Bill Ross Family
(Reprinted brom Elmer Centennial, 1987)
Can you name a retired Elmer citizen who was born the same year that the first train ran on the Santa Fe Railroad in 1888? J. W. Ross was born in March of that year. Mrs. Ross, better known as Bill, began farming in 1907 and retired in 1957.
The first school he attended was the Star School located west of Gifford and his teacher was Miss Lizzie Gunnels. Other schools he attended were the Knapp and the Bell. In 1918, he joined the army and served overseas with the American Expeditionary Forces. While he and other soldiers were on a ship going to France, an attack of the flu killed 144 men – 12 or 13 per day. A sea burial was held at 3:00 pm each afternoon.
On October 8, 1919, Bill Ross married Glada Williams and they lived on a farm four miles west of Gifford until 1937 when they moved to Elmer. Mr. and Mrs. Ross have lived their entire lives in Macon County except for his military service.
They are member of the Elmer Christian Church. Mr. Ross is a member of the World War I Barracks 475 at Macon, Missouri, and the American Legion Reynold Martin’s Post No. 282 in LaPlata, Missouri. He has been a member of the Modern Woodman Lodge for 58 years.
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Elmer, Missouri - Early History