Lawrence Sullivan Ross

Lawrence Sullivan Ross

Lawrence Sullivan Ross (born September 27, 1838 in Bentonsport , Iowa Territory , † January 3, 1898 on Trinity River , Texas ) was a general, university president and the 20th governor of Texas.

Ross was born in 1838 as the second son and fourth child of Shapley Prince and Catherine Ross, b. Fulkerson, born in Van Buren County . His parents had moved to Iowa from Missouri in 1834 . A year after he was born, in 1839, they moved to Texas, Milam County , then Austin , where his older siblings went to school, and finally to Waco in 1849 . It was here that Ross got his first experience fighting with Indians as a boy. He received his education first at Baylor University in Independence and then at Florence Wesleyan College , now the University of North Alabama in Florence , Alabama , where he successfully completed his studies in 1859. Since he had already spent most of his vacation periods as a volunteer in the military, it was not surprising that he had decided on a career afterwards.

In the same year he took part in various battles against Indians and Sam Houston promoted him to captain of the Texas Ranger , where he led the Waco company against the Indians and in 1860 he succeeded in repatriating Cynthia Ann Parker , who was a nine-year-old girl from Indians kidnapped. He declined the offer made by General Winfield Scott to serve in the regular US Army and stayed with the Confederate Army , where in 1864 he was brigadier general and commander of the Texas Cavalry Brigade, also known as Ross Brigade. He took part in 135 battles during the Civil War .

After the war, Elizabeth Dorothy Tinsley, who was married on May 28, 1861, and daughter of a plantation owner near Waco, settled as a farmer in Texas. In 1873 he was elected Sheriff of McLennan County and in 1876 representative of his county in the government. In 1880 he was elected to the Texan Senate. In 1886 he was nominated as candidate for governor of the Democrats and also won this election. On January 18, 1887, he took over from John Ireland and, after he was re-elected in 1888, remained in office for two full terms until January 20, 1891. His successor as governor was Jim Hogg .

In 1891, after the end of his time as governor, he took over the presidency of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas , now Texas A&M University , which he stayed until his death in 1898 on an expedition along the Trinity River. The Sul Ross State University in Alpine , Texas, was named after him. A memorial was erected in his honor on the square in front of Texas A&M University, where students still lay pennies at his feet before exams. According to legend, when you were president of the university you could secure your goodwill by paying a penny.

Web links

• Lawrence Sullivan Ross at the National Governors Association (English)
• Lawrence Sullivan Ross in the Handbook of Texas (English)

• Lawrence Sullivan Ross in the database of Find a Grave (English)