(1841 or 1843-3 March 1917), lumberman. Born in Lancaster area, GC. He attended primary school locally, and at about the age of 21 went to the United States, where he began work as a bookkeeper for the Ford River Lumber Co., of Michigan, and eventually rose to high rank in the company. In 1882, the Hon. J. D. Ross of the Ford River Lumber Co. was named as one of the Glengarrians who were prospering in Michigan. (Glengarry Times, 3 June 1882; the Hon. probably indicated his holding of some local office) From the same year, 1882, he was associated with the E. W. Brooks Lumber Co., of Chicago, which was later the Brooks & Ross Lumber Co. He went to live in Wausau, Wisc., in 1883, and in 1896 he settled in what would be his place of residence for the rest of his life, the part of Chicago called Oak Park. He died in Pasadena, Calif., where he was accustomed to spend his winters. “He owned or controlled eleven sawmills, located in widely separate locations, the Pacific coast, Arizona, the gulf coast, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Besides these he was interested in several paper mills and other commercial enterprises and banks.” Presbyterian. As a philanthropist especially interested in Christian education, he gave money to colleges and seminaries, and assisted individual students. “He carried his religion into his business and established Young Men’s Christian associations and churches in connection with each of his sawmills.” In politics he was a Republican. He was buried at Wausau. He was married to Annie Louise Winters of Fond du Lac., Wisc. (three children)

     He was a contributor about 1902 to bringing about Lancaster’s handsome library building, which was officially opened in 1903. The building is of modest size, but it has been for a century now a landmark in the village. When a library building was being planned, William Stewart (probably William Stewart, the blind lawyer of the present dictionary) and Sandy “The Squire” McLennan asked John D. Ross for a financial contribution. John D. Ross gave $600 for the lot on which the library was built, plus $2000 and at a later date an unrecorded sum for books. During the building process he discovered that the promoters of the library were planning to incorporate a hall in it. To this he objected vigorously on the grounds that it would, as he said, take the bread out of the mouth of his sister, who at the time was operating McRae’s hotel and hall in Lancaster. Ross carried the point, and the hall part of the library project was dropped. He is said to have grumbled afterwards that his name was not put on the building as a benefactor, but all the same, he gave the cheque for the books after he realized he was not going to be commemorated in this way. The $2600 contribution was equal to the price of a slightly better than average GC farm of the time. If small in an absolute sense, it is impressive, however, considering how sparingly wealthy GC natives of the period contributed to public projects in their home county. (Patrick Purcell was one of the few exceptions.) Other people of course also contributed to the library project. A newspaper report on the official opening of the building in Nov. 1903, stated that Ross of Oak Park, Ill., had paid half the cost of the building together with the total cost of the site but noted also that, “There are other contributors from Montreal to California, who still keep thoughts of the old home.” (Cornwall Standard 27 Nov. 1903) The Lancaster war memorial was later built beside the library.

Oak Leaves (newspaper, Oak Park, Ill.) 10 March 1917 (QF) * Book of Chicagoans (1911) 582 * Oak Park city directories, 1903, 1915-1916 * information from the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest, Oak Park, Ill. * MacGillivray & Ross 266-267 (includes history of the Lancaster library) * Eileen Fourney, “The Founding of the Village of Lancaster,” Glengarry News 13 June 1984 * four-page statement by Ross T. MacRae, dated 5 Nov. 1954, describing involvement of his great-uncle John D. Ross in the library project (photocopy in present author’s files) * renovation of the library building, GN 17 May 2006