Edmund Gibson ROSS, Congress, KS (1826-1907)

ROSS, Edmund Gibson, a Senator from Kansas; born in Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio, December 7, 1826; apprenticed as a printer in Sandusky, Ohio; moved to Milwaukee, Wis., in 1849 and was connected with the Milwaukee Sentinel; moved to Topeka, Kans., in 1856, to lead the ‘free state’ movement; published the Topeka Tribune 1856-1858, and established the Kansas State Record 1859; member of the State constitutional convention 1859-1861; promoter and director of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway; during the Civil War entered the Union Army as a private in 1862 and was mustered out as major in 1865; editor of the Kansas Tribune 1865-1866; appointed and subsequently elected as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of James H. Lane and served from July 19, 1866, to March 3, 1871; unsuccessful candidate for reelection; chairman, Committee on Enrolled Bills (Fortieth Congress), Committee on Engrossed Bills (Forty-first Congress); his vote against conviction in the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson in 1868 was considered one of the essential votes for the President’s acquittal; affiliated with the Democratic party after 1872; publisher of several newspapers 1871-1893; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Governor in 1880; moved to Albuquerque, N.Mex., in 1882; appointed Governor of the Territory of New Mexico by President Grover Cleveland in 1885 and served four years; died in Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, N.Mex., May 8, 1907; interment in Fairview Cemetery.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Plummer, Mark A. “Profile in Courage? Edmund G. Ross and the Impeachment Trial.” Midwest Quarterly 27 (Autumn 1985): 30-48; Ross, Edmund. History of the Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson. Sante Fe, N.M.: New Mexican Printing Co., 1896.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present