Charles Edward Ross (1857-1915) was a man of several professions throughout his life. He was born and raised in Knox Co., Missouri, and as a young man, served as a deputy sheriff there. In the late 1870s the Ross family moved to Kirksville where Charles and his father Marcus Ross were lumber merchants. After receiving his higher education, Charles Ross joined the staff of Kirksville Normal School in 1880 and began a 20-year career as an Instructor in drawing, penmanship, calisthenics, and bookkeeping. He was also Secretary of the Board of Regents from 1895-97. In 1885, he married Kate Bates (Clark), daughter of Robert & Eveline Clark, hardware dealers in Kirksville. Charles & Kate Ross had 3 sons and lived in a house at 210 S. Franklin in Kirksville, which would now be between the old Princess Theater building and the Bank of Kirksville. See 2 views of this home below, the first from 1893, and the second from 1900 after a wrap-around porch was added. This home was gone by at least 1929 when another photo shows only business buildings in its place. At the turn of the century, Charles Ross changed professions. He graduated from the American School of Osteopathy in Kirksville in 1902 and moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas where he practiced medicine about 12 years. His wife Kate died in 1903 after an 8-year illness, which likely influenced him to become a physician. Shortly before Dr. Ross died in 1915, he returned to Knox County, Missouri to live with his sister, Eva May (Ross) Baldwin. Dr. Ross & his wife are buried at Forest-Llewellyn Cemetery. (Cemetery photo by Larry Olson) While living in Kirksville, Professor Ross was interested in Adair Co. history. He collected Indian artifacts in the area of the first settlement in Adair Co. called “The Cabins.” A living spring there called the Collett Spring had an old springhouse (last photo) & was visited by people far & wide. It had a sandstone basin & was covered by a large stone on which Charles Ross, while an instructor at the Normal School, inscribed the following poem in 1895: “Come, thirsty traveler, drink of me, My draught will give you luck. From this pure fount, in joyful glee, Drank the Chieftain Keokuk. From ‘neath this old, historic hill, For ages I have run, And ages yet will find me still, My duty scarcely done.” He added “In kind remembrance of the first settlers of Adair County who drank of this spring in 1829.”
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 21:32:04 +0000
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