Caledonia

ROSS, Jonathan

Men of Vermont: Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters & Sons of 
Vermont. Ullery. Brattleboro: Transcript Publishing Company, 1894, pp 342-343

Jonathan ROSS was born 30 April 1826 at Waterford [Caledonia County, 
Vermont], son of Royal and Eliza (MASON) ROSS. Jonathan ROSS, the grandfather of the 
judge [the grandfather of the subject of this biography, also named Jonathan 
ROSS], moved from Massachusetts to Waterford [Vermont] in or about the year 
1795. There he cleared away the forest and cultivated a farm on which he 
supported himself, wife and family of six children, of whom Royal, the father of the 
subject of this sketch, was the second son.

Jonathan ROSS received the excellent education ordinarily imparted in the 
common schools of Vermont, and fitted for college in the academy at St. Johnsbury 
[Caledonia County, Vermont]. Matriculating at Dartmouth College in 1847, he 
graduated from that institution in 1851. Up to the close of his twenty-first 
year Mr. ROSS had a practical acquaintance with agricultural labor on his 
father's farm. His summers were occupied in the cultivation of its acres, and his 
winters, between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, in teaching in the 
public schools of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. In this pursuit he 
achieved unusual and decided success.

After graduating from college he [Jonathan ROSS] taught in Craftsbury, and 
was principal of the academy at Chelsea [both in Orange County, Vermont]. While 
residing in the latter town [Chelsea] he studied law in the office of Judge 
William HEBARD, and was admitted to the bar of Orange County 18 January 1856. 
In 1856 Mr. [Jonathan] ROSS contracted a legal copartnership with A. J. 
WILLARD, Esq., of St. Johnsbury, which continued for nearly two years. After that 
he practiced by himself until 1865, when he was associated with G. A. BURBANK, 
Esq. This connection lasted for twelve months, and was succeeded in 1869 by 
partnership with Mr. W. P. SMITH. The latter relation existed until the 
following year, in which Mr. ROSS was elected a judge of the Supreme Court.

Judge [Jonathan] ROSS has taken an active and influential part in the public 
affairs of Vermont. From 1858 to 1868 he was treasurer of the Passumpsic 
Savings Bank. Under his fiduciary management the corporation never lost a dollar. 
In 1862-1863 he was state's attorney for Caledonia County; in 1865, 1866, 
and 1867 represented St. Johnsbury in the legislature, and served effectively on 
the judiciary and other committees; was for some years before 1870 an active 
and influential member of the state board of education; in 1869 was a member 
of the last Council of Censors held in the state; in 1870 was returned by 
Caledonia County to the state senate, and in the same year was elected chief judge 
of the Supreme Court, which position he now worthily fills.

On 22 November 1852 Mr. [Jonathan] ROSS was married to [his first wife] Eliza 
Ann, daughter of Isaiah and Caroline (BUGBEE) CARPENTER. Eight children were 
born to them [to Jonathan and Eliza Ann CARPENTER]: Caroline C., Elizabeth, 
Helen (deceased), Julia (Mrs. Dr. ALDRICH, of Somerville [Middlesex County], 
Massachusetts), Martha, Edith, Edward Harlan, and John. Mrs. ROSS [Eliza Ann], 
who was a sister of Judge Alonzo P. CARPENTER of the New Hampshire Supreme 
Court, died some years since, and Judge [Jonathan] ROSS married for his second 
wife, Miss Helen DAGGERT.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly