Lewis W. Ross, attorney at law, Council Bluffs, was born of Scotch lineage, October 15, 1827, in Hanover Township, Butler County, Ohio. His grandfather, Ezekiel Ross, and his father, Amos Ross, natives of Essex County, New Jersey, settled in Butler County, Ohio, in 1814. Ezekiel died in 1845, in his eighty-ninth year, and was buried in the Bethel burying ground near his homestead. Amos died in his seventy-ninth year, in Jersey County, Illinois, and was buried in the Jerseyville Cemetery. Lewis W. Ross remained on the home farm until his twentieth year. May 1, 1848, he entered Farmer's College, near Cincinnati, and continued there until the winter of 1850, when he changed to Miami University, located at Oxford, Ohio, graduating from that institution in the month of June, 1852. At Farmer's College he had among his instructors Robert H. Bishop, D. D., and numbered among his student acquaintances Oliver W. Nixon, of the Inter-Ocean; William C. Gray, of the Interior; Murat Halsted, late of the Commercial Gazette; Lewis B. Gunkle, lawyer and capitalist, Dayton, Ohio; Joseph M. Gregory, lawyer, Memphis, Tennessee; Jacob C. Denise, M.D., Omaha, Nebraska; and Benjamin Harrison, the present occupant of the White House at Washington. In Miami University, he had among his classmates Milton Saylor, twice elected to Congress from a Cincinnati district; David Swing, now of Chicago; and Benjamin Harrison, already mentioned. Saylor received the first, and Swing the second, honors of the class.

After leaving college, Mr. Ross read law in Hamilton, Ohio, for two full years, passing to the bar in the summer of 1854. His law preceptors were Joseph Scott, a notable example of the advocate and court lawyer in the same person; and N. C. McFarland, a man of excellent common sense, and untiring industry. Scott was afterward, for many years, one of the Supreme Judges of the State of Ohio; and McFarland served under President Arthur as Commissioner of the General Land Office. After coming to the bar Mr. Ross located in Hamilton, Ohio, remaining there in practice for a period of two years. In the month of August, 1856, he removed to Cass County, Iowa.

On the 3rd day of January, 1861, he settled in Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, which place has always since been his home, except a temporary absence, extending through seven years, whilst employed in the State University. It is fair to say that he has given his life to the study and practice of his profession. He was State Senator in the 10th and 11th General Assemblies. Being a member of the Judiciary and Public Land Committees, his legal knowledge and professional experience were in constant demand and exercise. In 1864 he was elected a Trustee of the State University for four years, and re-elected in 1868. In 1874 he was elected a Regent of the University for six years. In 1880 he was made Resident Professor of the Law Department of the University, and in 1881 was promoted to the office of Chancellor of that Department. As Trustee and Regent he labored earnestly and successfully in strengthening and developing the University. He was especially active and largely instrumental in organizing and establishing the Law, Medical, and Homeopathic-Medical Departments. During the seven years of his service as Professor and Chancellor, he taught with other subjects, Equity, Real Property, Torts, and Common Law and Code Pleading. During this period the faculty and lecturers consisted of James M. Love, George G. Wright, Austin Adams, John N. Rogers, John F. Duncombe, Emlin McClain and J. L. Pickard. As Chancellor the subject of this sketch was the responsible head of the faculty, composed of men eminent as jurists, lawyers and teachers. It is worthy of notice that during all the years of this headship, the most perfect harmony prevailed between the several persons composing the faculty. In authorship Mr. Ross has produced but little of permanent value. While in the law school he published, in aid of his platform work, "An Outline of Common Law and Code Pleading," also, "An Outline of the Law of Real Property," and other fragmentary works. These, though valuable to himself and to his pupils at the time they were issued and used, were not designed for the active jurist, or the practicing lawyer. At the bar Mr. Ross ranks high as an equity and real-estate lawyer. To him causes of this character have all the charm of romance.

In his domestic relations he is fortunate and happy. In 1855 he was married to Miss Zoe M. Brown, in Lebanon, Ohio. Five children, all living, to-wit: Charles, Hester, Edith, Anna, and Dillion, are the fruit of this union. Mrs. Ross is now in mature womanhood, and very active in promoting Christian and charitable enterprises.