Mountain Laurel & Coal

The Duvet Cover The Double Wedding Ring These quilts from Clarksville, Pa. have been tucked in with my belongings for about 35 years. One was given to me by my grandmother Ruth Brown Ross, who lived on Market Street, while the other was purchased at the estate sale of her neighbor Jean Fowler. Unfortunately, I’m not 100% sure which quilt is which.  When my grandmother gave me one of these quilts she told me that it belonged to my great grandmother Lelia Sanders Ross. At the time, I only had this one quilt, so I didn’t mark it. So, now I’m hoping Jean’s son Gerald Fowler will be able to tell me if his mother’s quilt is the double wedding ring quilt (a design that was popular in the 1920s) or the duvet cover with buttons. I’m thinking the duvet cover is from the Ross family, but I can’t be sure. Maybe one of my Ross cousins, Lelia’s other great grandchildren, can help clear this up.  Either way, these quilts are both beautiful works of art made by talented women with a connectio...

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 r...

The first time I visited this beautiful cemetery was in early November of 1979 for the funeral of my Great-Grandmother Lelia Levine Sanders Ross. I remember walking down over the hill to attend the graveside service. I've been back to visit her grave a few times since but I don't ever recall the sky looking as blue and as stunning as this.  My memory served me well and I was able to easily find her grave. One of her sons Guy and his wife Gertie are buried beside her. Lelia (on the right) with her daughter-in-law Ruth Brown Ross The Bethlehem Lutheran Church sits on the hill just above the cemetery at 21 Church Road in Scenery Hill, Pa. My paternal ancestral line to Lelia Sanders Ross: 1. Randi Lee Ross; 2. Forrest Wayne Ross; 3. Forest Vance Ross; 4. Lelia L. Sanders by Randi Ross Marodi - randileeross@gmail.com  

“You are the nosiest person I have ever met.” Those were the words of my Great Grandmother Ross in 1979. She was 94 and apparently didn’t like the question I just asked. I wasn’t nosy, I was just a 13-year-old kid who had been gifted a blue and gold trimmed book titled Our Family Story. It was a workbook to help you build a family tree. It included tips to start the process and the main suggestion was this: interview your older relatives. So, that’s what I planned to do. I decided to start with Great-Grandma Ross, my oldest relative. Lelia Levine Sanders Ross of Scenery Hill, Pa. had recently moved in with my grandparents: her son Forest Vance Ross and daughter-in-law Ruth Brown Ross. Vance and Ruth lived in Clarksville in Greene County, Pa. and I lived on the other side of town. I already spent a lot of time at their house, so this gave me the opportunity to get to know my great-grandmother. One day I grabbed my new family tree book, a notebook with a list of questions, and...