DUANE
Duane's take
The marker tells it this way, and I'm just the messenger. Now, out here in McLennan County, there's a Live Oak tree with a name — and a name with a story behind it that goes back before Waco was Waco. The tree is called the Ross Oak, named for the pioneer family of Shapley Prince Ross, born in 1811, died in 1889.
Back in 1839, Shapley Ross and his family were making their way out of Missouri, and they stopped right here — camped overnight under the spread of this very oak. Just a family, a fire, and a tree that was already old when they found it. They moved on.
But the land had a hold on them. In 1848, the Ross family came back to this same stretch of Texas — and this time, Shapley Prince Ross rode in at the head of a Texas Ranger Company. That's a different kind of return than most folks make.
Then in 1849, when the town of Waco was founded, Ross moved fast. He bought the land around the Oak Tree. And he didn't stop there.
He became postmaster. He became ferryman. He became a hotel owner in the growing town.
A man who knew how to make himself useful in a place just finding its feet. He and his wife Catherine — born 1812, died 1886 — raised a family here. And two of their children carry a distinction that doesn't come around twice: Robert, born 1848, and Kate, born 1851, were the first children born to permanent Anglo-American settlers in this area.
First ones. The ground was still figuring out what it was going to become. Now, the Rosses had another son, and his story took a different road entirely.
Lawrence Sullivan Ross, born 1838, died 1898, grew up to become governor of Texas, serving from 1887 to 1891. So the next time you pass a big old Live Oak and think it's just standing there minding its business — well. Some trees have been watching longer than the towns around them.
The Ross Oak was here for a one-night camp in 1839, and it's been keeping the family's name ever since.
What the marker says
This large Live Oak tree is named for the Pioneer family of Shapley Prince Ross (1811-89), who camped here overnight while migrating from Missouri in 1839. They returned to this area in 1848,with Ross at the head of a Texas Ranger Company. When Waco was founded in 1849, Ross bought the land around the Oak Tree. He became postmaster, ferryman,and hotel owner in the town. He and wife, Catherine (1812-86), were parents of Robert (b.1848) and Kate (b.1851) Ross, first children born to permanent Anglo-American settlers in this area. Another son, Lawrence Sullivan Ross (1838-98), was governor of Texas, 1887-91)