Persona

Ross, Jessie Flora (Cattanach)

1839-1937

Jessie Flora Cattanach was born in Laggan, Ontario, on November 10, 1839, the daughter of Donald Cattanach (1799-1883) and Flora MacKenzie (1813-1893). Her maternal grandmother, Annie MacDonald (1777-1849) emigrated from Skye, Scotland, in 1831; the Cattanach family Bible was in Gaelic. Jessie married Arthur Wellington Ross on July 30, 1873. Arthur Wellington Ross and Jessie Flora Ross divided much of their time between Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Vancouver. They had three children: John, Donald, and Gertrude. (Gertrude was born in 1880 but died the following year.) Although her husband’s career would have provided Jessie with occasion to meet many of the people who signed her album, she must have been remarkably engaging to have persuaded so many individuals to sign. Family members suggest that, a diarist herself, Jessie understood the importance of recording names of interesting people she met during those formative years of Canada’s expansion west. Moreover, she appears to have encouraged her son and his wife to do the same; and her grandson and his wife continued the practice. Donald Aynsley Ross’ son, Arthur Dwight Ross, was an Air Commodore, wounded in action during World War II; he received the George Cross. He later became Aide-de-Camp for Alexander of Tunis when he was Governor General; his career, like that of his grandfather, enabled him to meet prominent individuals of his time. Jessie Flora Ross died on December 1, 1937.