LIEUTENANT COLONEL JAMES GEORGE ROSS.
Lieutenant Colonel James George Ross, president of the Ross Realty Company, Ltd., and favorably known in Montreal as a prominent figure in financial circles, was born in this city, October 18, 1861, a son of the late Phillip Simpson and Christina Chalmers (Dansken) Ross, both of whom were natives of Scotland. His early education was acquired in private schools, with later attendance at the high school of Montreal and subsequent attendance at the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, from which he was graduated with the class of 1881.
Mr. Ross went to the northwest upon an extended trip with a view to settling there, but returned to Montreal and associated himself with his father, who was a representative of the profession of chartered accountant. Shortly afterward he was admitted to partnership with his brother, the business being carried on under the firm style of P. S. Ross & Sons, and on the death of his father he became the head of the firm. He is a chartered accountant and a member of the Association of Accountants and is a fellow of the Dominion Association of Chartered Accountants. Aside from his business in that connection he is president of the Ross Realty Company, Ltd., and as such figures prominently in real-estate circles, negotiating and managing many important property transfers.
Mr. Ross has always evinced a great interest in military matters. In 1879 he joined the Ontario Field Battery, retiring in the year 1883. In 1884 he held a commission as officer in the Victoria Rifles, retiring in 1891 with the rank of captain. In 1898 he joined the Fifth Royal Highlanders and in 1899 was gazetted captain while in August, 1906, he was promoted to the rank of major and in May, 1909, was made lieutenant colonel. In 1907 he received the Long Service medal for officers having served for twenty years. He is in active connection with the Montreal Board of Trade and is a director of the Crown Trust Company. His interest and support extend to charitable and benevolent projects and he is a life governor of the Montreal Western Hospital. Fraternally he is a Scottish Rite Mason, while in club circles he is widely and favorably known, his membership being in the St. James Club, Canada Club, Beaconsfield Golf Club, Canadian Club, Montreal Curling Club, Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club, Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, Westmount Athletic Club and the Junior Army and Navy Club of London, England. In his younger days he was very active in athletic sports, especially in running, and he handled the snowshoe with expert skill. In 1887 it was claimed that he was “the best man in Canada who ever strapped on a racing shoe.” In the winter of 1888 he accompanied Lieutenant Schwatka in the explorer’s trip through the Yellowstone Park and was the only man who came out in as good shape as he went in.
LIEUTENANT COLONEL JAMES G. ROSS
In March, 1891, Mr. Ross married Miss Alice Margaret Monk, daughter of the late John Monk, an advocate of Montreal, and they have two daughters, Marjorie and Evelyn.
THOMAS MUSSEN.
One of the best known merchants of the past generation in Montreal, and a man whose well ordered life and high business principles commanded the respect of all who knew him, was born in 1804, in Yorkshire, England, and came to Canada with his parents in 1817, the family home being established in the south part of the province of Quebec near the Vermont line.