Joseph J. Ross

Who was Joseph J. Ross?

Joseph J. Ross served as the 14th Vice President of Liberia from 1896 to 1900. He also served as Attorney General of Liberia under three separate administrations and was thrice-elected to the Senate of Liberia as a senator from Sinoe County, serving as President pro temp of the Senate from 1892 to 1896.

Born in Augusta, Georgia, his mother died while he was in infancy. He emigrated to Liberia when he was eight years old in 1839 with his grandmother on the ship Huma . He settled in Sinoe County and later apprenticed to C. L. Parsons, who later served as Chief Justice of Liberia. After serving in the Liberian militia, Ross became an attorney under future Chief Justice Zacharia B. Roberts.

Ross unsuccessfully ran for the House of Representatives in Sinoe County during the 1869 elections, and was later appointed to a judgeship. In 1875, he was appointed Superintendent of Sinoe County, and was elected as a senator from Sinoe in 1878. From 1882 to 1884, he served as Attorney General in the cabinet of Presidents Anthony W. Gardiner and Alfred Francis Russell, and was reelected as senator from Sinoe County in the 1883 elections. He again served as Attorney General in the cabinet of President Hilary R. W. Johnson from 1888 to 1892. In the 1891 elections, he was elected for a third time as a senator from Sinoe County, serving as the President pro temp of the Senate.