Wordless Wednesday - Mary A Ross in California

This is a photo of my great aunt Mary Ada Ross in California during the 1930s. She was the sister of my great grandmother, Clara (Ross) Fowlie. As I mentioned before, she was an anesthesiologist and worked for many years at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles.

Wordless Wednesday - Mary Ada Ross and Mary Hay Stotler-Ross

This is a photo of Dr. Mary Ada Ross and Mary Hay Stotler-Ross in California during the 1930s. Mary (Stotler) Ross was my 2nd great grandmother, and Mary Ada Ross was her daughter.

Wordless Wednesday - Ward and Mary Gillespie

This is a slide showing Ward and Mary (Ross) Gillespie and their pet dog. I think this dates back to the 1950s during a visit to Iowa. Mary was my great aunt, sister to my great grandmother Clara (Ross) Fowlie.

Wordless Wednesday - Ross sisters

This is a scan of a slide from my grandmother's collection showing my great grandmother Clara (Ross) Fowlie on the left with her sisters Mary (Ross) Gillespie, center, and Helen (Ross) Whitted on the right. This is at the same location as last Wednesday's photo. Late 1940s / 1950s time frame, possibly at the Ross farm in Calhoun County, Iowa.

Update: I found a very similar photo in a different album captioned October 17, 1954 at the Whitted farm.

Wordless Wednesday - The Ross children with Zip the dog

This photo shows Clara, Mary, George and Mason Ross with "Zip" the dog. Clara (Ross) Fowlie was my great grandmother and these are her siblings. This photo was apparently taken around 1900 and was grouped with a number of photos from a visit by uncle Henry, George Henry Stotler.

Wordless Wednesday - Ross family with Uncle Henry

George Henry Stotler, uncle Henry, with his sister Mary Stotler-Ross. Mary is holding her son John F. Ross Jr. Her children, George, Mary, Clara and Mason Ross are in the front row. Clara (Ross) Fowlie is my great grandmother and Mary (Stotler) Ross is my 2nd great grandmother.

John Ross Jr. was born in May 1899 and George Henry Stotler died in February 1902, so that is the time frame of this photo. This photo was probably taken during a visit by Uncle Henry to Calhoun County, Illinois. He was visiting from Mahomet, Illinois or Indianapolis, Indiana. He lived in Indianapolis at the time of the 1900 census. That would be about a 9+ hour, 570 mile trip by car in 2011, but in 1900 it's hard to imagine what it would have taken to make that trip.

Funeral Card Friday - Dr. Mary Ross Gillespie

This is a scan of the funeral card for my great grand aunt, Mary Ada (Ross) Gillespie. She was a sister of my great grandmother, Clara (Ross) Fowlie.

The card reads as follows:

In Loving Memory
Dr. Mary Ross Gillespie

Born
July 18, 1894 Calhoun County, Iowa

Died
January 6, 1987 Phoenix, Arizona

Services from
Huffman Memorial Chapel
Lake City, Iowa
Saturday, January 10, 1987
1:30 P.M.

Service of Worship by
Rev. Ray Hill

Casket Bearers
Don Lauver
Mike Stotts
Paul Hiler
Charles Burley
Roy Tapps
Merrils Petzenhauser

At Rest
Lake Creek Cemetery
Rural Lake City, Iowa

Tombstone Tuesday - Mary Ross Gillespie

This is the tombstone of Dr. Mary Ada (Ross) Gillespie located at Lake Creek Cemetery, Lake Creek Township, Calhoun County, Iowa. She was my great grand aunt and the sister of Clara (Ross) Fowlie. She is buried adjacent to her parents and several siblings.

The tombstone is transcribed as follows:

Daughter
Mary (Ross)
Gillespie
M. D.
July 18. 1894
Jan. 6. 1987

Mary and Ward Gillespie's Home in Arizona

This is a scan of one of Mary (Ross) Gillespie's slides. I believe it is a photo of their home in Arizona. I don't have an exact location, but I'm guessing Maricopa County, Arizona. I think the photo dates to the 1950s.

Mary was the sister of Clara Ross-Fowlie and was my great grand aunt.

