Santa Clara County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


 
WILLIAM ROSS 
 
is the owner of a very pleasant home on the corner of Carlos and Northrup  
Streets, at the Willows. He was born in Pike County, Illinois, January 7, 1835. 
His father, Col. William Ross, was a native of Massachusetts, and one of the 
earliest settlers of Western Illinois, to which State he removed in. 1818. He 
served as a volunteer from the State of Massachusetts in the War of 1812-14, and 
as Colonel of the Illinois Militia in the Black Hawk War. He was one of the 
first merchants and most prominent men of Pittsfield, Pike County. Being active 
and enterprising, he had much to do with shaping public opinion and directing 
public affairs. He served with honor in both Houses of the Illinois Legislature. 
He died in 1873 at the age of eighty-one years, leaving four children. 
Marcellus, the eldest, is now a resident of Hamilton District. The second child, 
William, is the subject of this sketch. Of the two daughters, Mrs. Helen M. 
Kellogg resides in Dakota, and Anna is the wife of Col. A. C. Matthews, of 
Pittsfield, Illinois, where they now live. Colonel Matthews was in command of 
the Ninety-ninth Indiana Volunteers during the Rebellion. He is a man of 
prominence, and has held several government offices since the war.
William Ross, with his wife and four children, removed from Pike County, 
Illinois, to Santa Clara County, in 1875. He engaged in business and made his 
residence in San Jose for six years, taking possession of his home at the 
Willows in 1881. He bought the property, consisting of twelve acres, during the 
preceding year, preparing the land for the orchard under his supervision, and 
planting his trees in 1881. The orchard contains 545 apricot trees, 350 cherry, 
110 Bartlett pear, besides peach, prune, and plum trees. It is in splendid 
condition and full bearing. His fine residence was erected in 1881, and the 
family took possession of it during the same year. Mr. Ross and his son Marshall 
own a fruit ranch of thirty acres near Los Gatos, in the San Tomas District.
He is the owner of one of the finest homes in a district where so many fine 
homes are to be found. A live, energetic man, he is the possessor of the 
qualities essential to a successful horticulturist. Mr. and Mrs. Ross are the 
parents of five children, the youngest of whom was born in California. Their 
names, in the order of their birth, are as follows: Mrs. Edna Sloss, Marshall, 
Helen, Freddie, and Dwight.
Mr. Ross is a member of the Republican party.
 
Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, 
Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 
1888.
Pg. 416