Hon. J. Ross Carpenter is actively and prominently identified with important business and public interests. He is the president of the Federal Land Company and also of the Carpenter Live Stock Company of Cheyenne. At the same time he has been a director of public thought and opinion as one of the leading representatives of the democratic party in Wyoming and he is representing his state on the democratic national committee.
    He was born near Monmouth, Illinois, on the 7^th of August, 1867, a son of George D. and Margery (Pollock) Carpenter. The father was a Kentuckian by birth, while the mother was a native of Ohio. George D. Carpenter removed to Indian Territory, where he passed the remainder of his days. His family numbered two sons and two daughters.
    J. Ross Carpenter, who was the third in order of birth, acquired his education in the public schools of Illinois and of southern Kansas and also in Monmouth College of Monmouth, Illinois, while later he became a law student in the National University at Lebanon, Ohio. Returning to the west, he engaged in ranching in western Kansas from 1887 until 1901 and in the following year he turned his attention to the land business and to live stock raising, making his headquarters at Des Moines, Iowa. There he continued until 1906 and during that period he also engaged extensively in handling timber lands in both the north and south. In 1906 he removed from Des Moines to Wyoming, taking up his abode near Burns. In 1905 the Federal Land Company was organized and in 1909 the Live Stock Company was formed. Of both of these companies J. Ross Carpenter has been president and general manager since their organization. The Federal Land Company acquired one hundred and forty-six thousand acres of land, which they sold to settlers, thus bringing many people to Wyoming and greatly advancing the permanent development of the state. This company founded the towns of Burns and of Carpenter and has ever put forth effective effort to promote the welfare and upbuilding of the district in which it has operated. Mr. Carpenter takes a special interest in the breeding of shorthorn cattle and of Percheron horses, and his business interests in that direction have become extensive and important, contributing much to the improvement of the grade of stock raised in the state. In 1910 he removed to Cheyenne, where his home has since been maintained.
    On the 15^th of September, 1887, Mr. Carpenter was united in marriage to Miss Fannie Russell, a daughter of the Rev. W. H. Russell, of Henderson county, Illinois. Their children are: Arthur R., who is engaged in business with his father; Minnie, the wife of Captain Frank G. Clark of the United States Army, by whom she has one child, Frank G., Jr.; and Betty, born in May, 1907, who is now a pupil in the public school at Cheyenne.
    In his political views Mr. Carpenter has always been a democrat and from 1911 until 1915 he served as a member of the Wyoming state senate, during which period he was connected with much constructive legislation having to do with the advancement of various material interests of the state. Since 1910 he has been a member of the national democratic congressional committee from Wyoming and he was chairman of the democratic county central committee of Laramie county from 1914 until 1916. He has served as secretary of the state board of farm commissioners and he is interested in all that has to do with the upbuilding of the region in which he makes his home. He belongs to the Industrial Club and at all times he can be counted upon to further any plan or project for the general good. His purposes will bear close investigation and his actions always measure up to high standards.