Mary and Ward Gillespie at the Carlton House

This is a mid-1970s photo of Mary Ada Ross-Gillespie and her husband Ward Gillespie. I believe this is the inside of the Carlton House in Sac City, Sac County, Iowa and was probably taken by Frank or Clara Ross-Fowlie. The Carlton House doesn't seem to be around anymore.

Mary was the sister of my great grandmother, Clara Ross-Fowlie.

Mary and Clara on a bridge

This photo is from Clara Ross-Fowlie's photo album. It is captioned Mary and I, Bridge east of Home Place. Mary Ada Ross (1894-1987) is on the left and her sister Clara Bernice Ross (1897-1994) is on the right. The site of this bridge is unknown to me, but their family lived in Lake Creek Township, Calhoun County, Iowa. The photo dates to the 1910s and there is at least one more photo in the album that shows this same location. Does anyone remember the location of the Ross home in Lake Creek Township?

Clara Bernice (Ross) Fowlie is my great grandmother. Her daughter married Elvis J. Brassfield and that is the connection to the Brassfield surname.

Mystery Monday - Who is the man in the middle?

I found this 8x10 in one of my grandmother's albums. It is Ward Gillespie (1889-1978) at left and Mary Ada Ross-Gillespie (1894-1987) at right aboard the SS President Roosevelt. Unfortunately, I have no idea who the person in the middle is. I think he must be a politician or actor of the 1960s.

SS President Roosevelt served the American President Lines from 1960 to 1970. President Roosevelt apparently sailed the Pacific Ocean from California. That's about all I know about this photo.

Who am I?

Ross sibling Group Photos October 1974

This photo is of the Ross siblings from an October 1974 gathering at the Fowlie home on Black Hawk Lake, in Lake View.From left to right, Mason Hiram Ross (1892-1980), Mary Ada Ross-Gillespie (1894-1987), Helen Elizabeth Ross-Whitted (1903-1990), Ward Gillespie (1889-1978), Clara Bernice Fowlie (1897-1994), Edna L. Moeding (1912-2007), Frank Fowlie (1892-1977). I'm told that Edna was a friend of John Ross Jr., she is buried in an adjacent cemetery plot. Based on the black and white photo below, John is probably taking the color photo above.

Here is another view of the same group on the same day, probably taken by Edna. From left to right, Mary Ada Ross-Gillespie (1894-1987), Mason Hiram Ross (1892-1980), Helen Elizabeth Ross-Whitted (1903-1990), Ward Gillespie (1889-1978), Clara Bernice Fowlie (1897-1994), John Franklin Ross Jr. (1899-1976), Frank Brown Fowlie (1892-1977).

Here is a third image from the same day, from left to right, Mason Hiram Ross (1892-1980), Mary Ada Ross-Gillespie (1894-1987), Clara Bernice Fowlie (1897-1994), John Franklin Ross Jr. (1899-1976), Helen Elizabeth Ross-Whitted (1903-1990).

Clara Ross-Fowlie is my great grand mother and the others are her siblings. Clara's daughter married Elvis J. Brassfield and that is the connection to the Brassfield surname, the normal subject of this blog.

Wordless Wednesday - Reunion photo of Harold, Ward, Mary and Mason

Harold, Ward, Mary and Mason

This photo is from a mid-1970s Ross family reunion. Harold Whitted (husband of Helen (Ross) Whitted), Ward Gillespie, Mary (Ross) Gillespie and Mason Ross.Ward died in May 1978 and John Ross Jr., who died in March 1976, is absent from the photos. So I would date this photo as summer 1976 or 1977, but I would favor 1976 if forced to pick one. I believe this reunion took place in Lake View, Iowa. Mary, Helen and Mason are siblings of Clara (Ross) Fowlie.

The connection to the Brassfield surname is Clara's daughter married a Brassfield. These would be my great grand aunts and uncles.

