Ross, Harrie G.
Harrie G. Ross, proprietor of one of the foremost grocery establishments of Victoria, and a young and progressive citizen who has already made his influence felt in several ways for the commercial and public welfare of the city, is a native son of Victoria, where he was born May 3, 1874, and since he came to years of manhood has identified himself closely and usefully with the best interests of his home city.
The store of which Mr. Ross is the present proprietor was formerly the property of his honoured father, Dixi H. Ross, who founded the business in this city. Dixi H. Ross came to this province in 1870, and continued his residence here throughout most of the subsequent years of his life. A native of the state of Pennsylvania, born in the town of Cambridge in 1842, of old English ancestry, Dixi Ross came to Victoria without independent means, and his first work was as a clerk in a grocery establishment. He then went to the Cariboo district and took charge of his uncle's business at Cottonwood. On his return to Victoria in 1873 he established the present grocery house, which has accordingly had a continuous and successful existence of over thirty years. His first partner was Mr. Cameron, and together they carried on a wholesale trade for a time. Somewhat later Mr. Newfelder bought out Mr. Cameron, and in 1878, on the former's removal to Seattle, Mr. D. H. Ross became the sole owner of the business, and it was carried on with increased success until his death.
Dixi H. Ross married a lady from his native town of Cambridge, Pennsylvania, Miss Lucy O. Birchard, and she came to British Columbia soon after the wedding. They were the parents of three children, and the two living are Harriet, now Mrs. H. Goulding Wilson of Victoria, and Harrie, who is the successor of his father in business.
Reared and educated in Victoria, Mr. Ross has practically spent all his active life in connection with the grocery business. His father died on July 20, 1899, and since then he has had entire charge of the store, in which time he has enlarged the scope of the business in accordance with the trend of modern commercial enterprises. In 1900, in order to have more room, he moved to his present location, where he has an elegant situation and a handsome store, equipped with as complete a stock of groceries and wines and liquors as can be found in the entire city. The business has grown constantly since its inception, and as a cash store it has an immense trade in the city.
Mr. Ross affiliates with the Masonic fraternity and with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and his father was likewise a member of these orders.
R. E. Gosnell, A History of British Columbia, (Vancouver, B. C.: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906). pp. 743-744.