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GEORGE ROSS, a descendant of one of the early settled families of Armstrong county and a justice of the peace
of Manor township, is a son of Washington and Margaret (Copley) Ross, and was born in Manor township, Armstrong
county, Pennsylvania, September 6, 1846. The Ross family traces its ancestry to the nobility of Scotland. Judge
George Ross (grandfather) was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1777 and removed, in 1800, to Armstrong
county, where he acted as a deputy State surveyor, and laid out Kittanning. At one time he was one of the largest
land owners in the county and was in possession of over 700 acres of land. In 1805 he was elected associate judge
of the county, which office he filled very creditably until he died, in 1829, when he was in the seventy third
year of his age. He was an active member of the Appleby Manor Presbyterian church, whose house of worship he was
mainly instrumental in having erected. He was prominent, influential and highly respected throughout the county.
Judge Ross came to what is the southwestern part of Manor township as early as 1807, for he is first assessed in
Kittanning township in 1808. He and his family lived for some time in a cabin near Fort Green. He built the first
stone house in his section of the county. He was assessed in 1808 with one hundred acres of land and in 1820 with
a saw and grist mill, which were at what was afterwards known as "Ross' Mills." Grists were brought to
his mill from a distance of from twenty to thirty miles. In 1807 he purchased "Ross'" island, opposite
the mouth of Crooked creek, from William Green for one hundred dollars. His son, Washington Ross (father), was
born on his father's farm, in Manor township, in 1817. In early life he owned and operated a steam saw mill, but
soon afterwards engaged in farming, which he followed actively until of late years. He owns a farm of one hundred
and seventy acres of land and gives a portion of his time to its management. He now resides at Kittanning. He has
been very successful in his business, ventures, and in 1854 laid out on his lands the town of Rosston, which was
named after him. He is a republican in politics and a member of the Presbyterian church and married Margaret Copley,
who was born in Philadelphia in 1826.
George Ross was reared on the farm on which both he and his father were born. After attending the public schools
of Manor township and Kittanning seminary, he entered the employ of W. P. Robinson, a merchant of Rosston, with
whom he remained one year. At the end of that time he engaged in farming, which he has followed until the present
time. During a part of the years 1888 and 1889 he acted as assistant postmaster at Ford City.
On January 28, 1874, he married Eva McKee, daughter of Thomas V. McKee, one of the commissioners of Armstrong county.
To Mr. and Mrs. Ross have been born six children, three sons and three daughters: May, James G., Bessie, Thomas,
Washington and Josephine.
In politics, George Ross is an independent republican. In 1884 he was elected justice of the peace of Manor township,
which office he filled for five years. He has also been elected at various times to the offices of school director
and auditor. Mr. Ross owns a good farm, has been successful in farming and stock raising and commands the respect
and esteem of the community in which he resides.
From:
Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia
of Indiana and Armstrong Counties, Pennsylvania
Samuel T. Wiley, Historian & Editor
John M. Greshan & Co.
Philadelphia, 1891
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