Lieutenant Governor - Of Muskegon, Michigan, was
born on a farm near Jamestown, Ohio, June 28, 1873 and received a common school
education. He studied law with Jones
and Clark at Muskegon, was admitted to the bar July 9, 1894, and has since been
engaged in the active practice of law.
He is a member of the firm of Cross, Vanderwerp, ? and Ross. Mr. Ross has for several years been
activily interested in the growth and development of the city of Muskegon and
western Michigan. For a number of years
he has been a director of the Muskegon Chamber of Commerce and was its
president in 1909. He was the first
president of the Western Michigan Development Company. Mr. Ross was married June 12, 1900 to
Katherine B. Schwedler and they have two children, Raymond F. and
Florence A. He was the nominee of the
Republican party for lietenant governor at the primary election September 6,
1910, and was elected November 8, 1910.
He was renominated at the primary election August 27, 1912 and elected
November 5, 1912, by a plurality of 9,184.
Source: Michigan Official Directory and Legistative
Manual for the years 1913-1914 compiled by Frederick C. Martindale, Secretary
of State Pg. 728-729
JOHN Q. ROSS. A city is
known by the citizens it produces and in the death of John Q. ROSS,
Muskegon lost a citizen who had done credit to the city and state and was
destined to bring them greater credit in the years to come. To few citizens of any community does it
fall to be so universally looked to when a man is needed who possesses ability,
sound judgment and a willingness to serve.
To few does it fall to represent his city in the thought of the state to
such a large measure. To few does it
fall to have been equally active and foremost in the political and business
activity of his community and state and to have made a signal mark in both
while still less than fifty years of age.
John Q. ROSS was born in Jamestown, Green County, Ohio, June 28,
1873, and there he received a common school education. He came to Muskegon and began the study of
law with the firm of Jones & Clark when quite a young man and was admitted
to the bar June 9, 1894. He first
located for practice at Shelby, Michigan, and Oceana County always proclaimed
her adopted son. Returning to Muskegon
he became a partner with Mr. JONES and this continued until the latter
moved to Detroit. He then became a
partner with George B. LOVELACE and Charles B. CROSS, and in 1911
he became a member of the firm of CROSS, VANDERWERP, FOOTE & ROSS. In 1919 he resigned from this firm to devote
his attention to industrial affairs, in which he had assumed an important
place. In 1910 he was elected
lieutenant governor on the Republican ticket when Chase S. OSBORN became
governor. Two years later he was
re-elected to this office when the Republican candidate for governor was
defeated and Woodbridge N. FERRIS was elected governor on the Democratic
ticket. During his two terms in this
office he demonstrated that he was not only a presiding officer of the senate
but a leader of that body as well.
During the war he was in active management of the Linderman Machine
Company, which held important contracts with the government for the manufacture
of gun mounts, and the firm won high praise from the government for its
remarkable production record. The close
of the war found Mr. ROSS taking an increasing interest in civic matters
and becoming one of the important figures in the industrial world. He became active as a partner with Mr. JEANNOT
in the management of the West Michigan Steel Foundry Company, of which he was
president, devoting all of his time to this enterprise. With the organization of the Union National
Bank in 1919 Mr. ROSS was named president and continued in this until
the time of his death. He was actively
interested in the Chamber of Commerce and served one year as chairman of
transportation and at the time of his death was president of this civic body. He also was active in the completion of the
first unit of the addition to the Occidental Hotel Company. Mr. ROSS had a commanding personality
and instantly made friends and held the confidence of the public. June 12, 1900, John Q. ROSS was
united in marriage with Miss Katherine B. SCHWEDLER, who still maintains
her home in Muskegon and their two children are Florence and Raymond F. They death of Mr. ROSS occurred May
12, 1922. The legacy John Q. ROSS
left to the city of Muskegon is the common legacy of American life. The place he had in law, finance, industry
and public service he made for himself, as he had no advantages and no
assistance save what is the heritage of every American boy.
Source: “Historic Michigan”, George N. Fuller/ James
L. Smith, (1925)
Submitted by Lisa Hoffius
and Bill Moore