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This is singularly evident in the case of Andrew Jackson Ross, who was one of those who took part in the opening of the Cherokee Strip, in Oklahoma Territory, to settlement in 1893, and who has long been one of the prominent lawyers and influential citizens of Woods County and who is now engaged in the successful practice of his profession in the thriving little city of Alva, though he resides upon and gives his personal supervision to his well improved farm, situated about three miles distant from Alva. Mr. Ross is a native of Illinois, was an infant at the time of the family removal to Kansas, in the pioneer era of the history of the Sunflower State, where he was reared to maturity; he received his professional training in the state of Indiana; and in the vigorous new State of Oklahoma he has found a most inviting stage for large and worthy achievement in his profession, as a broad-minded and progressive citizen and as a resourceful factor in connection with the basic industry of agriculture. He has held various offices of public trust, is loyal and public-spirited to the highest extent and is a representative citizen who well merits recognition in the Standard History of Oklahoma. On a farm in Douglas County, Illinois, Mr. Ross was born on the 27th of December, 1869, a son of John F. and Mary A. (YOUNG) Ross. The father was born in Franklin County, Indiana, on the 19th of April 1844, his parents having been pioneers of the Hoosier State, to which they removed in an early day from their native state of Virginia, their residence having been continued in Indiana until the time of their death and both having been representatives of families that were founded in Virginia, the historic Old Dominion, in the colonial era of our national history. John F. Ross continued his residence in Indiana until 1869, when he removed to Douglas County, Illinois, where the subject of this review was born in December of that year, as already noted in this context. In the following year the family removed to Kansas and John F. Ross there entered claim to a homestead of Government land in Washington County. With the passing years he became one of the substantial farmers and stock-growers of that county, where he developed and improved a fine landed estate and where he became a venerable and honored pioneer citizen of the City of Emporia, Lyon County, his retirement from active labor and business affairs having occurred in 1910. John F. Ross was a gallant soldier of the Union during the climacteric period of the Civil war, in which he served as a member of Company F, Eighteenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. His service covered a period of 4-1/2 years, or virtually during the entire war, and he rose from private to the rank of lieutenant, with which he was mustered out at the closed of the long and weary conflict. He took part in seventeen important battles and fifteen skirmishes, besides numerous minor engagements, and endure the full tension of great campaigns, with their incidental hardships and perils. His abiding interest in his old comrades in arms was shown by his long affiliation with the Grand Army of the Republic, and he was always uncompromising in his allegiance to the cause of the republican party. He died at Emporia, Kansas, on September 12, 1915. In the year 1866, was solemnized the marriage of John F. Ross to Miss Mary A. YOUNG, who was born at Andersonville, Franklin County, Indiana, on the 23d of March, 1847, and who was the fifth in order of birth in a family of five sons and four daughters. She is a daughter of Henry and Eleanor (WALKER) Young, who were natives of England and who were pioneer settlers in Indiana, where they continued to reside until their death. John F. and Mary A. Ross became the parents of five children; concerning whom the following brief data are entered: Andrew J., of this sketch, is the first born; Edward Henry, who was born in 1872, died on the 20th of August, 1894; Miss Minnie Grace, who was born January 20, 1870, remains with her venerable parents at their pleasant home in the City of Emporia, Kansas; James Franklin was born in 1880, and his death occurred on the 6th of June, 1896; and Charles Sumner, who was born February 20, 1885, is an expert printer, his residence being at Emporia, Kansas. Reared to adult age under the conditions of the homestead farm in Kansas, Andrew J. Ross early gained wholesome fellowing with honest toil and endeavor and he has retained an abiding appreciation of the great basic industries of agriculture and stock-raising. He received the advantages of the excellent public schools maintained in his home county and after his youthful ambition had prompted him to formulate definite plans for his future career he went to Indiana, the native state of his parents, and began reading law in the office of the firm of Love & Morrison, of Shelbyville, the judicial center of Shelby County. He was most thorough and punctilious in his devotion to his studies and his application continued during a period of five years, in which he admirably fortified himself in the involved science of jurisprudence. During three winter terms while thus reading law he was a successful teacher in the rural schools of Indiana. At Shelbyville, that state, he was admitted to practice on the 6th of July, 1891, and early in the following year he returned to Kansas. In 1893 Mr. Ross participated in the opening of the Cherokee Strip, or Outlet, of Oklahoma Territory, and became one of the original settlers in the Village of Alva, where he has since continued in the successful practice of his profession, a pioneer lawyer of Woods County and one who has achieved marked success and prestige in his profession. He now controls a substantial and important law business and is known both as a skillful and resourceful advocate and as a well fortified counselor whose integrity and judgment are always to be relied upon. In 1897, Mr. Ross purchased the plant and business of the Alva Courier, and in connection with his law business he continued [as] editor and publisher of this weekly paper for a period of eleven years, making the same an effective exponent of local interests and of the cause of the republican party, with which he has been staunchly allied from the time of attaining to his legal majority and incidental right of franchise. In 1904 Mr. Ross was elected representative of Woods County in the Territorial Legislature, in which he served with characteristic loyalty and ability during the session of 1905, the last prior to the admission of Oklahoma to statehood. In this final territorial assembly of the Legislature he was assigned to three specially important house committees - those on education, county and township organization and lines, and appropriations. He was the author of the bill whose enactment made provision for the appropriation for the erection and equipment of Science Hall at the Northwestern Oklahoma Normal School, at Alva, and he has retained deep interest in the work and prosperity of this important state institution in his home town. In 1906 Mr. Ross was appointed register of the United States Land Office at Alva, and of this office he continued the incumbent two years, or until it was consolidated with the office at Woodward, in Woodward County. Mr. Ross is the owner of a specially well improved and valuable farm of 160 acres, three miles distant from Alva, and on this fine rural estate he and his family maintain their residence, the attractive home being known for its gracious hospitality and good cheer. Mr. Ross drives daily from his farm to his law office in Alva and finds the arrangement which he has thus made is in every way pleasing, as his supervision of the farm gives him relief from the arduous and sedentary work of his profession. He is still one of the active and influential representatives of the Republican Party in Woods County, and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. At Sylvan Grove, Kansas, on the 7th of August, 1892, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ross to Mrs. Sarah Gertrude CROFT, who was born in Davis County, Iowa, on the 23d of June, 1869, and whose parents, Paul and Eunice MATTHEWS, likewise were born in Iowa, as members of pioneer facilities of the Hawkeye State, whence, a few years after their marriage, they removed to Kansas and became pioneers of that state. Mr. and Mrs. Ross have but one child, Walter Maurice, who was born at Alva, Oklahoma, on the 9th of January 1894, and who is associated with his father in the work and management of the home farm. On the 20th of October, 1913, he wedded Miss Lillian ROLF and they are popular factors in the social activities of their home community. Typed for OKGenWeb by Kathy Bridges, August 1999.