Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Gross, Alexander 
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Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 February 7, 2008, 3:59 am

Author: Past and Present Will County IL; 1907

Alexander Gross was for many years a representative of the stone industry in 
Joliet, but is now living retired in the enjoyment of a rest which he has 
truly earned and richly deserves. He was born in Kadelburg, Baden, Germany, 
January 26, 1834, and was a young man of twenty-years when, in 1854, he 
crossed the Atlantic to the new world. His parents were Casper and Anna Gross, 
also natives of Baden. The father engaged in quarrying stone and also followed 
the stone-mason's trade. The son Alexander entered the public schools at the 
usual age and on putting aside his textbooks began working with his father, 
being thus employed until 1854, when he determined to seek a home and fortune 
in the new world and accordingly made arrangements to come to America. On the 
26th of July he landed at New York, having made the voyage alone, and after a 
short period spent in the eastern metropolis he made his way westward by rail 
to Buffalo, New York, thence by boat to Detroit and by rail to Chicago. After 
a period of three years he came to Joliet on the 13th of November, 1857. He 
was employed by the state to work on the Joliet prison. He assisted in its 
construction and subsequently became superintendent of the stone department, 
which position he occupied for twenty-three years. He then engaged in the 
quarry business in partnership with James Bruce, owning and operating a quarry 
for a period of ten years. Mr. Gross then became a partner of Mr. Krakar in a 
similar enterprise, this association contmuing from 1889 until 1894, when they 
sold out to the Joliet Limestone Company, after which Mr. Gross acted as 
superintendent for that company for three years. He then retired from active 
business in 1897 and now enjoys a well merited rest, living in a fine home in 
the northern part of the city. On the 18th of February, 1868, Mr. Gross was 
united in marriage to Miss Margaretha Uebel, a native of Prussia, Germany, and 
they have become the parents of six children: Laura, who was born in 1868; 
Albert M., who died at the age of one year; Emilia H., who died when two years 
of age; Theodore L.; Rosetta E.; and Albertina M. Laura is now the wife of 
John L. Service, a conductor on the Rock Island Railroad. Rosetta and 
Albertina are at home. Theodore married Bertha Balinseifer and is living in 
Joliet, where he occupies the position of treasurer of the postoffice. Mr. 
Gross of this review is a member of Mount Joliet lodge, A. F. & A. M., and is 
also connected with the Sharp Shooters and the German Turnverein. He has now 
lived in this city for a half century and has become very widely and favorably 
known in business circles, sustaining an unassailable reputation for ability 
and fidelity. He bad no capital when he arrived in the new world, but he 
possessed a strong and determined spirit and laudable ambition, and these 
qualities have enabled him to advance beyond humble surroundings and gain a 
place among the men of affluence in his adopted country. 

Additional Comments:
PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS By W. W. Stevens President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association; Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907

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