Terrelius Theodore Ross (1854-1929)

Portrait courtesy of Ross' genealogy page at Geni.com

  Our month-long stay in North Carolina concludes with Terrelius Theodore Ross, a two-term member of the North Carolina senate from the sixth senatorial district. One of a handful of unusually named political figures who were dentists by profession, Ross was born in Pleasant Garden, Guilford County, North Carolina on October 5, 1854/1855, a son of Addison Shepherd and Nancy Leticia (Hendrix) Ross. A student at the Pleasant Garden Academy, Ross had earned a degree to practice dentistry by 1880 and in November of that year married to Virginia Amariah "Minnie" Scott (1846-1911), and the couple's three-decade union saw the births of four children, including Laura (1883-1968), Arthur A. (born 1887), Flora (1889-1968), and Theodore Nicholas (1892-1927).

  By the early 1890s, Terrelius Ross had established a dental practice in  Nash County, North Carolina and in 1892 became a founding organizer of the Nashville Township Democratic Club, of which he would serve as secretary. Two years later, Ross was elected as a member of the North Carolina State Dental Society, and by 1897 had been acknowledged as one of the leading dentists in his state, with the Weldon Roanoke News reporting that:

"He is undoubtedly one of the best dentists in the State and his work always gives entire satisfaction. Dr. Ross informs us that in the future he will spend the most of his time in his office here...People come here from all sections to have their work done by Dr. Ross and among his customers a good many come from even Portsmouth and other distant points. He has all the latest appliances for painless extraction of teeth and all work done by him is warrented to please in every instance, and is according to the latest methods known in dentistry."

  In addition to his chosen profession, Ross followed farming in Nash County for a number of years,  growing tobacco and other crops, and around 1909 took office as Mayor of Nashville, North Carolina, serving until at least 1910. In that year he was an unsuccessful candidate for clerk of the Superior Court of Nash County, losing out to incumbent T.A. Sills. Ross gained the Democratic nomination for the state senate in 1916 and following his win that November was named to the committees on Claims, Game Laws, Institutions for the Blind, Internal Improvements, Mining, Privileges and Elections, and Public Health for the 1917-19 term.
  Reelected in 1918, Ross's second term saw him chair the Internal Improvements committee, as well as serving on 4 new committees, those being Commerce, Enrolled Bills, Institutions for the Deaf, and Railroads. Little could be found on Ross' life following his last senate term, excepting notice of his death on February 14, 1929, aged 74. He had been predeceased by his wife Minnie in 1911, and both were interred at the Forest Hills Cemetery in Nashville.