Northumberland-Union County PA Archives Biographies.....Gross, Frederick 1846 - living in 1899

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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com July 4, 2005, 6:54 pm



Author: Biographical Publishing Co.



FREDERICK GROSS, a successful and prosperous general merchant of Mount Carmel,

Northumberland County, is a man who began life on a farm, but worked his way up

until now he is one of Mount Carmel's leading business men, while at the same

time retaining his fondness for and interest in farming. He was born in Union

County, this state, January 9, 1846, and is a son of Charles and Annie (Forsyth)

Gross. The great-grandfather of our subject was a native of Germany, and when he

came to this country settled in one of the eastern counties of Pennsylvania,

finally locating in Union County, where he died.



  The father of our subject was born in Lycoming County, Pa., and when a young

man he removed to Union County, where he followed his trade as a shoemaker and

also engaged in farming. He died in the spring of 1864, at the age of

seventy-two years. Mr. Gross' mother was a native of Union County. She died in

1891, at the age of nearly eighty-five years. The family of Charles and Annie

Gross consisted of ten children, as follows: Jackson, who resides in Union

County, this state; Margaret, who died young; Martha, who is a resident of

Fulton County, Ill.; Charles, Catharine and Mary, who reside in Union County,

Charles occupying the old family homestead; two, who died in infancy; Frederick,

the subject of our sketch; and Samuel, who resides in New Berlin, Union County, Pa.



  Our subject, Frederick Gross, was reared on the homestead of his parents in

Union County and obtained a common school education. He remained on the farm

until he was eighteen years of age, when, having an ambition to be something

more than a farmer, he set out on his own account. He learned the trade of

harness-maker, at which he worked for some time. In 1865 he removed to Mount

Carmel, where he secured an advantageous opening as a clerk in a general store.

He remained in the store for several years, mastering every detail of the

general-merchandise business, and finally engaged in business for himself. By

his energy, careful attention to small details and his uniform courtesy he

immediately placed himself on a popular basis with the purchasing community and

was very successful from his start in business on his own account. He has since

followed, the mercantile business and now has one of the largest and principal

stores in Mount Carmel. In addition to his store, Mr. Gross owns a farm in the

Buffalo Valley, Union County, which contains 130 acres and to which he gives

considerable attention.



  In politics our subject always has been an ardent Republican and, although he

never has cared for or sought office, he has been called upon to fill the

offices of school director and councilman, in which he displayed the same

ability which has made his business so successful and served to the entire

satisfaction of his friends and constituents. Religiously Mr. Gross is a member

of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Mount Carmel, of which he has been a member

for twenty-five years and in which he was for several years an active leader and

an ardent worker. Mr. Gross is a member of Mount Carmel Lodge, No. 630, I. O. O.

F., which he joined in 1868, and for seventeen years he has been secretary of

the lodge.



  In October, 1863, Mr. Gross was united in marriage to Susan Heim, daughter of

John Heim. To them have been born these children: Charles S., who resides in

Mount Carmel, and who married Hattie Fisher, and is engaged in the mercantile

business with his father; Calvin E., who also resides in Mount Carmel and

married Delia Klase, who died at the birth of her first child; Agnes, unmarried;

Alice, who died at the age of eleven months; and Annie, who is the wife of Frank

Christ of Mount Carmel.





Additional Comments:

Extracted from:



Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth Congressional District

Published by 

Biographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill. and Buffalo, NY (1899)





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