BIOS: A. Marshall ROSS, Addison, Somerset County, PA File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Sharon Trosan Copyright 2007. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/somerset/ ________________________________________________ BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Vol. XXXII, Containing Life Sketches of Leading Citizens of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania. Boston, Biographical Review Publishing Company: 1899, pp 286-288. A. Marshall Ross, senior member of the firm of A. M. Ross and Brother, general merchants, Confluence, Somerset County, Pa., was born in Addison, this county, March 23, 1842, son of General Moses A. and Cynthia A. (Mitchell) Ross. He is a lineal descendant of Robert Ross, first, who was born in Balmagowan, Highlands of Scotland in 1709, and who, emigrating with his family to America in 1745, settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Robert Ross, second great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Lancaster County in 1753. Enlisting as a private in Captain James Taylor's company for service in the Revolutionary War, he was soon afterward made a Corporal and appointed regimental Color Bearer. He belonged to the Fourth Battalion, Pennsylvania Volunteers, which was commanded by Colonel (afterward General) Anthony Wayne, known as "Mad Anthony"; and, re-enlisting at the expiration of his first term of service, he was in many important engagements, including the battle of Stony Point, where he distinguished himself by carrying the flag over the ramparts into the fort, side by side with his redoubtable commander. Settling in Fayette County after the conclusion of peace, he became Captain of a company which participated in the Indian war of 1790-95 in Ohio and Indiana, and was severely wounded at the battle of Sandusky. One of his sons was a member of his company. Robert Ross, third, the grandfather, who was born in 1789, was a soldier in the War of 1812. He took part in the battles of Lundy's Lane and Fort Erie, receiving a severe wound in the last-named engagement. He afterward joined the regular army, in which he remained for the rest of his life, and died in Baton Rouge in 1822. In 1809 he married Elizabeth Virginia Lemaire, daughter of Nicholas and Elizabeth (Monche) Lemaire, both of whom were natives of France. Nicholas Lemaire was attached to the military government of Picardy, and as a prominent Royalist was compelled to leave the country at the beginning of the French Revolution, leaving behind his property, which was returned to him after the Bourbon restoration. His daughter, whose birth took place on the Atlantic Ocean, was named Elizabeth for her mother, who was a Parisian lady, and Virginia for the ship in which her parents made their escape to America. Robert Ross, third, had but one son, Moses Andrews, father of A. Marshall Ross. Moses Andrews Ross was born in or near Masontown, Fayette County, Pa., September 14, 1810. He was brought up by his grandfather, with whom he lived until eighteen years old, when he started for himself as a clerk in a store in Somerfield, this county, kept by John C. Darrall. He later kept a store in Selbysport, Md., a short time; and, going to Petersburg, in 1829, he was engaged in mercantile business for many years, being at the time of his retirement the oldest merchant in this vicinity. He resided in Addison. He served as Township Clerk for seventeen years, was Postmaster fifteen years, and acted as a Justice of Peace. In politics he was originally a Whig and later a Republican. He was elected Captain of the Addison Infantry Company in 1845, and reached the rank of Brigadier-general in the State militia by regular promotion. In 1839 he joined the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he held various official positions, including that of superintendent of the Sunday-school; and he was a lay member of the General Conference at Cincinnati in 1880. He was actively interested in all matters relative to the general welfare of the community; and his diary of local happenings, embracing the period from 1828 to within a short time previous to his death, contains a record of many important facts which are worthy of preservation. General Moses Andrews Ross died December 12, 1893. In 1833 he married for his first wife Diana Mitchell, a daughter of John and Diana Mitchell. She died in 1839, and in 1841 he married for his second wife her sister, Cynthia A. Mitchell. His second wife died in 1888. He was the father of eight children, namely: Orville A. Ross, of Addison; A. Marshall, the subject of this sketch; Felicia H., who is now Mrs. Sullivan Johnson, of Allegheny City; Robert E., also a resident of Addison; Mansfield A., who lives in Coraopolis; George C., who resides in Pittsburg; Frank M., also of Coraopolis; and Mary I. Ross, who is living in Addison. A. Marshall Ross acquired his education in the common schools and at the County Normal School. After the completion of his studies he entered his father's store in Addison. Enlisting in 1862 for nine months in Company E, One Hundred and Thirty-third Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, he became Orderly Sergeant. He participated in the battle of Fredericksburg. After leaving the army he was employed as a clerk by Joseph Horne & Co. for two years, at the end of which time he returned to his father's store in Addison. In 1871 he went into business in Confluence as a member of the firm of M. A. Ross and Sons, which continued under that style for ten years, or until 1881, when it was changed to its present firm name of A. M. Ross & Brother. In 1870 Mr. Ross was united in marriage with Laura Blanche Hagans, daughter of Captain Henry C. Hagans, a citizen of Brandonville, W. Va., and an officer in the Union army during the Civil War. Mrs. Ross has had four children, namely: Felicia H., who married J. S. Duxbury, and resides in Boston; Virginia Lemaire, who died young; Ethel Mansfield, who married Walter J. Otis, of Boston; and Sullivan Johnson Ross, who is now a clerk in his father's store.