Mary Jane Ross | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Portrait of Mary Jane Ross hanging in the West Bedroom of Hunter's Home, Park Hill, Oklahoma | |
| Born | November 5, 1827 Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | July 29, 1908 (aged 80) |
| Resting place | Cherokee National Cemetery, Fort Gibson, Muskogee County, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Nationality | Cherokee |
| Alma mater | Patapsco Female Institute |
| Notable work | The Life and Times of Honorable William P. Ross of the Cherokee Nation (1893) |
| Spouse | William P. Ross (married 1846) |
Mary Jane Ross (November 5, 1827 - Jul 29, 1908) was born in Tennessee to the most prominent Cherokee family of the nineteenth century. The Ross family led the Cherokee Nation through some of its most tumultuous historical events, including the Trail of Tears and the American Civil War. Ross was the daughter of Lewis Ross (1796-1871) and Francis "Fannie" (Holt) Ross (1789-1860). Her paternal uncle John Ross was principal chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1828 until his death in 1866. Her father, Lewis Ross, was a merchant, planter, and Treasurer of the Cherokee Nation. She had the following ten siblings: Minerva A., John McDonald, Araminta, Robert Daniel, Amanda Melvina, Henry Clay, Sarah, Helen, Jack Spears, and Sarah Elizabeth Ross. Born to affluence and a would-be domestic life of leisure, Ross excelled in her studies, was a talented musician, contributed to the support and aid of Cherokee orphans after the Civil War, and endured a life uprooted by the forced removal of the Cherokee people on the Trail of Tears, followed by the hardships of the Civil War. Upon her husband's death, Ross took up the work of authoring and editing large portions of his biography which she submitted for publication to the Library of Congress.[1]
- ^ Ross (1893), p. 11.