WILLIAM BLANE ROSS

The following bio was taken from page 376 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

William Blane Ross was born August 12, 1892 in Rusk County. He was the son of Benjamin Franklin Ross (1853-1901) and Julie Williams. William Blane’s paternal grandparents, Manning Luther Ross and Mary A. Wingo Ross, were from Spartanburg County, South Carolina.

William Blane married Annie Lou Jones on April 11, 1915. She was the daughter of Thomas Jones and Heathie NcNeeley Jones, who were born and raised in Rusk County. William Blane was a farmer and rancher all his married life. He and his wife, Annie Lou, lived in the Liberty Community in Rusk County most of their lives, with the exception of four years in Marshall and Karnack in Harrison County, Texas.

The Blanes celebrated their sixty-sixth wedding anniversary on April 11, 1981.

William and Annie Lou had three children: Lula Mae, William Hugh (Bill), and Benjamin Franklin. Only two of these are living. Franklin having died at the age of thirty-seven in 1969.

Lula Mae Ross married Emmett Reese Strong, Jr., and they reside in Henderson, Texas. Both are retired, Lula from teaching and Reese from the Rural Electric Cooperative. Reese and Lula have two sons: Dr. William Reese Strong, a college professor in Alabama, and Tommy Jay Strong, a pharmacist in Henderson, Texas. Reese and Lula have two grandchildren, Julie Ann and Bryan Scott Strong, daughter and son of Tommy.

William Hugh (Bill) Ross married Marie Whitehead and they reside in Henderson, Texas. Both are employed, Bill with Texas Eastman Kodak and Marie with the Henderson Schools.

Marie and Bill had two children, Carol Ann and Robert (Bob) William. Bob died in October, 1977 at the age of twenty-seven as the result of an auto accident. They have two grandchildren, Aimee Rochelle Young and Jeffery Alan Young.

Benjamin Franklin Ross married Norma. Franklin died of a heart attack in 1969. He served in the Air Force for twenty years and was stationed at Strategic Air Command headquarters at the time of his death. Franklin’s survivors are: his wife, Norma; two sons, Bennie and Frank; one daughter, Barbara; one grandson; and one granddaughter.

At the present time, Mr. and Mrs. William Blane Ross reside at 1107 Beverly, Henderson, Texas.

Submitted by Lula (Ross) Strong