VELVIN – HAMPTON - ROSS

The following bio was taken from page 375 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

I am a newcomer to Henderson, Martha Elizabeth Hampton Ross, daughter of William O’Neal and Ida Florence Purvis Hampton, who were married December 25, 1901 in Savannah, Georgia. I married Joseph Alva Ross, June 16, 1935 in the First Baptist Church, Savannah, with Reverend Arthur Jackson performing the ceremony. Joseph was the son of John Tattnall and Ellen Curtera Lassiter Ross.

Joseph had previously been married to Pansy Smith, who died in childbirth, leaving a daughter, Ellen Elizabeth, who has five children: Joe, Mitchell, Melinda, Robert, and Libby. Joseph and I had one son, William Alva, born September 7, 1936 in Savannah. William Alva married Sandra Jane Velvin, daughter of Flake A. and Shannon Velvin. They were married in the First Presbyterian Church Henderson. William and Sandra met when Sandra went to California to visit her cousin, Birdie Alexander. They have one daughter, Shannon Renee, born February 1, 1968 in Oxnard, California.

My first visit to Henderson was to attend the wedding of William and Sandra. Here Joe and I became friends with Herman and Veasy Adams.

Joseph Alva Ross was a California professional mechanical and electrical engineer at the time of his retirement in 1963, after a serious heart attack. He was head of his department at the U.S. Naval Construction Battalion Center at Port Huenemen, California. Joseph was a Mason and a Baptist deacon for forty-seven years, serving in Savannah, Roanoke, Virginia, Alexandria, Virginia, and Oxnard, California (all Southern Baptist churches).

Joseph joined the Boy Scouts in Rocky Mount, North Carolina in 1915 and served on different committees in the Washington, D.C. area. He was Boy Scout Commissioner for Ventura County and was also a DeMolay advisor. I was presented a Mother’s Award, given by the DeMolay Order, a very high honor and the only one to be given in Oxnard. The award is now in the Masonic Lodge building honoring Mr. George Tibbits.

William Alva was also an engineer at the time of his death. He was with U.S. Navy at Port Hueneme. He graduated from Oxnard High School in 1954, obtained his B.A. Degree from LeTourneau College in Longview, and his B.S. Degree from LeVerne College in California. He was a Thirty–second Degree Mason, a member of the Baptist church, and a boy scout and a master counselor of the Demolay’s. He served in Germany during the Korean conflict in the Second Armored Division from 1954-1957.

Both Renee’s grandfather and father died in the St. John’s Hospital in Oxnard where she was born. They are buried in the family plot in Bonventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia.

I graduated from the Savannah High School in 1928 and attended the fiftieth class reunion in 1978. I was a bookkeeper for a department store in Savannah from 1928 to 1935. In 1941, I started my career with the U.S. Government in Alexandria, Virginia with the U.S. Army Engineers where the first microfilming was done. At the time of my retirement, I was an accounting technician for the U.S. Navy. I worked at both the U.S. Navy Yards and Docks at Port Hueneme and at the U.S. Navy Missile Center in the accounting division of comptrollers at Point Mugu, California.

Since coming to Henderson, I have been active in the United Daughters of the Confederacy serving as president in 1981-1982. I am a charter member of the Rusk County Genealogy Society, a member of the U.S. Federal Retired Employees Union, and work in the Henderson Memorial Hospital Auxiliary where I was named "Woman of the Month" for October, 1981.

My mother’s parents were Wealthy Eleanor Evelyn Watson and Edward Ballinger Purvis. They were married either in Stewart or Webster County, Georgia, February 26, 1859. They had twelve chidden.

My father, William O’Neal, was the son of Susan Ann Elizabeth Fox, who married George Walker Hampton, November 6, 1856 in Jefferson County, Florida. They had twelve children. George was the son of Ben W. and Clemintine O’Neal, who married in Laurens County, Georgia in 1824. Ben was the son of Andrew Y. Hampton and Mary Dorsey. She was the daughter of Ben and Leodicia Dorsey. George was Justice of the Peace in Madison County, Florida in the late 1800’s. On the Fox side, Susan was the daughter of Charles James and Lucinda Toole Fox. She was born in Edgefield, South Carolina. James was the son of Nicholas and Susan (her last name unknown). Nicholas was the son of James and Sarah Hobson Fox. He was coroner of Richmond County, Georgia, when he died in 1790.

On the Ross side of the family, John Tattnall Ross was the son of Mary E. Prayther and George Van Horn Ross, who married January 11, 1872. John married Mary Lockey, and they had one son. After Mary’s death, he married Ellen Curtera Lassiter, the daughter of Deliah Stanford, who married Robert W. Lassiter. Deliah was the daughter of John B. and Betsy Smith Stanford. Thomas Ross married Almedia Blacksone, June 5, 1836. They had thirteen children.

Confederate veterans in the family were George Walker Hampton, 2^nd Cavalry of Florida; Edward Ballinger Purvis, 46 Artillery, Alabama attached to Jackson Division; and Robert W. Lassiter of Georgia. Robert was wounded in the Battle of Atlanta. The Ross grandfather was too young to serve but worked in the gun factory in Augusta, Georgia.

Both Joseph and Martha’s fathers worked for the railroad, Joseph’s as foreman in the shops and Martha’s as a ticket agent and telegraph operator.

Submitted by Martha Ross