A Narrative History of The People of Iowa with SPECIAL TREATMENT OF THEIR CHIEF ENTERPRISES IN EDUCATION, RELIGION, VALOR, INDUSTRY, BUSINESS, ETC. by EDGAR RUBEY HARLAN, LL. B., A. M. Curator of the Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa Volume IV THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc. Chicago and New York 1931 LEWIS W. ROSS, a pioneer member of the Pottawattamie County bar and former chancellor of the law department of the University of Iowa, was born October 15, 1827, in Hanover Township, Butler County, Ohio, a son of Amos Ross and a grandson of Ezekiel Ross, both of whom were natives of Essex County, New Jersey, whence they moved to Butler County, Ohio, in 1814. Upon the home farm Lewis W. Ross was reared, and there remained until his twentieth year. He was educated in the country schools and in 1848 entered Farmer's College, near Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was a student until 1850. He then matriculated in Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, where he was graduated in June, 1852. After leaving college he took up the study of law in Hamilton, Ohio, reading for two years under Joseph Scott and N. C. McFarland, the former of whom was afterward for many years one of the Supreme judges of the State of Ohio, while the latter served under President Arthur as commissioner of the general land office. Mr. Ross was admitted to the bar in 1854 and entered upon active practice in Hamilton, Ohio, where he remained until August, 1856. He then came to Iowa, settling in Cass County, an din January, 1861, he removed to Council Bluffs, where he continued to reside until his death, save for the period when he was a member of the faculty of the State University at Iowa City. He immediately rose to the front rank in the legal profession of the city and state and also became active in public life. For many years he was master in chancery. He was elected to the State Senate as a member of the Tenth and Eleventh General Assemblies, and during that period was a member of the judiciary and public land committees. His record as a senator was one which established his public spirit, his patriotism and his unfaltering devotion to the general welfare, while his legal knowledge and ability as a member of the bar were much in demand, not only as a member of the judiciary committee but in other connections, his counsel being frequently sought by contemporary members of the Senate. In 1861 he was elected a trustee of the Iowa State University for a term of four years and was reelected in 1868. For many years he was closely associated with advanced educational interests, of which he was ever a stalwart champion. In 1874 he was elected a regent of the State University for a term, of six years and in 1880 was made resident professor of the law department of the university and removed to Iowa City. In 1881 he became chancellor of the law department of the University and continued in that capacity until 1887, when he returned to Council Bluffs, and once more entered upon the private practice of his profession. During all the years of his association with the State University he labored untiringly to elevate its standards, and his influence was far-reaching and beneficial in that connection. He believed that the training should give a practical working basis for success in after life and that no labor or expense should be spared that would contribute to this end. While his ideals were high, his efforts were at all times practical and resultant. As trustee and regent he worked hard for the development of the university and was largely instrumental in organizating the law, medical and homeopathic-medical departments. During his seven years as professor and chancellor he taught, with other subjects, equity, real property, torts, common law and code pleading. He was very capable and successful as an instructor and was greatly beloved by his students. He not only had the ability to impart clearly and readily to others the knowledge he had acquired but he also had the faculty of winning the confidence of his students, who recognized his sympathetic understanding and profited by his ever-ready word of encouragement and counsel. As chancellor of the law department he was the responsible head of the faculty, composed of men eminent as jurists, lawyers and teachers, and it is worthy of note that the most perfect harmony prevailed between him and the other members of the faculty at all times. He had in his make-up the qualities of a diplomat, yet never deviated from a course which he believed to be right, nor did he fail to express himself clearly upon any vital subject. After his return to Council Bluffs Mr. Ross resumed practice in partnership with his son, Dillon Ross, under the firm name of Ross & Ross, which association continued until his death. He made a specialty of equity and real estate law, and was recognized as one of the foremost authorities in those branches of practice in the state. In 1855 Mr. Ross was united in marriage to Miss Zoe M. Brown, of Lebanon, Ohio, and to them were born five children, Charles, Hester, Edith, Anna and Dillon. Mrs. Ross died February 9, 1914. Mr. Ross was a man of noble character who was loved and respected not only by the members of his own family, but by a legion of friends. The young man and especially the young law student always knew that his friendship could be counted upon. He was looked upon as one in whom the young man could confide, ask for advice and receive wise counsel, encouragement and inspiration. He was ever ready to extend a helping hand to the younger members of the profession, and many a one has reason to hold him in grateful remembrance because of kindly assistance in word and deed. He was ever a stanch Republican but not a politician. He look upon politics not as a game to be played but as a exercise of the divine right of franchise. He labored untiringly for purity in politics, for he was a lover of his country and a patriot in all that the word implies. He was in the truest sense of the term a scholar and a man of literary tastes. His home and his church were dominant interests in his life, and aside, too, from his political affairs, he devoted considerable time to the Council Bluffs Club, of which he was the founder and president. He was a pioneer member of the Pottawattamie County Bar Association and one of its foremost representatives. A life long member of the Congregational Church, during the forty years of his residence in Council Bluffs he was one of the leading workers and supporters of the First Congregational Church of this city, serving on its various boards having to do with its business management, and was an active factor in the promotion of its spiritual life. His personal life was spotless and his influence for good and for morality was felt by all with whom he came in contact. His home life was ideal. Culture in its highest sense was there manifest and there was radiated an atmosphere of refinement. Death called him November 22, 1902, and the regret felt at his passing was state-wide. Of him his many friends have said: "He was a man. Take him for all in all. I shall not look upon his like again." Debbie Clough Gerischer Iowa History Project _http://iagenweb.org/history/_ (http://iagenweb.org/history/) Scott County, Iowa _http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/index.htm_ (http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/index.htm) **************Check all of your email inboxes from anywhere on the web. Try the new Email Toolbar now! (http://toolbar.aol.com/mail/download.html?ncid=txtlnkusdown00000027)