Edward P. Ross

EDWARD P. ROSS, president of the Auto Fedan Hay Press Company, Rosedale, Kansas, is the originator of the devise his company manufactures and is a man whose influence as an enterprising, substantial citizens is felt in the community in which he lives.

Mr. Ross looks back to Princeton, Illinois, as the place of his birth; the time was December 8, 1863, and his parents, William B. and Mary (Russell) Ross. William B. Ross is a native of Ohio, born in 1832. In 1850 he came west to Illinois and settled at Princeton, where he engaged in farming, and where, subsequently, he and Miss Russell were united in marriage. He left Princeton, in 1870, and moved to Emporia, where he afterward lived with the exception of four or five years which he spent in New Mexico. To them were given eleven children, brief record of whom is as follows: Harry R., engaged in farming and the real estate business at St. John, Kansas; Kate, widow of E. E. Townsend, is a resident of Shawnee, Oklahoma; Edward P., the subject of this sketch; Chettie, wife of Fred Long, lives in Walnut, Illinois; Louell V., wife of John M. Wilson of Wichita, Kansas; Louise, twin sister of Mrs. Wilson, also lives at Wichita; Joseph A., of Kansas City, Missouri; Gertrude J., wife of Otis Farr, of Gridley, Kansas; Albert M., of St. John, Kansas; William F., foreman of the Auto Fedan Hay Press plant; and Bessie F., wife of Fred Simpson, of Gridley, Kansas.

Edward P. Ross spent his boyhood days working on the farm and attendng district school. His first business venture was as a dealer in hay, and he early realized the need for a better device in the way of hay press than was then in use. Accordingly he set about the work of making a better one, and the Auto Fedan Hay Press is the result. For a time he manufactured this devise in small quantities at Emporia, and Topeka, Kansas, until the demand for them having increased to such an extent as to go beyond his capacity, he came to Rosedale, in 1908, and organized the Auto Fedan Hay Press Company, of which he is president. The product of this company's plant is now being shipped to all parts of the United States, and it is the intention of the company to make shipments to foreign countries next year. It is a matter of record that the Auto Fedan Hay Press Company is selling more presses than any company manufacturing a similar device.

While Mr. Ross' father is a Democrat and has always taken an active interest in politics, he is inclined to affiliate with the Republican party, and always votes for the candidate he believes to be the best man suited for the office irrespective of party.

Mr. Ross married, in 1905, Miss Alice Goodhue of Topeka, and they are the parents of two children, Dick G., five years old, and an infant. Both Mr. and Mrs. Ross are enthusiastic golf players, he having won the Kansas City tournament in 1910; and motoring also has a great fascination for him.