{{Short description|12th Governor of Wyoming, United States (from 1923 to 1924)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = William B. Ross | image = William B. Ross.jpg | caption = | office1 = 12th Governor of Wyoming | term_start1 = January 1, 1923 | term_end1 = October 2, 1924 | preceded1 = Robert D. Carey | succeeded1 = Frank Lucas | birth_name = William Bradford Ross | birth_date = {{birth date|1873|12|04}} | birth_place = Dover, Tennessee, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1924|10|02|1873|12|04}} | death_place = Cheyenne, Wyoming, U.S. | resting_place = Lakeview Cemetery, Cheyenne, Wyoming, U.S. | party = Democratic | other_party = | father = Ambrose B. Ross | mother = Sue Gray | spouse = {{marriage|Nellie Tayloe|September 11, 1902}} | children = 3 | relatives = Nellie Tayloe Sanders (great-granddaughter) | education = Peabody Normal School | signature = }}
'''William Bradford Ross''' (December 4, 1873 – October 2, 1924) was an American politician who served as the 12th governor of Wyoming as a Democrat.
==Life==
Ross was born in Dover, Tennessee, on December 4, 1873, to Ambrose B. Ross and Sue Gray and later attended the Peabody Normal School. He met Nellie Davis Tayloe while she was visiting her relatives in Dover and after moving to Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1901 they married on September 11, 1902, in Omaha, Nebraska, and later had three children (twins James Ambrose and George Tayloe, Alfred Duff).<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42001177/casper_startribune/ |title=Gov. W. B. Ross Answers Call |date=2 October 1924 |work=Casper Star-Tribune |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200110010901/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42001177/casper_startribune/ |archive-date=10 January 2020 |url-status=live |page=4 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Binheim|first1=Max|title=Women of the West; a series of biographical sketches of living eminent women in the eleven western states of the United States of America|date=1928|pages=214–215}}</ref>
From 1906 to 1907 he served as Laramie County's prosecuting attorney and in 1910 he unsuccessfully ran for Wyoming's at-large congressional seat. In 1918 he mounted a primary campaign against incumbent Governor Frank L. Houx, but was defeated.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://wyostatearchives.wordpress.com/2015/12/04/the-other-governor-ross-william-b-ross/ |title=The "Other" Governor Ross: William B. Ross |date=4 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200110013135/https://wyostatearchives.wordpress.com/2015/12/04/the-other-governor-ross-william-b-ross/ |archive-date=10 January 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> From 1910 to 1922, Ross served on the Wyoming Board of Law Examiners, including terms as the board's president.
===Governor===
During the 1922 gubernatorial election the Republican Party was divided due to a contentious primary between Robert D. Carey and John W. Hay where Hay won by only 443 votes and by appealing to Carey's voters through his strong prohibition stances allowed him to narrowly defeat Hay by 723 votes. In June 1924 he served as one of Wyoming's delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
===Death===
On September 23, 1924, he gave a speech in favor of a severance tax constitutional amendment in Laramie and while being driven home became sick. It was discovered that he was suffering from phlebitis, but died on October 2, 1924, after suffering complications following an appendectomy that happened on September 25.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42001177/casper_startribune/ |title=Gov. W. B. Ross Answers Call |date=2 October 1924 |work=Casper Star-Tribune |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200110010901/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42001177/casper_startribune/ |archive-date=10 January 2020 |url-status=live |page=4 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Secretary of State Frank Lucas served as acting governor for three months until a special election was held where Ross's wife, Nellie Tayloe Ross, won and became the first female governor in the United States.
==Electoral history==
{{hidden begin|toggle=left|title=William B. Ross electoral history}}
{{Election box begin|title = 1910 Wyoming at-large Congressional District election}} {{Election box winning candidate with party link |party = Republican Party (United States) |candidate = Frank Wheeler Mondell |votes = 20,312 |percentage = 54.71% |change = -2.35% }} {{Election box candidate with party link |party = Democratic Party (United States) |candidate = William B. Ross |votes = 14,659 |percentage = 39.48% |change = +3.16% }} {{Election box candidate with party link |party = Socialist Party of America |candidate = J.B. Morgan |votes = 2,155 |percentage = 5.81% |change = -0.81% }} {{Election box total |votes = 37,126 |percentage = 100.00% |change = }} {{Election box end}}
{{Election box begin no change|title = 1918 Wyoming Gubernatorial Democratic primary}} {{Election box winning candidate with party link no change |party = Democratic Party (United States) |candidate = Frank L. Houx (incumbent) |votes = 4,393 |percentage = 56.91% }} {{Election box candidate with party link no change |party = Democratic Party (United States) |candidate = William B. Ross |votes = 3,326 |percentage = 43.09% }} {{Election box total no change |votes = 7,719 |percentage = 100.00% }} {{Election box end}}
{{Election box begin no change|title = 1922 Wyoming Gubernatorial Democratic primary}} {{Election box winning candidate with party link no change |party = Democratic Party (United States) |candidate = William B. Ross |votes = 6,230 |percentage = 49.56% }} {{Election box candidate with party link no change |party = Democratic Party (United States) |candidate = George E. Kindler |votes = 4,972 |percentage = 39.55% }} {{Election box candidate with party link no change |party = Democratic Party (United States) |candidate = Frank C. McDowell |votes = 1,370 |percentage = 10.90% }} {{Election box total no change |votes = 12,572 |percentage = 100.00% }} {{Election box end}}
{{Election box begin|title = 1922 Wyoming Gubernatorial election}} {{Election box winning candidate with party link |party = Democratic Party (United States) |candidate = William B. Ross |votes = 31,110 |percentage = 50.03% |change = +6.13% }} {{Election box candidate with party link |party = Republican Party (United States) |candidate = John W. Hay |votes = 30,387 |percentage = 48.87% |change = -7.24% }} {{Election box write-in with party link |votes = 687 |percentage = 1.11% |change = +1.11% }} {{Election box total |votes = 62,184 |percentage = 100.00% }} {{Election box end}}
{{hidden end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Frank L. Houx}} {{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for Governor of Wyoming|years=1922}} {{s-aft|after=Nellie Tayloe Ross}} {{s-off}} {{succession box |title=Governor of Wyoming |before=Robert D. Carey |years=January 1, 1923 – October 2, 1924 |after=Frank E. Lucas }} {{s-end}}
{{Governors of Wyoming}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, William B.}} Category:1873 births Category:1924 deaths Category:American Episcopalians Category:Democratic Party governors of Wyoming Category:Governors of Wyoming Category:Tennessee Democrats Category:People from Dover, Tennessee Category:Politicians from Cheyenne, Wyoming Category:Wyoming Democrats Category:Wyoming lawyers Category:19th-century American lawyers