WILLIAM ROSS. Among the prominent and successful citizens of Chartiers township William Ross stands with the first. He is the eldest of two children born to Thomas Ross, whose parents were Joseph and Martha (Christy) Ross. The latter were natives of Ireland, and in 1794 came with their first-born child to Mifflin county, Penn., where they settled and carried on a farm. To Joseph and Martha (Christy) Ross, children were born as follows: James, John, Michael, Joseph (all four of them were deceased in Mifflin county), Mary, Martha, Jane (Mrs. William M. McLaughlin) and Thomas. Joseph Ross passed the remainder of his life on the pioneer farm, where he and his wife died. Thomas Ross was born in 1787, in county Londonderry, Ireland, and came with his parents to Mifflin county, Penn. In 1807 he came to Washington county, and in 1810 was married to Margaret McKnight, also a native of Ireland, a daughter of William and Margaret (Lutton) McKnight, who emigrated from Ireland in an early day, and passed their lives in Washington county, Penn. After his marriage to Margaret McKnight, Thomas Ross settled on a farm in North Strabane township, this county, where two children were born: William and Jane (widow of James Farley, of Washington, Penn.). The father died in 1867, being preceded by his wife in 1832. William Ross was born September 2, 1811, in North Strabane township, Washington Co., Penn., and was educated in the log cabin subscription schools of the times. In 1845 he was married to Rachel Watson, who was born June 30, 1818, daughter of David and Mary (Craighead) Watson. They were born in Ireland and came to America before the Revolution, and Gen. Washington made his New Jersey headquarters during the Revolution, at the home of grandfather Craighead. After their marriage David and Mary (Craighead) Watson settled on the farm where William Ross is now living, and the following named children were reared by them: Martha, born in January, 1816, (deceased May 17, 1884); Rachel (Mrs. William Ross); Nancy, born March 11, 1820; Milly, born December 8, 1822; Mary Ann, born January 1, 1825 (deceased September 29, 1825); Isabel, born January 11, 1827 (deceased in October, 1891, at Canonsburg), and George C., born January 27, 1829 (deceased in childhood). After his marriage William Ross settled in a log cabin (one of the oldest in Washington county) on the farm which is yet his home. Children have been born to him as follows: Mary Jane (wife of William Gardener, of Iowa), Amelia (married to John Edwards, of Chartiers township), Anna Maria, Isabelle, William, and David (married to Elizabeth Potter, who has borne him four children). Mr. Ross is one of the oldest living settlers of Chartiers township, and has known all the hardships peculiar to pioneer life, and has always been a farmer, now owning a well-cultivated farm of ninety-six acres, being also engaged in mining coal from a vein on the place. In politics he has always been a Democrat, and cast his first vote for Gen. Jackson. One grandchild is living with him, George Foster. Mrs. Ross died some years ago.

Text taken from page 591 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed February 1998 by Bettie Morrow of Bethel Park, PA as part of the Beers Project. Published February 1998 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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