Every community has its prominent citizens, and one of
these in the progressive and prospering town of Gillespie, Illinois, is Dr.
William M. Gross, who is also well and favorably known all over Macoupin
County. Dr. Gross was born March 24, 1842, in Bollinger County, Missouri,
and is a son of Christopher and Sophia (Yount) Gross.
The Gross
family is of German extraction, and its founder in America came from the
vicinity of Hamburg and settled, in colonial days, in Northampton County,
Pennsylvania. There Christian Gross, the grandfather of Dr. Gross, was born,
and many distinguished members of the family still reside in that State, a
notable one being Prof. Samuel D. Gross of Philadelphia. Christian Gross
moved to Lincoln County, North Carolina, and there reared a large family,
one son, Christopher, being born there December 5, 1806.
Christopher
Gross accompanied his parents to Bollinger County, Missouri, when five years
of age and engaged there in farming until 1854 when he removed with his
family to Saint Francois County, residing there until the latter part of the
Civil War, when he removed to Hillsboro, Illinois. After the close of
hostilities, he returned to Missouri and there spent his last years, dying
at the age of 76 years. Christopher Gross was a plain, unassuming farmer,
and through industry accumulated what in peaceful times would have been
considered a competency, but the disturbed condition of the country and the
cares of a second family somewhat reduced what was once an ample fortune. He
was a man of great self-reliance, one who believed in the right of every man
to his opinion, and was a stanch supporter of the Republican party from its
foundation, having previously been a Whig. He was equally stanch in his
support of the Old School Presbyterian Church. In every walk of life he
commanded respect. He married, first, Sophia Yount, who was born in
Bollinger County, Missouri, where she died in 1850, aged 33 years, leaving a
family of five children, namely: Mrs. Margaret McDowell, deceased; Mrs.
Sarah Ann Dennis, deceased; William M., of this biography; Jacob Amos, who
died at the age of 50 years; and Peter, a resident of Gillespie. The
children of his second marriage were four sons and two daughters, all of
whom with one exception still survive.
When Dr. Gross was 12 years
of age, his parents removed to Farmington, the county seat of Saint Francois
County, and there he continued his education in the public schools and at
Carlton College, where he remained until he had almost completed the
classical and scientific courses. Dr. Gross made a specialty of mathematics
at Carlton College and mastered the difficulties of differential and
integral calculus with extraordinary ease. In the winter of 1863 he made a
trip to California, going by way of New York and the Isthmus of Panama,
which has been a bone of contention so long and at present is occupying the
public attention. A man of his ability and energy soon found work awaiting
his hand and brain, and he was fully occupied either in teaching or mining,
until after the surrender of General Lee. He then came to Hillsboro,
Illinois, where his parents had in the meantime located and here he again
began teaching school. In 1866 he entered upon the study of medicine at
Walshville, Montgomery County, Illinois, under Dr. M. S. Davenport, and
continued his reading with this leading physician, assisting also in the
latter's practice, for two years, when he returned to Missouri and located
in Wayne County. Some five years later, after a term of very successful
medical practice, he went to Keokuk, Iowa, where he completed the prescribed
course and was graduated in 1875 at the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Dr. Gross came then to Macoupin County, Illinois, and practiced his
profession for three years in the village of Hornsby, removing then to
Gillespie, where he has remained ever since.
Dr. Gross is
prominently identified with not only the professional but also the business
life of Gillespie, and is almost as well known for his ability in business
enterprises as for his skill in his profession. Dr. Gross shares with many
others a scientific comprehension of the wonders and values of electricity,
and, to utilize it on certain lines, in 1896 he organized a company with a
capital stock of $15,000, erected a plant and installed machinery. This
industry still continues in successful operation. In July, 1903, he became
interested in newspaper work, became part owner of the Gillespie Herald and
is now the manager and a director of the Herald Publishing Company. So
versatile is he in his activities, he has given an impetus to everything in
his locality to which he has seriously turned his attention. Through his
intelligent and well directed energies, the Gillespie schools have attained
to a standard of excellence second to none in the State, their graduates
being fitted to enter higher institutions without any preliminary
preparation. Dr. Gross has made a careful study of electricity and has done
much experimenting, and a part of his busy life has been given to lecturing
on the subject. His contributions on various scientific subjects are
welcomed by the leading periodicals and his opinion bears with it the weight
of knowledge and experience.
On April 11, 1867, Dr. Gross was
married to Mary C. Sitton, who was born in Montgomery County, Illinois, and
is a daughter of the late Rev. A. J. Sitton, a Baptist clergyman. Five
children have been born to this marriage, namely: Sarah Sophia, who married
Milton Mitchell, a farmer living near Gillespie, and has seven children;
Martha Frances, who is the wife of Frederick Opie of Gillespie; Edwin Guy,
who married Maggie Hamilton, and resides in St. Louis, Missouri; Herbert,
who is a student at Gillespie, in electrical engineering; and Dean, who is
attending the public schools.
Politically Dr. Gross is a Republican.
He cast his first presidential vote at the second election of Abraham
Lincoln. He has consented to fill a number of the minor offices and gave his
valuable services to the School Board of which he was president some eight
years. Like his father, he is a Master Mason, having joined a Masonic lodge
at Farmington, Missouri, at the age of 21 years. In religious belief he is a
Baptist.
Extracted 2018 May 07 by Norma Hass from Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Macoupin County, Illinois, published in 1904, pages 257-261.
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