Donald Ross

Early Life and Godly Upbringing

Donald Ross was born on 11th February, 1823, in Ross-shire, Scotland, of parents whose home was marked by reverence for God and habitual prayer. Morning and evening the family gathered around the Scriptures, seeking God’s protection and blessing. Yet, in spite of such privileges, young Donald’s heart was not early won. He intensely disliked what he called “family worship,” and would feign illness to avoid it.

Looking back on these days, he described himself with striking honesty as “as proud as a peacock, and as empty as a drum.” Though he repeated prayers night and morning, it was done more from fear of judgment than from love to God.

At the age of fifteen, however, God met him in sovereign grace. Alone among the heather on a hillside, returning from visiting a dying brother, the Spirit of God applied to his heart the words of John 18:8: “If ye seek Me, let these go their way.” In that solitary place he was brought to a saving knowledge of Christ, learning that the Shepherd gives Himself for the sheep. From that hour his life took a new direction.

Early Christian Service in Scotland

Ross was at first connected with the Established Church of Scotland, but at the Disruption of 1843 he left it and identified himself with the Free Church. Removing later to Edinburgh, he became associated with the church of which Mr. Tasker was minister, and soon threw himself heartily into evangelistic labour.

From 1858 to 1860 he served as a missionary among the miners of Lanarkshire, ministering amid conditions of poverty, hardship, and spiritual darkness. These years deepened his compassion for the lost and trained him for the wider work that lay ahead.

The Revival Years and the North East Coast Mission

In 1860 Donald Ross was appointed Secretary and Superintendent of the North East Coast Mission, with Aberdeen as his headquarters. For ten years he filled this position with tireless energy and faith. These were the great revival days in Scotland, when the Holy Spirit worked with extraordinary power.

During this period thousands were awakened to eternal realities. Men and women of every rank were brought under conviction of sin and led to rejoice in Christ as their Saviour. Ross gathered around him a band of earnest evangelists, and together they carried the Gospel boldly into towns, villages, fishing communities, and rural districts.

These were days when citadels of Satan were stormed, and Donald Ross laboured shoulder to shoulder with such well-known servants of God as Brownlow North, Duncan Matheson, James Turner, Hay McDowall Grant, Reginald Radcliffe, and Richard Weaver. Duncan Matheson, recognising the courage and steadfastness of his friend, often referred to him affectionately as “that Caledonian warrior.”

Separation from Societies and Simplicity of Gathering

A diligent student of Scripture, Ross became increasingly exercised about ecclesiastical position and methods. After ten years with the North East Coast Mission, he resigned his post. In 1870 he founded the Northern Evangelistic Association, but this also was short-lived. Soon afterward he withdrew entirely from connection with societies and denominations, choosing instead to labour in fellowship with Christians gathered simply to the Lord’s Name.

At this time he began publishing a monthly paper, The Northern Evangelist and Intelligencer, later renamed The Northern Witness, and eventually shortened to The Witness. From 1888 onward, this paper attained a world-wide circulation approaching 30,000 copies monthly, becoming a powerful means of spreading Gospel truth and edifying believers.

Edinburgh and the Call to America

Edinburgh became the next centre of his labours. A hall was secured, and the work continued amid much discouragement; yet Ross pressed on, confident that God’s Word would not return void.

In 1876 he visited the United States of America, where he found many open doors for preaching and teaching. Three years later, in 1879, he moved his family there permanently, making Chicago—then the great metropolis of the West—his base of operations.

Pioneer Work in the United States

In Chicago, Donald Ross and three others began meeting to remember the Lord in the breaking of bread in a tent, which also served as an evangelistic centre. One visitor remarked, “This is surely outside the camp,” and never returned. Ross, however, was not discouraged. He continued to “peg away at the Gospel,” preaching in summer and winter, rain and snow, amid encouragements and disappointments alike.

Souls were saved; believers were baptised; and assemblies were gradually formed on Scriptural lines. In time, three or four assemblies were established in Chicago alone. Ross also evangelised in Boston, New York, and many other American cities, as well as in Canada, travelling extensively in towns and rural districts.

Later Years: California, Kansas City, and Publishing Work

In 1887 Ross travelled to California, spending considerable time in San Francisco, which became another centre of his work. While in Chicago he established a tract depot in his own home, distributing tracts, Bibles, and Christian literature. For about twenty years he issued the monthly magazine Our Record, and for several years edited additional Gospel papers, including The Ram’s Horn and The Barley Cake.

In 1894 he moved to Kansas City, Missouri, then a rapidly growing western city, and made it his headquarters while conducting Gospel campaigns across the region. In 1901 he returned to Chicago, where he spent his remaining days.

Character and Final Testimony

Donald Ross was essentially a Gospel preacher—but more than that, he was a tireless labourer for souls. He preached at fairs and races, in tents and halls, barns and chapels, theatres and music halls, cottages and open air gatherings. Wherever there were men and women to hear, he was ready to tell “the wondrous story” of redeeming grace.

Near the close of his life he said with characteristic fire:

“I will be eighty on the 11th February, and if I had other eighty before me, I would spend them in this Gospel of God’s grace. There is no other work of such importance in the whole world.”

On 13th February, 1903, just two days after his eightieth birthday, Donald Ross was called home to be with Christ. His life stands as a testimony to faith, perseverance, and wholehearted devotion to the Gospel—a pioneer evangelist whose influence reached from the north of Scotland to the cities and plains of North America.