George Ross

Who was George Ross?

George Ross was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Pennsylvania.

He was born in New Castle, Delaware, and educated at home. He studied law at his brother John's law office, the common practice in those days, and was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia. Initially a Tory, he served as Crown Prosecutor for 12 years and was elected to the provincial legislature in 1768. There his sympathies began to change and he became a strong supporter of the colonial assemblies in their disputes with Parliament.

He was a member of the Committee of Safety and was elected to the Continental Congress. He was a colonel in the Pennsylvania militia, and vice-president of the first constitutional convention for Pennsylvania. He resigned from the Continental Congress in 1777 because of poor health, and was appointed to the Pennsylvania Court of Admiralty, in which office he died at age 49.

George's sister Gertrude married Thomas Till, the son of William Till, a prominent Sussex County judge and politician; after his death, she married George Read, another signer of the Declaration. George Ross was born May 10, 1730 at New Castle Delaware.