Nellie Tayloe Ross - Early Years

Early Years

Nellie Davis Tayloe was born near Amazonia, in Andrew County, Missouri (now part of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area) to James Wynn Tayloe, a native of Stewart County, Tennessee, and his wife, Elizabeth Blair Green, who owned a plantation on the Missouri River. In 1884, when Nellie Ross was seven years of age, her family moved to Miltonvale in Cloud County in northern Kansas. The relocation happened after their Andrew County home burned, and the sheriff was about to foreclose on the property.

After she graduated from Miltonville High School in 1892, her family moved to Omaha, Nebraska. During this time she taught private piano lessons, and also attended a teacher-training college for two years. She then taught kindergarten for four years. Nellie was sent on a trip to Europe in 1896 by two of her brothers.

In 1900, while on a visit to her relatives in Dover, Stewart County, Tennessee, she met William Bradford Ross, whom she married on September 11, 1902. Ross practiced law and planned to live in the American West. He moved to Cheyenne and established a law practice, bringing his wife to join him there. Ross became a leader in the Democratic Party in Wyoming. He ran for office several times, but always lost to Republican candidates.

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