My Genealogy Hound

JOHN M. ROSS, night watchman for the A. V. R. R., Logan’s Ferry, was born in this county Jan. 19, 1831, a son of James and Margaret (Daugherty) Ross. James was born in Parnassus, June 24, 1801, was a boatman and lived for some time in Allegheny City and Pittsburgh, moving thence to Plum township, where John M. now lives. His wife was born in Mifflin county Jan. 12, 1803. They had a family of twelve children, of whom John M. and one sister, Mrs. Jane Lawson, are the only survivors. James Ross died Jan. 23, 1877, his wife March 27, 1869. William Ross, the grandfather of our subject, settled across the creek in Westmoreland county about the time of the Revolution, where he had about five hundred acres. He served in the Indian war, and died in 1847, a member of the M. E. Church. John M. remained with his father until the civil war opened. He enlisted June 15, 1861, in Co. H, 8th P. R.; was consigned to the Army of the Potomac, participated in the battles of Antietam, second Bull run, Cedar Mountain, South Mountain and others; was detailed under Gen. McDowell in an engineer corps at the battle of Fredericksburg. He was shot in the left eye, the ball passing out at the right side of the neck, back of the ear. He was confined to hospital one month, and discharged Jan. 22, 1863. The following summer he commenced work on a boat running from Oil City to Pittsburgh, and continued there until 1865. He was then elected supervisor of Plum township, and served four years. Soon after he bought his present home, and has been night watchman for the A. V. R. R. since that time.

Mr. Ross married, July 4, 1865, Mary Snowden, born Aug. 29, 1849, in Pittsburgh, a daughter of William and Bridget Snowden. Mr. Snowden was a butcher, a native of New York, and was drowned about 1862. Mrs. Snowden came from Ireland when twelve years of age. Mr. Ross has children as follows: Margaret Ellen (married Feb. 11, 1887, to Elmer E. Sprowl, a native of Butler county, now in Alabama), Carrie May, Andrew Jackson and Charles Edward (in the glass house at Verona), Nanny Florence, James, Samson S., Lula Pearl and Eliza Jane (at home). They are members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Ross is a member of the I. O. O. F. and G. A. R.