| Male, Born | in Montville, New London County, Connecticut on ?/?/1769 |
| Died | 3/3/1837 |
Parents
Siblings
Spouses / Children
Born at Montville, New London County, Connecticut, in 1769 of Perrin ROSS and Marcy (OTIS) ROSS. He was the oldest of six children. His brothers were Jesse, John, Perrin, and Joseph; his sister was named Elizabeth.
In early 1774, the family moved to Pennsylvania's Wyoming Valley.
Daniel learned young to cope with the rigors of frontier life. When he was about nine years of age, his father was killed in the Battle of Wyoming. He, his mother, and his brothers and sisters fled the Wyoming Valley the night before the battle (which took place on July 3, 1778) and went back to their father's old home in New London County, Connecticut. His widowed mother there married Lieutenant Samuel ALLEN in March 1782. The family then returned to the Wyoming Valley, where Daniel spent the rest of his life.
In 1792, Daniel was shown as a taxpayer and property owner in Wyalusing Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. Perhaps just as early, but more probably about 1794, he married Jane HANCOCK. Jane was one of seven daughters and two sons of Isaac HANCOCK. Her brothers were John and Jesse; and Elizabeth, who married Daniel's brother Jesse, was Jane's sister, but the names of the other five sisters are unknown. The Isaac HANCOCK farm was adjacent to that of Daniel ROSS, a condition which obviously led to marriages between the families.
The first school in that part of the valley was taught "on a rock, somewhere on the farm of Daniel ROSS about 1798, and had six scholars" under the direction of Polly CANFIELD. Daniel was shown as the twelfth settler in the Wyalusing Valley, so he was most interested in the proper development of the community. One account says that Daniel "and sister" settled in the town of Rindaw, Wyalusing township, in 1796. That farm was located near where the town of Rushville is now, at the forks of the Wyalusing River.
According to the 1798 Direct Tax List for Wyalusing Township, Daniel's farm of two hundred acres was valued at $450. It had one building, sixteen by eighteen feet, valued at ten dollars.
The first grist mill in Rushville was built by Daniel in 1810, and a "few years later he carried on a distillery and saw-mill at the same place." He sold this property to Nathan J. SHERWOOD.
Daniel was listed as a taxpayer in Jessup Township (in 1814) and in Bridgewater Township (in 1823), so presumably he owned property in both areas.
Further illustrating his interest in education, he was chosen on March 19, 1816, a trustee to establish The Susquehanna County Academy. He also served as county commissioner from 1817-1820.
On December 29, 1824, when a post office was established at Rushville, Daniel was appointed the first postmaster. He held that position until his death in 1837, when he was succeeded by Leonard BURROWS.
In 1831, Daniel was chosen as one of two commissioners of the "Wyoming Salt Manufacturing Company." After many years of speculation about the wealth of salt thought to be available in that area, this company decided to actually attempt to drill for it. Norman ROSS, Daniel's nephew, was contracted to do the drilling. A depth of nearly 500 feet was reached, but no brine of any great strength was found and this age-old question was answered at last.
Daniel died on March 3, 1837, at the age of 68, and was buried at the Stevensville Cemetery.
The children of Daniel and Jane included five sons: William, John, Daniel, Hiram, and Joseph; and three daughters: Polly, Mary, and Jerima.
