W. W. Ross was born at Seville, Medina county, Ohio, December 24, 1834. He attended the village school until he was eleven years old, and then, for a few years, enjoyed the advantages of instruction in a private or academic school, common in those days on the Western Reserve, taught by Charles Foster, a graduate of Dartmouth college, and a very successful teacher, who died during the war of the Rebellion.
At the age of fourteen he had completed a very good course of study, including algebra and geometry.
He attended school little after he was sixteen years old, and none after he was seventeen, and but nine weeks outside his native village. He taught his first school at the age of sixteen, at fourteen dollars per month.
He built up a flourishing private or academic school, at Spencer, Medina county, Ohio. He took charge of this school for four or five years, and subsequently, for a like period, had charge of the academy in his native village.
He devoted the summer vacation of these years to the law, pursuing the studyin the office of Noble & Palmer, Cleveland, Ohio; also in the office of Lieutenant-Colonel Canfield, of the Seventy-second Ohio regiment, Medina, Ohio, and with the Hon. J. C. Johnson, Seville, Ohio.
He was admitted to the Medina county Bar in 1861. In consequence of indifferent health, he did not commence practice.
His first experience in connection with graded schools was at Clyde. He was superintendent of the schools of that place from 1862 to 1864. In the latter year he was elected superintendent of the public schools at Fremont, a position he has filled for seventeen years, and still occupies.
Formerly quite active as a political orator, he has always taken a lively interest in political matters, and was the candidate of his party for State school commissioner in the year 1871.
He has filled the position of State school examiner for two terms; has served as president of the Tri-State Teachers' Association, and of the Northwestern Ohio State Teachers' Association; has been an active institute worker, and a frequent contributor to educational journals.
From earliest childhood more or less familiar with legal proceedings in the office of his father, who served as justice of the peace almost uninterruptedly for a period of thirty years, he early elected the law for his chosen profession, and although circumstances have led him into another field, he has never, perhaps, entirely abandoned the thought of ultimately entering upon the practice of the law.
This thought, however has never prevented his giving his best activities and energies to the educational work in which, by the judgment of his peers, he has met with eminent success.
Last updated December 3, 2007.