This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/kg.2ADI/1962 Message Board Post: As part of the Santa Clara County , California, Biography Project the following biography has been posted- Marcellus was living in San Jose, California when this bio was written (1888) I have nothing further-----Carolyn MARCELLUS ROSS BIO- Pen Pictures SURNAMES: KELLOGG, LEWIS Marcellus Ross, whose fine orchard and handsome residence are situated on Meridian road, between Willows and Carlos Streets, has there sixteen and three-quarters acres planted in fruit-trees, as follows: 500 cherries, 300 apricots, 200 peaches, 150 pears, and a variety of fruits for family use. In order to have strong, healthy trees, capable of sustaining a full load of fruit, he has, until this year, kept them well cut back, so that hereafter he will have large crops of fine marketable fruit. Born in Pike County, Illinois, in 1824, he has seen that State develop from an immense void of prairie and timber to the vast empire it now is. Pike County then extended from the mouth of the Illinois River to the far North, including Chicago, and west to the Mississippi River. He was the first male child born in Pike County. Educated first in Atlas, and later in Pittsfield, Illinois, he engaged in farming in that neighborhood, in which he continued until he entered the Union army, in August, 1862, when he was commissioned, by Governor Yates, Adjutant of the Ninety-ninth Illinois Infantry. In this regiment he campaigned in Southwestern Missouri, under General Warren, until his health failed, compelling him to return to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1863, suffering from disability incurred in service, and was there mustered out. He returned to his farm, but was never again capable of the active work of the farm. He sold out in 1881 and came to California, where he b! ought his present home, then a wheat-field, planted it immediately in fruit, and has since made the extensive improvements now on the place. Married, in 1848, to Miss Martha A. Kellogg, a native of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. To this union were born eight children, four of whom died in infancy. Those arriving at maturity were: Henry J., now living with this father and managing the ranch; Charles K., who died in Washington Territory in 1882; Frank C., now interested in real estate with his father in Tacoma, Washington Territory; Mattie H., now the wife of Benton A. Lewis, of Tacoma, Washington Territory. Mr. Ross is, and always has been, an ardent Republican. Is a charter member of the John A. Dix Post, No. 42, G. A. R., of San Jose. His parents were Colonel William and Ednah Ross. The former was born in Monson, Massachusetts, in 1792; enlisted in the War of 1812, and was engaged in the Battle of Sackett’s Harbor, Massachusetts; was an Ensign in the army when he removed to Pike County, Illinois, in 1820; was a Colonel in command of troops in the Black Hawk War; settled at Atlas, Illinois, in 1820; built the first brick house there in 1821; also erected the first store building, the first grist-mill, and a band saw-mill about the same time. The first wheat raised, ground, and made into biscuit, and the first apples raised in the county, were by Colonel Ross, and the first political and first Masonic meeting were held at his house in Atlas. He removed to Pittsfield, Illinois, in 1836, where he engaged in mercantile and banking business until his death,! in 1872, at the age of eighty-one years. In 1832 Colonel Ross and his son (Marcellus) went on a visit to Massachusetts. In returning to Illinois they passed through Michigan, having chartered a coach for four persons, driving from Detroit to what is now St. Joseph, Michigan. They crossed Lake Michigan by a small steam flat-bottomed boat to Chicago, which was then an Indian station, comprising Fort Dearborn, two small cabins (probably trading stores), and about 500 Indians. Colonel Ross was a delegate to the convention which nominated Governor Dick Yates the War Governor, at Decatur, Illinois, in 1860, and also delegate to the National Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln to the presidency, one week later at Chicago. President Lincoln was an intimate friend of Colonel Ross, often stopping at his house. Just as Colonel Ross and his son, the subject of this sketch, were walking to the depot, on the way to that convention at Chicago, they saw Mr. Lincoln coming in ! the same direction, satchel in hand, on his way to his home in Springf ield. Colonel Ross waited until he came up, and said: “Mr. Lincoln, had you not better go up to Chicago and help us nominate our next President?” Mr. Lincoln answered: “My better judgment tells me I had better not.” 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. 409-410 Transcribed by Kathy Sedler Proofread by Betty Vickroy http://www.santaclararesearch.net/SCBIOS/mross.html