongest supporters of S. A. Douglas present at either convention. He took an active part in the deliberations of the National Convention at St. Louis in 1876 as one of its prominent delegates, and used his influence to secure the nomination of Samuel J. Tilden, and he was a delegate to the National Convention at Cincinnati in 1880.