James Ross (1743-1827)

 James Ross was born on May 18, 1743 in Oxford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of William Ross, a Scottish-Irish immigrant. He attended Princeton College, although there is no record of him graduating. He received a master’s degree from the College of Philadelphia in 1775, while serving as a tutor there, and later received an A.M. (au eundem) in 1818 from Princeton College.  In 1776 he was commissioned a captain in the Continental Army, a position he held until resigning in 1778. He also received an honorary degree of Doctor of Law from Allegheny College in 1823.

In 1780, James Ross moved to Carlisle and became head of the Grammar School there. He retained this position until 1784, when Dickinson College was founded and Ross became its first faculty member. He served as a professor for eight years before resigning in 1792. Following his resignation, Ross established a school for classical learning in Chambersburg. It was here that he wrote his famed Latin Grammar, which ran for 10 editions and was well-known and well-used throughout the country for many years. In 1797 Ross became Rector of the newly formed Chambersburg Academy. Then from 1801 to 1809 he served as professor of languages at Franklin College in Lancaster. After resigning in 1809, Ross returned to Philadelphia where he tutored students until his death on July 6, 1827. He was buried in Philadelphia, but his second wife later moved his remains to Carlisle.

James Ross was married twice, his first wife, Rosanna, dying in Carlisle on April 13, 1788. He remarried in 1789, and his second wife, Catharine Irvine, died December 1, 1846.