Perry Ross was born in Cooper County, Mo., on the 8th of August, 1820, and is the youngest of twelve children born to William and Elizabeth (Ross) Ross, who were born in the "Palmetto State" and at a very early day removed to Kentucky, where the father was engaged in fighting the Indians under Gen. Jackson. They came to Missouri in 1817 and settled in Cooper County, and laid off the town of Boonville. In 1824 he went to Santa Fe to seek a suitable location in which to settle, but he had so much trouble with the Indians that he returned to Boonville at the end of thirteen months. After moving to near Springfield and residing there a short time, he located in Bolivar, Polk County, where he was engaged in merchandising for several years, but after a time became unfitted for business and his sons, Perry and William, improved a farm in what is now Hickory County, but after their marriage he and wife came to Morgan County and made their home with their daughter Susan. Here the father died in 1845, at the age of sixty-eight years, his widow residing with her children until 1863, when her death occurred, at the age of eighty years. The paternal and maternal grandparents came from Scotland and Ireland, respectively, and both grandfathers fought under Gen. Washington in the Revolutionary War. Their children are Robert, David, William J., Margaret, Eliza, Mary, Elizabeth, Jane, Decatur, Susan, deceased; Nancy, widow of Mr. Bell, and Perry, living. Perry Ross was married to Miss Lucy Ann Bollinger, November 5, 1840, and settled on his farm of 100 acres in Polk County, where he lived until 1843; then resided in Johnson County until 1845, and in the spring of that year moved to Morgan County, where he purchased 120 acres of improved land, to which he has since added 160 acres. This property he sold in 1869 and bought 400 acres where he now lives. He was too old to serve in the late war but during this time he was a member of the County Court, but was thrown out of office by the Drake Constitution and was not reappointed. He has served as justice of the peace a number of years. He and wife are the parents of seven children: Jacob G., in Colorado; Mary Jane, the deceased wife of David Parks; Elvira E., wife of George Smith; Elizabeth A., wife of John Crosswhite; Orsino J.; Lucy J., wife of William Cliff; and Susan C., wife of Reuben Finley. Mr. and Mrs. Ross are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Ross' parents, Jacob and Sarah (Moorland) Bollinger, were born and reared in Pennsylvania, and the father died in 1840, at the age of sixty-five years, and the mother in 1860, aged eighty-four years.
History of Cole, Moniteau, Morgan, Benton, Miller, Maries and Osage Counties, Missouri, Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889.