THOMAS ROSS

THOMAS ROSS, AGED AND REVERED CITIZEN OF MOUNT AYR AND RINGGOLD COUNTY, PASSED AWAY TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1901.  MR. ROSS WAS ONE OF THE OLDEST RESIDENTS OF MOUNT AYR, HAVING BEEN BORN IN JEFFERSON COUNTY, OHIO, JULY 4, 1816.  HE WAS EIGHTY FIVE YEARS OLD. MR. ROSS LIVED IN ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO UNTIL HE WAS NINETEEN YEARS OLD.  LIKE THE BOY OF THAT PERIOD HE WORKED ON THE FARM IN THE SUMMER AND WENT TO SCHOOL IN THE WINTER AND SOON PREPARED HIMSELF TO TEACH.  HE CAME TO IOWA IN 1844 AND LIVED EIGHT YEARS IN MAHASKA COUNTY.  HE CAME TO RINGGOLD COUNTY IN 1859 AND LOCATED IN MOUNT AYR.  HE WAS ENGAGED IN THE DRY GOODS BUSINESS UP TO 1861, WHEN HE BECAME CLERK OF THE DISTRICT COURT.  HE HELD THAT OFFICE UNTIL 1870 AND THEN AGAIN ENTERED THE MERCANTILE BUSINESS, WHICH HE FOLLOWED UNTIL 1877.  MR. ROSS HAS HELD SEVERAL OFFICES AND ALWAYS DID HIS WORK WELL.  IN 1839 IN SANGAMON CO, ILLINOIS HE WAS MARRIED TO MARTHA H. MC MILLEN.  THEY HAD SEVEN CHILDREN, TWO SONS AND FIVE DAUGHTERS.  MRS. ROSS DIED MANY YEARS AGO AND HIS LAST DAYS HAVE BEEN LONELY, BUT HE POSSESSED A CHEERFUL SPIRIT AND BORE AFFLICTIONS WITHOUT COMPLAINING.  HE EARLY UNITED WITH THE M.E. CHURCH AND EVER WITNESSED A GOOD CONFESSION.  HIS MARKED CHARACTERISTICS WERE GENTLENESS AND KINDNESS.  THE FUNERAL SERVICES WERE HELD FROM THE RESIDENCE AT 2 O’CLOCK P.M. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23 AND WERE CONDUCTED BY HIS PASTOR REV. P.V.D. FEDDER.