David Ross (ca. 1737–1817), merchant and agent, land investor, and ironworks proprietor, emigrated from Scotland in the 1750s. By the beginning of the American Revolution he had established himself as a tobacco merchant and shipowner on a plantation at Point of Fork in Fluvanna County. In 1780 TJ appointed Ross a commercial agent responsible for procuring military supplies for the state. During his tenure in this position he countered criticism and accusations of Loyalism by drawing on his own financial resources to fulfill demands for goods. Ross resigned as commercial agent in 1782 so that he could represent Fluvanna County in two successive sessions of the House of Delegates. After the Revolutionary War ended he concerned himself primarily with the operation of the Oxford Iron Works, located on the James River near Lynchburg. TJ reported in his Notes on the State of Virginia that this facility produced about 150 tons of bar iron per year. By the end of the 1780s his widely distributed accumulation of land and slaves made Ross one of the wealthiest men in Virginia. However, he was often overextended and beset by foreign and domestic creditors. For a decade beginning in 1793, a consortium of his creditors controlled much of his property, including the ironworks and many of his slaves. Ross eventually took charge of his own affairs again, but ill health, increasing competition in the iron market, and other factors thwarted his hopes of further expansion. While he was governor, TJ communicated frequently with Ross, and he conducted personal business with him sporadically thereafter. Although their relationship was generally congenial, in 1802 a dispute over the sum that TJ owed on his account to Ross had to be settled by arbitrators (Charles B. Dew, “David Ross and the Oxford Iron Works: A Study of Industrial Slavery in the Early Nineteenth-Century South,” WMQ description begins William and Mary Quarterly, 1892–  description ends , 3d ser., 31 [1974]: 189–224; ViHi: David Ross Letterbook; PTJ description begins Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, and others, eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 1950– , 34 vols. description ends , 4:226–8, 8:358; Leonard, General Assembly description begins Cynthia Miller Leonard, comp., The General Assembly of Virginia, July 30, 1619–January 11, 1978: A Bicentennial Register of Members, 1978 description ends , 145, 149; Henry R. McIlwaine and others, eds., Journals of the Council of the State of Virginia [1931–82], 3:537; Notes, ed. Peden description begins Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, ed. William Peden, 1955 description ends , 27, 28, 29; MB description begins James A. Bear Jr. and Lucia C. Stanton, eds., Jefferson’s Memorandum Books: Accounts, with Legal Records and Miscellany, 1767–1826, 1997, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Second Series description ends ; Henrico Co. Will Book, 5:185–6; Richmond Enquirer, 6 May 1817).