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The career of this gentleman is an
excellent example of what the New World can do for a man who sets before
himself a high ideal of life, with the ambition to overcome the
accidents of birth, and the steadfast purpose to rise to a useful and
exalted position among his fellows, with the adventitious aids which
belong to an artificial society and an age of privilege. In Mr. Ross's
case a laudable ambition has not been thwarted by circumstances which in
the Old World so often prove a bar to personal advancement, whatever may
be the merit of him who strives to overcome them. With all the freedom
of our social and national life in Canada, it is of course not often
given to one to rise from humble birth and the limited resources of a
rural school training to high political office and the Ministership of
Education - a position which Mr. Ross succeeded in attaining, greatly to
his credit, before he had reached his forty-third year. Only unusual
gifts and their devotion to high purpose and worthy ends could win such
signal fortune as Mr. Ross has achieved far in advance of those who
began life's race with him. Mr. Ross, who is of Scotch parentage, was
born near Nairn, in the County of Middlesex, Ontario, on the 18th of
Sept., 1841. As we have hinted, he is the architect of his own fortunes.
The possessor of a good physical frame, and a strong and active
intellectual organization, which he assiduously cultivates, Mr. Ross has
successfully fought his way upwards with a determination and persistence
characteristic of his Highland origin. As a boy he was fortunate to
receive the sound but eminently practical education to be had in the
older settled districts of the Province a generation ago. Building upon
this, by his own unaided efforts, he succeeded in 1857 in obtaining a
third-class county certificate, and for many years devoted himself to
teaching. In 1859 he obtained a second-class, and in 1867 a first-class,
County Board certificate. Two years later, he took a course at the
Normal School, Toronto, and in 1871 secured a first class Provincial
certificate. In the latter year he was appointed Inspector of Public
Schools for the County of Lambton, and subsequently acted in a similar
capacity for the Towns of Petrolea and Strathroy. While Inspector for
East Lambton, Mr. Ross was in 18765 made the recipient of a handsome
gold watch and chain, with a complimentary address from the teachers of
the district, in acknowledgement of his zeal in educational work and his
able and unwearied service in the profession. He was also presented with
a flattering address by the County Council. "During those
years," says a writer in the Canada School Journal, "when the
establishment of additional Normal Schools was agitated in this
province, and rival cities were clamouring for location of the proposed
new schools within their limits, Mr. Ross took a leading part in the
movement set on foot for the creation of County Model Schools, when it
was found that the Government of the day hesitated to incur the outlay
for additional Normal Schools. He devoted much time and attention to
perfecting the new scheme of County Model Schools, and after their
establishment, prepared the syllabus of lectures, and was for a time
appointed inspector of Model Schools. The excellent results that have
followed are a sufficient indication of the wisdom of his counsels, and
of the energy and skill with which the scheme was put into practical
operation. From 1876 to 1880 he was a member of the Central Committee,
and was there a faithful advocate of the teachers' interests. He
contended for the use of only one text-book on the same subject in the
public schools, and was in favour of confining the Normal Schools to
strictly professional work, leaving the academic or non-professional
part of the students' training to the High Schools and
Institutes." For some years Mr. Ross was engaged in
journalistic work. At one time he owned the Strathroy Age and at another
was part proprietor of the Huron Expositor. His great mental resources
and intimate knowledge of public questions well fit him to shine in the
field of journalism. In education journalism he also made his mark,
having conducted, with Mr. McColl, of Strathroy, the Ontario Teacher, a
publication which was spiritedly edited and for a time of great service
to the teaching profession. Like many of our public men, Mr. Ross has
also been drawn to law, and though he has never practised the profession
he has passed several of the preliminary examinations, and in 1879 wrote
for and obtained from the Albert University the degree of LL B. For many
years Mr. Ross has been an enthusiastic leader in Temperance and
Prohibitory movements in Canada, and in the House of Commons, as well as
in the Ontario Legislature, has earnestly advocated the cause of
Temperance and taken active part in its legislation. In 1879 he was
elected Most Worthy Patriarch of the National Division of the Sons of
Temperance of North America, and for two years presided over their
deliberations at Washington and at Cincinnati. In Reform politics Mr.
Ross has for years been a well known and distinguished figure. A ready
debater and a lucid and incisive speaker he has again and again been of
yeoman service to his party and done much to advance the cause of
Liberalism throughout Ontario. "As a public speaker," remarks
the authority we have already quoted, "Mr. Ross has a remarkable
faculty of grouping his facts and presenting his arguments in clear,
logical order, in which we find the influence of his early training as a
teacher. He is quick at repartee, possesses a retentive memory, and a
contagious enthusiasm which frequently expresses itself in genuine
eloquence. He has the ardour and impulsiveness of a Celt combined with
much prudence and sound judgement. He is a living example of the power
of continuity of purpose and indomitable will when linked with
intelligence and high motive." Mr. Ross was first elected
representative of West Middlesex in the House of Commons in 1872; two
years afterwards, at the general election, he was returned by
acclamation; he was again returned in the years 1878 and 1882, though in
the following year he was unfortunate to lose his seat in consequence of
bribery by agents. In Nov., 1883, he was appointed Minister of Education
for Ontario, as successor to the Hon. Adam Crooks, Q.C., and in the
following month was elected to the Legislative Assembly for his present
seat, West Middlesex. To his important office Mr. Ross brings a strong,
clear, and well stored mind, wide experience in teaching, a hearty
enthusiasm in educational matter and sterling qualities as a
departmental administrator and public officer. He strikes the
interviewer at once by his clear-headed practical view of things, and
gives the impression of an eminently safe man, a cautious but vigorous
administrator, with no fads or crotchets, but with abounding energy,
unflagging purpose, and strong common sense. Mr. Ross married Christina,
fourth daughter of Duncan Campbell, Esq., of Middlesex who however died
in 1872. In 1875 he again married, Miss Boston of Lobo, County
Middlesex, becoming his wife. |
