====== Ross, Arthur Wellington ====== 
 (25 March 1846-23 March 1901), teacher, entrepreneur, political figure. (A.W. Ross) (date of death 25 March also seen) Born at Nairn, Ont. He attended Toronto Normal School and the University of Toronto (B.A., 1874). Before he got the degree, however, he taught school at Alexandria, GC (Harkness) and also taught at Cornwall high school (Morgan). Next, from Sept. 1871 to Nov. 1874, he was inspector of public schools for GC. As inspector, he reported harshly on the quality of the GC school buildings. (Ross, //Lancaster//, 168) A news story dated at Alexandria, 24 Oct., said, “The teachers of the County of Glengarry met here to-day to deliver a parting address to Mr. A. W. Ross, B. A. inspector of public schools. They presented him with a fruit basket, cruet stand, and butter cooler. Mr. A. McNab [Archibald McNab] occupied the chair, and a number of the leading men were present, all of whom expressed regret at Mr Ross’ departure. He leaves for Toronto to study law.” (//Witness// 26 Oct. 1874) Ross studied law in Toronto and Winnipeg and was admitted to the bar, Manitoba, in 1878.

<tab>In Manitoba, he made a fortune in land speculation, obtaining a reputation as a bold, resourceful, major dealer, then lost his wealth in a crash of land prices in 1882. He was a member of the Manitoba legislature from 1878 to 1882, then MP for Lisgar, Man., from 1882 to 1896. Conservative. In British Columbia, he had business interests including real estate and gold mining, and he lived in B.C. for a few years about the late 1880s, a period which overlapped with his time as an MP from Manitoba. He was an early promoter of Vancouver. At a few days short of age 55, he died in Toronto. (two children) He was married 30 July 1873 to Jessie Flora Cattanach, daughter of Donald Cattanach. The freewheeling entrepreneur described in Ross’s life in the //Dictionary of Canadian Biography// seems a strange son-in-law for the devout and severe Donald Cattanach. The Alexandria newspaper, mistaking his place of birth, reported “Mr. A.W. Ross, M.P. for Lisgar, spent Sunday last in Glengarry, his native county.” (//Glengarrian// 10 June 1887) Copies of certain speeches of his in Parliament were circulated by the government and the CPR as immigration literature. Presbyterian. He was a promoter of national parks.


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<fs small>Life by David G. Burley in //Dictionary of Canadian Biography// Vol. XIII * //Glengarry News// 29 March 1901 * Morgan (1898) 885 * J.B. Kerr, //Biographical Dictionary of Well-Known British Columbians// (1890) 280-282 * Harkness 343 * Johnson (1968) * MacGillivray & Ross 245 * obituary of his wife, //GN// 27 July 1923 * A. W. Ross, Winnipeg, advertises land boom properties in Winnipeg and Manitoba, //Cornwall Reporter// 29 April 1882
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