George Ross, Lancaster, Lancaster County

I very much appreciate the kind interest people are taking in my secondary history blog. It's getting off to a slow start, of course, but I have to remind myself that so did this - and look where we are six years later.

For this week's quest, I'm heading back to one of my favorite cities, Lancaster, to talk about another one of those gentlemen who put their signatures at the bottom of the Declaration of Independence. 

The marker stands at the intersection of
Lime and East King Streets

George Ross was born on May 10, 1730 in New Castle, Delaware. He was one of the sixteen children of the Rev. George Ross, and could trace his direct lineage back to the first Earl of Ross, Farquhar Ó Beólláin (no, I will not try to pronounce that, my Scots Gaelic is worse than my Welsh), who was granted the title in 1226 by King Alexander II. 

Even beyond George himself, the Ross family managed to be rather intertwined with the events surrounding the American Revolution. One of his sisters, Gertrude, became the wife of another signer of the Declaration, George Read. His nephew John, meanwhile, made what turned out to be an even more significant alliance - he eloped with Elizabeth Griscom, a young Quaker woman from Philadelphia, whose family was unhappy with the match. John died relatively young, and Elizabeth married twice more during her lifetime, but history remembers her by the name she had at the time of her most famous accomplishment: Betsy Ross. It was her late husband's Uncle George who is credited with introducing her to George Washington, and recommending her for the task of making a flag for the fledgling nation.

George became a lawyer, being admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1750 at the age of just 20. He settled in Lancaster to establish his practice, and a year later he married Anne Lawler. Together they had two sons, George and James, and a daughter, Mary. James became a lieutenant colonel in a Lancaster regiment in the Revolution; George Jr., meanwhile, became the Register of Wills and Recorder of Deeds for the city. (He was known to locals as "der Waisenvater" - literally, "the orphan father" - but I can't find any source which explains how he got such a nickname. However, he and his wife were the parents of nine children, and I wonder if maybe some or even all of these were orphans they adopted.) The family attended services at St. James Episcopal Church, which has its own marker and will be covered later, and the street where their home was situated has been named Ross Street in George's honor.

A few years into their marriage, George arranged for his beautiful wife's portrait to be painted by Benjamin West, the Pennsylvania-born artist sometimes known as the "American Raphael." West has a marker of his own and I'll be getting to him sooner or later. Meanwhile, the image of George seen here is a public domain print from the New York Public Library, made available through WikiCommons.

Initially, George was a loyal Tory, and served as Crown prosecutor from 1768 to 1776. It was during his tenure as such that he lost his beloved wife; Anne died in 1773, aged just 41, and is buried at St. James in Lancaster. A few years later, George lost sympathies with the Tory politics, and though he was still loyal to the king, he joined the side of the colonies as they continued their arguments with Parliament. This led to him being elected a member of Pennsylvania's provincial legislature in 1768, followed by terms with the Continental Congress in 1774, 1776, and 1777. He also served as a colonel in the Continental Army, and negotiated with Native Americans on behalf of Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately, his time as a Founding Father was cut short by ill health; he had to resign from the Continental Congress in 1777. He continued to serve as vice-president of the Pennsylvania constitutional convention, and as a Judge of the Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania, but his health continued to deteriorate. He died on July 14, 1779, at the age of 49. I'm not sure why, but rather than being interred at St. James with his wife, George is at rest in Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia, like Benjamin Franklin and several of the other Founding Fathers.

However, St. James still remembers George Ross. The plaque seen here is found in their tranquil graveyard, honoring his accomplishments within the government and also his roles within the church itself; from 1753 until 1771, he served as a Warden and Vestryman of the congregation. 

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Sources and Further Reading:

George Ross at the National Parks Service's Biographical Sketches of the Signers of the Declaration

Losser, B. J. Biographical Sketches of the Signers of the American Declaration of Independence. Derby & Jackson, New York, 1857.

Just for fun: George is ranked at #12 on "The Signers of the Declaration of Independence in Order of Hotness." Apparently they think he's a vampire, but their source for this claim is a page that no longer exists, so I have absolutely no idea what the joke is supposed to be.

George Ross at FindAGrave.com

George Ross at the Historical Marker Database

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Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.