Rosson Andruss Biography
As published in
"The City of Kenosha and Kenosha County Wisconsin: A Record of Settlement,
Organization, Progress and Achievement"
by Frank H. Lyman Vol. 2, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1916.
Death has long since called Rosson Andruss but he is yet remembered by those who
knew him and entertained for him warm regard because of his many sterling
characteristics. He was born in Saratoga, New York, December 25, 1805, his
parents being Benajah and Abigail (Nash) Andruss, both of whom spent their
entire lives in the Empire State. After attending the common schools of New
York, Rosson Andruss engaged in teaching school for several terms, and in 1839
arrived in Zion City, Illinois, but the following year crossed the border into
Bristol Township, Kenosha County. Rosson Andruss first purchased five
eighty-acre tracts of land and a forty-acre tract from the government, paying
the usual price of a dollar and a quarter per acre. That the land might be
secured in that manner is indicative of the slightly developed condition of the
country at that time. Only three years before had Chicago been incorporated and
Racine and Kenosha were but tiny hamlets. There were still traces of Indian
occupancy in this section of the country, and upon many a broad acre now highly
cultivated not a furrow had been turned nor an improvement made at that time.
Mr. Andruss at once began to clear, till and develop his farm, and continued to
reside thereon until his death.
In 1834 Rosson Andruss wedded Miss Parmelia Townsend, a daughter of John and
Hannah (Fox) Townsend, who were natives of Pennsylvania. They became the parents
of six children: Esther Ann, the eldest, now deceased, taught school in this
county for nine terms. George Emery, who has also passed away, served as Justice
of the Peace for many terms. Charles Rosson, who was in the regular army for
three years, married Emma Washburn, of Bristol, and they became the parents of a
daughter, Eda, who married F. E. McCollum, of Chicago, by whom she has four
children. Mrs. Emma (Washburn) Andruss passed away in 1883, and Charles Rosson
Andruss afterward married Mrs. Emma (King) Baker, their home now being in
Sterling, Kansas. Marvin J. taught in the county for some time. He wedded Mary
Nolan, who died in 1873, after which he married Alice O'Connell, of Salem, who
died, leaving a son, Rosson J., also now deceased. For his third wife, he chose
Mary Drummond, of Cherry Valley, Illinois, and they have one child, Joy May.
They are all now living in Alberta, Canada. Mary B., the next of the family,
died in infancy. Adelia E. attended the common schools in Bristol, also an
academy at Waukegan, and has since lived in Bristol. She still owns and occupies
a portion of the original farm purchased by her father from the government. She
is very prominent in lodge circles, holding membership in the Eastern Star, with
the Mystic Workers, the Royal Neighbors, the Tribe of Ben Hur, and the Equitable
Fraternal Union.
The death of Mr. Andruss occurred in 1873, when he was sixty-seven years of age,
while his widow survived him until 1904 and had reached the remarkable age of
ninety-seven years at the time of her death. They were laid to rest in the South
Bristol cemetery, as were the son and two daughters of the family who have
departed this life. In politics Mr. Andruss was a Republican, and although he
never sought political office he was officially connected with the schools. Both
he and his wife belonged to the Christian church, and they were interested in
all that pertained to the moral progress of the community, displaying in their
lives many sterling traits of character which gained for them the confidence and
high regard of those who knew them.
Typed by: Michelle Laycock