Mary Ada Ross

Dr. Mary Ada Ross-Gillespie

Mary Ada Ross (later Gillespie) (1894-1987) was born in Calhoun County, Iowa  on July 18, 1894 to John Franklin Ross and Mary Hay (Stotler) Ross. She graduated from Lake City High School in 1915. She was briefly a teacher in small rural schools before enrolling in the University of Iowa. She graduated from the University of Iowa School of Medicine July 1, 1922. According to the University of Iowa, Department of Anesthesia's history page, she was the first resident to graduate in the first formal residency training program to be instituted in an American university. Her certificate was dated June 5, 1923.

After her graduation she remained at the University of Iowa as an assistant and associate of Dr. Louis G. Harding. Her obituary described her as an pioneer in the field of anesthesiology. She worked in hospitals in Chicago, Philadelphia and Tulsa, but spent most of her career at Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles, CA. She retired in 1965.

At the age of 47, Mary was married to Ward Gillespie on August 31, 1941 in Reno, Washoe County, Nevada until he died in 1978. She died January 6, 1987 at St. Luke's Hospital, Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona and was buried January 10, 1987 at Lake Creek Cemetery, Lake Creek Township, Calhoun County, Iowa. There were no surviving children listed in her obituary, but she had at least one step-daughter and step-grandchildren.

The connection to the Brassfield surname is that Mary Ross's sister Clara (Ross) Fowlie is connected to Floyd Gipson Brassfield by the marriage of her daughter to Elvis John Brassfield. Mary Ada (Ross) Gillespie was my great grand aunt. I scanned this photo from my Grandmother's collection. As with most of the photos on this blog, it is not public domain. Please do not reuse without permission.

Lake Creek No. 5 School

This photo is captioned School at Center, Lake Creek No. 5, Elta Smith - Teacher. George, Mason, Mary and Clara Ross are in this photo. It says that John Ross Jr. is absent from the photo. The photo is not dated, but George was born in 1890, and John in 1899, so I'm guessing for them to both be in grade school it would be in the vicinity of 1903. This photo is probably the entire K-8 student body at the number five school in Lake Creek Township, Calhoun County, Iowa.

I've cropped the photo to focus on Mary and Clara Ross. I believe that Mary is the third from the left and Clara is the girl just to the right of the center of the photo. I can't recognize the boys in the photo, they may be grouped in classes rather than families and I might have cropped them out to focus on Mary and Clara.

Wordless Wednesday - Bethany Circle

This image is captioned Bethany Circle, Iowa City, 1919, which I can only assume is some kind of religious woman's group. Clara Ross is in the back row, 3rd from the right. Her sister Mary Ross is in the middle row, 2nd from the right. Clara Ross is my Great Grandmother and she would have been about 22 years old in this photo. Mary would have been around 25. This photo was in the collection of my Great Grandmother, Clara Ross-Fowlie.

As a side note, this photo kind of illustrates how lazy I am on scanning some of these photos. I didn't even remove the paperclip from the upper left part of the photo. Also, since the photo is too long to fit my scanner, one poor girl got cut right off in the front row at the right.

Update: This is the same photo that appears in the University of Iowa Hawkeye yearbook, 1920 edition.It is captioned Bethany Circle.
Back Row: Walker, Paul, Varner, Ross, Grace, Henderson
Middle: Sunier, Rohrer, Richards, Kinsor, Johnson, Evans, Ross, Issac
Front: Garris, Kaudelka, Yavorsky, Lake, Ogle, Kinser, Foxworthy, Ritz, Plum
(Sorry to cut Ms. Plum out of my scan)
Ref:
http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/u?/yearbooks,17477

Mary and Mother Ross

This one is from Clara (Ross) Fowlie's photo album. It was captioned "Mary and Mother Ross" and is not dated.

On the left is Clara's sister Mary Ada Ross (later Gillespie) (1894-1987). On the right is Clara's mother Mary Hay (Stotler) Ross (1864 - 1959).


Clara (Ross) Fowlie is connected to Floyd Gipson Brassfield by the marriage of her daughter to Elvis John Brassfield.

Three sisters

Mary, Helen and Clara Ross

This picture is of Mary Ada Ross (1894-1987), Helen Elizabeth Ross (1903-1990) and Clara Bernice Ross (1897-1994) the three daughters of John Franklin Ross and Mary Hay (Stotler) Ross.