My Genealogy Hound

Maj. J. A. Ross, ex-Senator, was born in Dallas County, Ala., October 20, 1838, being a son of Drury H. and Mary (Hood) Ross, natives of the "Blue Grass" and the "Old North State" respectively. They became residents of Alabama in an early day, and in that State were married and made their home until 1840, when they came to Clark County, Ark., the journey being made in wagons. They located in about the center of Clark County on a farm, and from here the father enlisted in the Confederate army in 1861, and was killed in a skirmish in Pike County, holding the rank of lieutenant at the time of his death. His widow and three children survive him, one child having died in childhood. The subject of this sketch was the eldest of the family, and his early education was received in the common schools of Clark County, and in an academy at Washington, Ark. From his earliest childhood he was familiar with the duties of farm life, but when only a youth he determined to make the law a profession, and as a means to this end earnestly studied such books as came in his way. In 1860 he was admitted to the bar, but owing to the opening of the Rebellion he gave up his practice to enlist in the Hempstead Rifles as a private, and being promoted on several different occasions, he held the commission of major at the close of the war. He received several slight wounds, and one severe wound on July 20, 1864, by a gun shot at Peach Tree Creek, and for several weeks was an inmate of a hospital. He was captured in front of Nashville, December 15, 1864, and was kept in the famous prison at Johnston's Island for about six months, when he got a special release. At the close of the war he returned to Clark County, turned his sword into a plowshare, and the occupation of agriculture has received his attention up to the present time. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1874, and was circuit clerk of Clark County for a period of eight years, and also served one term as State Senator from the Thirty-first District, in all of which he discharged his duties in a very able and efficient manner, and to the entire satisfaction of all his constituents. He has always been one of the very first to identify himself with worthy enterprises, and is now ranked, and deservedly so, as one of the eminent men of Southern Arkansas. He is president of the District Fair Association, is a director in the Clark County Co-operative Association, and belongs to the Masonic fraternity and the Farmers' Alliance. Although he is a very large real estate holder, his land is mostly in a wild state, but for some time he has been engaged in the manufacture of drain tile, and deserves a great deal of credit for his system and enterprise in this matter. His product is of a fine quality, and is now well distributed throughout the county. On July 21, 1865, he was married to Miss Mattie E. Ross, by whom he became the father of seven children: Drury H., Thomas A., Lovin, D. Carroll, Robert R., Josie and Mary. His second and present wife was Mrs. M. T. Crouch.