TENNESSEE
The Volunteer State
1769 — 1923
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME II
CHICAGO NASHVILLE
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1923
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://archive.org/details/tennesseevolunte02moor
MONTAGUE S. ROSS.
Montague S. Ross, a representative of one of the oldest
pioneer families of
Tennessee, is a leading member of the Nashville bar, while
he also has important
business interests and has always found time to cooperate
with every movement
seeking the advancement and upbuilding of his city. He was
born in Savannah,
Tennessee, August 12, 1880, and his parents, William Ulysses
and Lucy Ann (Ross)
Ross, were natives of Hardin county, this state, in which
section the family was
established during the territorial period in the history of
Tennessee. The great-
grandfather of Mr. Ross was a soldier in the Revolutionary
war and his remains
are interred in the national cemetery, which is situated in
the Shiloh National
Park at Pittsburg Landing. The family is an old and
prominent one of the south,
and the ancestral record has been traced back for about four
hundred years. The
father devoted his life to the occupation of farming and was
numbered among the
well known agriculturists of Hardin county. His demise
occurred in May, 1908, and
the mother passed away in February, 1903.
In the acquirement of an education Montague S. Ross attended
the public
schools of Hardin county, Tennessee, and a private school at
Savannah, this state,
after which he became a student at the University of
Nashville, now known as Pea-
body College, and was graduated from that institution in 1903
with the A. B. degree.
In 1904 he became superintendent of public schools at
Greenfield, Tennessee, and in
the fall of that year he entered the law school of George
Washington University
at Washington, D. C., from which he was graduated in 1907,
winning the degree
of Bachelor of Laws. Coming to Nashville, he was associated
with the law firm of
Pitts & McConico until July 1, 1919, and has since
engaged in private practice,
being accorded a liberal clientele. His legal learning, his
analytical mind, the readi-
ness with which he grasps the points in an argument, all
combine to make him
one of the most capable attorneys of Nashville, and he has
ever conformed his
practice to the highest ethical standards of the profession.
In 1914 Mr. Ross as-
sisted in organizing the Lincoln Fire Insurance Company, of
which he has since
been general counsel, and in 1916 he was made treasurer,
which office he still fills.
He is a sagacious, farsighted business man and is one of the
owners of the Montague
Realty Company, which is operating on an extensive scale,
while he also aided in
organizing and promoting the Montague summer resort, which
is situated near
Nashville.
On the 9th of September, 1908, Mr. Ross married Miss Hazel
Mitchum, a
daughter of R. B. and Donie (Adams) Mitchum, both of whom
were born in Tennes-
see, the former being a native of Gibson county and the
latter of McNairy county.
The father is numbered among the leading business men of
Nashville and is a mem-
ber of the Cayce Transfer Company, the largest concern of the
kind operating in the
city, and he also conducts the Merchants Delivery Company.
Mr. and Mrs. Ross
have become the parents of three children: Robert Montague,
who was born Novem-
ber 26, 1909; William Milton, born December 9, 1911; and
James Bailey Mitchum.
whose birth occurred on the 22d of January, 1921.
Mr. Ross is a Presbyterian in religious faith, and his
political allegiance is given
to the democratic party. His life has never been a
self-centered one, for the welfare
of others has ever been to him a matter of deep concern, and
he has been connected
with many movements which have had to do with bettering the
conditions of humanity
in his city and raising the standards of life to a higher
plane. In association with
J. H. Allison, he founded the Big Brothers, a movement which
was formed for the
purpose of aiding the various charitable associations of the
city and which has ac-
complished much good. He also promoted the Nashville Milk
& Ice Commission for
Babies, which was subsequently taken over by the city, and
has likewise labored
earnestly to extend the industrial interests of his
community, serving for three years
as first vice president and for a year as president of the
Nashville Business Men's
Association, which was later absorbed by the Chamber of
Commerce. During the
World war he did all in his power to aid his country,
serving as a Four-Minute
speaker and as a member of the legal advisory board, and he
was also sergeant
of Company H of the Tennessee National Guard. He is a Mason
and a member of the
Nashville Bar & Library Association and the State Bar
Association. He is also a
member of Kappa Alpha college fraternity, and for two years
was commander of the
province comprising Tennessee, Kentucky and Michigan. He
belongs to that public-
spirited and helpful type of men whose activities are
directed into those channels
which have for their object public improvement and the
advancement of the
general welfare, and his course has at all times marked him
as a citizen of worth.
