Lawrence Sullivan Ross - Farming and Early Public Service

Farming and Early Public Service

When the Civil War ended, Ross was just 26 years old. He owned 160 acres (65 ha) of farmland along the South Bosque River west of Waco, and 5.41 acres (2.19 ha) in town. For the first time, he and his wife were able to establish their own home. They expanded their family having eight children over the next seventeen years.

Mervin	born January 2, 1866	died 1883
Lawrence Sullivan, Jr.	born July 25, 1868
Florine	born October 3, 1870
Harvey	born March 5, 1873
Frank	born April 27, 1875
Elizabeth	born April 24, 1878
James Tinsley	born December 30, 1880	died 1881
Neville P.	born March 23, 1882

Despite his federal pardon for being a Confederate general, Ross was disqualified from voting and serving as a juror by the first Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867. This act, and the Supplementary Reconstruction Act passed three weeks later, disenfranchised anyone who had held a federal or state office before supporting the Confederacy.

Reconstruction did not harm Ross's fortune, and with hard work he soon prospered. Shortly after the war ended, he bought 20 acres (8.1 ha) of land in town from his parents for $1,500. By May 1869 he had purchased an additional 40 acres (16 ha) of farmland for $400, and the following year his wife inherited 186 acres (75 ha) of farmland from the estate of her father. Ross continued to buy land, and by the end of 1875 he owned over 1,000 acres (400 ha) of farmland. Besides farming, Ross and his brother Peter also raised Shorthorn cattle. The two led several trail drives to New Orleans. The combined farming and ranching incomes left Ross wealthy enough to build a house in the Waco city limits and to send his children to private school.

By 1873, Reconstruction in Texas was coming to an end. In December, Ross was elected sheriff of McLennan County, "without campaigning or other solicitation". Ross promptly named his brother Peter a deputy, and within 2 years they had arrested over 700 outlaws. In 1874, Ross helped establish the Sheriff's Association of Texas. After various state newspapers publicized the event, sheriffs representing 65 Texas counties met in Corsicana in August 1874. Ross became one of a committee of three assigned to draft resolutions for the convention. They asked for greater pay for sheriffs in certain circumstances, condemned the spirit of mob law, and proposed that state law be modified so that arresting officers could use force if necessary to "compel the criminal to obey the mandates of the law."

Ross resigned as sheriff in 1875 and was soon elected as a delegate to the 1875 Texas Constitutional Convention. One of three members appointed to wait upon convention president-elect E.B. Pickett, Ross was also named to a committee that would determine what officers and employees were needed by the convention. He sat on many other committees, including Revenue and Taxation, the Select Committee on Frontier Affairs, the Select Committee on Education, and the Standing Committee on the Legislative Department. Of the 68 days of the convention, Ross attended 63, voted 343 times, and missed or abstained from voting only 66 times.

When the convention concluded, Ross returned home and spent the next four years focusing on his farm. In 1880, he became an accidental candidate for Texas State Senator from the 22nd District. The nominating convention deadlocked between two candidates, with neither receiving a two-thirds majority. As a compromise, one of the delegates suggested that the group nominate Ross. Although no one asked Ross whether he wanted to run for office, the delegates elected him as their candidate. He agreed to the nomination in order to spare the trouble and expense of another convention.

Ross won the election with a large majority. Shortly after his arrival in Austin, his youngest son died. Ross returned home for a week to attend the funeral and help care for another son who was seriously ill. On returning to the state capital, he was assigned to the committees for Educational Affairs, Internal Improvements, Finance, Penitentiaries, Military Affairs (where he served as chairman), State Affairs, Contingent Expenses, Stock and Stock Raising, Agricultural Affairs, and Enrolled Bills. Ross introduced a petition on behalf of 500 citizens of McLennan County, requesting that a prohibition amendment be placed on the next statewide ballot; the legislature did agree to place this on the next ballot.

Although the Texas Legislature typically meets once every two years, a fire destroyed the state capitol building in November 1881 and Ross was called to serve in a special session in April 1882. The session agreed to build a new capitol building. Near the end of the special session, the Senate passed a reapportionment bill, which reduced Ross's four-year term to only two years. He declined to run again.