A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time: A Collection of Persons Distinguished in Professional and Political Life, Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of Canada, and Successful Pioneers
History
A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time: A Collection of Persons Distinguished in Professional and Political Life, Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of Canada, and Successful Pioneers
=Ross, James Duncan=, M.D., Moncton, New Brunswick, was born at Pictou,
Nova Scotia, in October, 1839, and is a son of the Rev. James Ross,
D.D., principal of Dalhousie College, and grandson of the late Rev.
Duncan Ross, one of the first Presbyterian ministers who came to Nova
Scotia from Scotland. His mother was Isabella Matheson, a daughter of
William Matheson, who through industry and perseverance accumulated a
fortune at farming, lumbering, and trading, sufficient to enable him to
leave the handsome sum of $35,000 to the institutions of the church in
the province, and $35,000 to the British and Foreign Bible Society.
James Duncan Ross received his elementary training in the public schools
in his native town, and then took the arts course in the West River
Seminary. He then spent three years in the office of the late Dr. Muir,
of Truro, N.S., and afterwards studied medicine and surgery in
Philadelphia and Harvard, graduating from Harvard University in 1861,
when he moved to Londonderry, in Nova Scotia, and began the practice of
his profession, and continued here until 1865; then he went over to
Britain and took a course of medicine and surgery in the University and
in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Edinburgh, and while in
that city he was for a time a student in the office of Sir J. Y.
Simpson. He then went to London, and became for a time a dresser in St.
Bartholomew’s Hospital; and afterwards, returning to Nova Scotia, he
resumed his practice. Dr. Ross occupied the position for some time of
assistant surgeon to the 2nd battalion of the Colchester Militia, and
also surgeon of the Caledonian (Highland) Society of Nova Scotia. He has
been since 1863 a coroner for the county of Westmoreland. He took a deep
interest in the establishment of the Medical School in Halifax, and was
demonstrator of anatomy in it for the first two years of its existence.
The doctor has now practised medicine and surgery continuously for
twenty-five years, the first eleven years of his medical career having
been spent in Nova Scotia, and the remaining fourteen in Moncton, N.B.
His work has been continuous and laborious, and very varied, and he
stands high in the profession, especially for surgery. In him the poor
always find a kind and sympathizing friend, who dispenses medicine to
them gratuitously as well as his best skill. In religion the doctor
holds all the doctrines of the second reformation, and believes the
Presbyterian form of church government scriptural. He has experienced no
change in his views since his youth, except a deeper conviction of the
duty which nations owe to Christ, and a more scriptural constitution for
nations. He married, in 1870, Ruth, daughter of the late R. N. B.
McLellan, merchant, of Londonderry, N.S. The McLellan family are north
of Ireland Scotch, and have been closely connected with the political
and mercantile interests of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick for many
years. Issue, one son, who died in infancy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account