George Ross, Lawyer, Iron Manufacturer, Soldier, Statesman, Patriot, Signer of Declaration of Independence, Died July 14, 1779

The Philadelphia Packet, July 15, 1779, contained this item:

“Yesterday died at his seat near this city, the Honorable George Ross, Judge of Admiralty of this State.” He was interred in the churchyard of Christ’s Church, Philadelphia, the day following his death. The Supreme Executive Council attended the obsequies in a body.

George Ross, the son of Reverend George Ross, minister of the Established Church, and Catherine Van Gezel Ross, was born in New Castle, Lower Counties, May 10, 1730. He was of excellent Scotch stock, his family traced their descent from the Earls of Ross.

George received an excellent education, with special instruction in the classics; studied law in Philadelphia, with his half brother, John, and was admitted to the bar at Lancaster in 1750. He rose rapidly in his profession, and was interested in the manufacture of iron, which he continued to the time of his death.

Soon after settling at Lancaster, in 1751, he married Miss Anne Lawlor.

He was made prosecutor for the Crown and took a deep interest in the welfare of the growing town of Lancaster, which was soon recognized by his neighbors and he was elected to the Assembly of Pennsylvania in 1768. From this time on his short life of forty-nine years was crowded with civic and patriotic duties; while the State and Federal Governments honored him with many positions of trust.

He immediately became a leader in the Assembly where he was a most pronounced Whig. By successive elections he was continued in that body until 1774, when he was a member of the Provincial Conference and then a member of the first Continental Congress.

George Ross was one of a committee to whom was referred the patriotic communication of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, recommending a Congress of the colonies for the purpose of resisting British arbitrary enactments, and in Congress he consistently furthered those measures which finally led to American Independence.

In 1775, Governor John Penn having written a message disapproving any protective measures on the part of the colonies, Mr. Ross drew up a strong and convincing reply.

He was a true friend of the Indians, and served as one of the Commissioners to Fort Pitt in 1776.

483Mr. Ross was made a member of the Committee of Safety for Pennsylvania; vice president of the Constitutional Convention of 1776; colonel of the First Battalion of Associators for Lancaster County; and as a fitting climax, he signed the Declaration of Independence.

During his service as a member of the Continental Congress he was named on the committee with General George Washington and Robert Morris to prepare a design for a new flag. It was through his suggestion that the committee called on his niece, Betsy Ross, and with her help the beautiful flag of the United States was designed and adopted.

Ill health forced Colonel Ross to resign from Congress and on leaving office the citizens of Lancaster voted him a piece of silver to cost £150, which he declined to receive.

After varied and valuable labors in the service of the colonies and of Pennsylvania he was appointed a judge of the Court of Admiralty, as a minute of the Supreme Executive Council for March 1, 1779, records the following:

“Resolved, That the Honorable George Ross, Esquire, be commissioned Judge of the Admiralty of this State, under the Act of Assembly; that this Board highly approve the firmness and ability he has hitherto shown in the discharge of his said office.”

During his incumbency, which lasted but a brief period, he was regarded as learned and prompt, a happy combination.

Judge Ross probably knew the standing of every merchant in Philadelphia.

His house in Lancaster stood on the site of the present Court House, and his country home was a farm in what was then a suburb of Lancaster, now a part of the city, called in his honor, Rossmere.

He was interested in several iron furnaces, the most important of which was the Mary Ann furnace of York County. This was the first blast furnace west of the Susquehanna. His partners were George Stephenson, one of the first lawyers in York County, and William Thompson, the latter’s brother-in-law, later distinguished as a general in the Revolution. George Ross also owned Spring Forge III, also in York County, and he was a partner with George Taylor, of Easton, another signer of the Declaration of Independence, in a furnace in New Jersey called Bloomsbury Forge.

His half brother John Ross, was also much interested in the iron business, and seems to have been a rather picturesque character. He was an officer of the King, and Graydon says of him: “Mr. John Ross, who loved ease and Madeira much better than liberty and strife, declared for neutrality, saying, that let who would be king, he well knew that he would be a subject.”

His health seems to have been poor for some time before his death as a letter from Edward Burd to Jasper Yeates, July 16, 1779, says:

484“Poor Mr. Ross is gone at last. I was one of his Carriers. He said he was going to a cooler climate, and behaved in the same cheerful way at his exit as he did all thro the different trying scenes of life.”

He was a Churchman by inheritance, and was vestryman and warden of St. James’ Church, Lancaster, contributing liberally to its varied interests. Genial, kind and considerate, his sense of humor evidently lightened the cares of his strenuous life.

A memorial pillar was erected in 1897, on the site of his house in Lancaster.