Edward Coke Ross, USMA 1821

Born: Milford, Pike County, Pennsylvania, 23 May 1800.

Died: 16 May 1851

Cullum #268.

Military History:

Cadet USMA, September 7, 1817 to July 1, 1821, when he graduated number 7 (of 24; 26 did not graduate) in the class of 1821. Courtenay was first.
Second Lieutenant, 4th Artillery, July 1, 1821.
First Lieutenant, 4th Artillery, November 27, 1826.
Resigned, July 31, 1839.

Mathematical Positions:

Acting Assistant Professor of Mathematics as a First Class Cadet, 1820-1821.
Assistant Professor of Mathematics, USMA, July 23, 1821 to June 5, 1824.
Instructor of Mathematics at the Artillery School for Practice, Fort Monroe, VA, June 5 to October 6, 1824.
Assistant Professor of Mathematics, USMA, October 6, 1824 to October 4, 1825.
Principal Assistant Professor of Mathematics, October 4, 1825 to November 23, 1833.
[Various military duties.]
Professor of Mathematics, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH, 1840-1848.
Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, Free Academy, New York City, November 1, 1848 to May 16, 1851, the day he died.

Honorary Degrees:

A.M., Geneva College, NY, 1842.
LL.D., Kenyon College, OH, 1849.

Publications:

Bourdon, M. (Louis Pierre Marie), 1779-1854, Elements of algebra translated from the French of M. Bourdon, for the use of the cadets of the U. S. Military Academy. By Lieut. Edward C. Ross. New York, E. B. Clayton, 1831, vii, 389 p. ; 23 cm. USMA Call # QA154 .B77 1831. One copy in SPECIAL COLL-BSMT-B30 QA154 .B77 1831 vol. 2 another in TEXTBKS-PERSHING CNTR QA154 .B77 1831.

Genealogy:

His Grandson Alexander Ross Piper (#3310) and G-g-grandson James Monroe Morris (35210) are graduates

Obituaries:

Cullum #268: [Shield=Ancestor] B-PA: Arty: Resd 39 1LT: Prof Math 40-51: LLD Kenyon College 49: D-NYC 16May51 a-50. [From 1990 Register of Graduates]

Remark: Note how misleading this entry from the 1990 Cullum is. One would never know that he taught at USMA.

To Do:

Check for obituary in NY Times.
Check for vertical file in USMA Archives.

References:

Cullum, Biographical Register, third edition (1891), # 268.
No entry in index of Pappas's To the Point.
Arney, Chris, West Point's Scientific 200: Celebration of the Bicentennial. Biographies of 200 of West Point's Most Successful and Influential Mathematicians, Scientists, Engineers, and Technologists, 2002.
Robert Kelly, Life and Character of the Late Prof. Edward C. Ross, LL.D., New York, 1851. Cited in Amy Ackerberg-Hasting's thesis. Original. Searchable.

Archives:

New York Historical society. The Chrystie family papers contain about 110 letters from Ross while serving in Alabama and Florida during the Seminole War and later as Professor of Mathematics at Kenyon College. Source: NUCMC.