Biography of Ross Burns



Excerpted from "Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society, 1911-1912", Edited by Geo.

W. Martin, Secretary. 

Vol XII., State Printing Office, Topeka, Kansas 1912.



submitted by Teresa Lindquist (merope@radix.net); (copyright) 2001 by Teresa Lindquist

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ROSS BURNS was born in Morrow county, Ohio, in 1831, his parents being early settlers of that

region. When he was but twenty-two years of age he was elected sheriff of his native county,

serving two terms. While in this office he read law, and after a very creditable examination was

admitted to practice before all courts in Ohio. He came to Kansas at an early day and became one

of our foremost lawyers. In 1873 he organized the law department of the Atchison, Topeka &

Santa Fe Railway Company. and was its first solicitor, which position he retained until his death,

which occurred at Topeka, June 28, 1882. In a eulogy on Ross Burns, delivered before the Bar

Association by the late A.L. Williams, he said: "As a lawyer he stood pre-eminent, and his great

industry was the key to his success. After Wilson Shannon died Ross Burns stood at the head of

the entire bar of the state."



During the Price raid, at the battle of the Blue, Mr. Burns served as captain of the Topeka

artillery company. In this battle he heroically defended his gun alone until struck down from the

rear with the breach of a musket in the hands of a rebel. He lay a11 night as one dead, and his

recovery from this wound was never complete, for in the years of his life after there was seldom a

time when he was free from pain. Mr. Burns came to Topeka from Leavenworth, and in 1862

was a clerk in the office of the auditor of state. During the last eighteen months of his life he was

unable to attend to business on account of a stroke of paralysis. He was twice married, first to a

woman known as Mrs. Sparr, and whom he divorced. She was a sister of the notorious Tennessee

Claflin. By his first wife he had two daughters. His second wife survived him many years, dying

at Topeka, May 20, 1900.