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Forest Eli Ross Was Born 133 Years Ago on Independence Day (Updated with photo of Forest Vance & J.L. Ross)

Forest Eli & Lelia Sanders Ross

My Great-Grandfather Forest Eli Ross was born 133 years ago on Independence Day, in Clarksville, Greene County, Pa.

He was born on July 4, 1888, the youngest son of Amy Pryor and Eli Bailey Ross and he had one older brother John Leslie Ross, who was known as J.L.

Forest Eli married Lelia Levine Sanders, the daughter of Daniel and Lucy Sanders of Lone Pine, Pa. and they had six children: Lucile, Daniel Guy, Forest Vance, Keith, Donald, and Betty. Forest Vance was my grandfather.

Lelia told the story about the day they met at a box social. She and other young ladies had prepared picnic baskets that were auctioned off to eligible young bachelors. Forest Eli made the highest bid on her basket and the two enjoyed a picnic lunch together. She agreed to marry him on October 29, 1908, because he was carrying a Bible on their picnic lunch. She said he tricked her into thinking he was a Godly man. 

In 1917, he was a rural mail carrier when he registered for the draft. In 1920, Forest Eli, his wife, and his children, appeared in the U.S. Census living at 332 McKean Avenue in Donora, Pa. At the time his occupation was listed as a mill rite working at an open-hearth furnace.

Betty, the last of the family’s children was born in 1922 and sometime between her birth and 1930, Forest Eli and Lelia separated due to his alleged wandering ways. Lelia had no choice but to find other homes for some of her children. My grandfather was sent to live with his paternal grandmother Amy Ross in Clarksville. He said Guy went to live with a farmer in Scenery Hill, and he was so upset with this arrangement that at one point he ran away. PapPap said he was at Sunday School when they told him his grandmother died. So, at the age of 12, he moved across town to live with his Uncle J.L., Aunt Hazel, and his cousins Edith Faye and Mildred Ross on Factory Street in Clarksville.  

I'm not sure where the rest of the Ross children were placed, but the 1930 US Census shows Lucile, 20, and Betty, 8, living with Lelia at 420 East Maiden Street in Washington, Pa. At the time, Lelia was listed as the married head of the household and Lucile was listed as a stenographer with a lumber company. 

On June 30, 1930, Forest Eli was working as a motorman at the Clyde No. 2 Mine near Pitt Gas, which was owned by the W.J. Rainey Coal & Coke Co. I was told that he hadn’t been working at the mine very long when the roof collapsed and he was killed by a crush of slate. Funeral records listed his age as 41 years, 11 months, and 26 days.

His brother arranged his funeral and Forest Eli's casket was laid out in J.L.’s dining room. The funeral was at the Clarksville Christian Church and he is buried in the Jefferson Baptist Cemetery in Jefferson, Pa. According to the records from the Barr & Shrontz Funeral Home in Marianna, Pa. the W.J. Rainey Co. paid the $224 funeral bill.


Forest Vance Ross at 12.


J.L. Ross of Clarksville, Pa



Ancestral Line:

Randi Lee Ross – Forrest Wayne Ross – Forest Vance Ross – Forest Eli Ross

Sources:

United States Census, 1910

United States Census, 1920

United States Census, 1930

Application for Marriage License, Greene County, Pennsylvania, 1908

World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

Bituminous Coal Mine Accident Registry

Funeral Records, Barr & Shrontz Funeral Home, Marianna, PA 15345

Newspaper clipping, unknown publication

Family lore

Note: Forest's name is spelled differently in these records. I used the "one-r" version, because that is how it was spelled on the majority of the records.

Written by Randi Ross Marodi – randileeross@gmail.com

 

 

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