Philetus N. Cross Biography


	This biography appears on page 1347 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	PHILETUS N. CROSS, of Yankton county, was born in Ohio on the 1st 
of August, 1833, and is a son of Philetus Cross, Sr., who was also a 
native of the Buckeye state. In 1840 the father took his family to 
Wisconsin, becoming a well known and successful farmer of that state, 
but he spent his last years in Minnesota, where he died at a ripe old 
age. 

	The subject of this sketch grew to manhood in Wisconsin. It was in 
the fall of 1869 that he came to South Dakota and took up one hundred 
and sixty acres of government land in Clay county, giving his time and 
attention to the improvement and cultivation of that place until 1883, 
when he sold out. He passed though all the hardships and trials incident 
to pioneer life and had his crops destroyed by the grasshoppers three 
years and by floods at other times. Throughout his active business life 
he has continued to engage in agricultural pursuits and is today a 
resident of Gayville, Yankton county. where he now makes his home. 
In 1860 Mr. Cross was united in marriage to Miss Emma Jane Maxon, by 
whom he had eight children, and after her death he was again married in 
December, 1887, his second union being with Mrs. Sarah (Cronk) Blodgett, 
a native of Ohio. Her former husband was Myron Blodgett, one of the 
honored early settlers and successful farmers of Yankton county, having 
come here from Iowa, in the spring of 1869, and taken up government 
land. He died on the 16th of April, 1883, honored and respected by all 
who knew him. Besides his widow he left five children, one of whom is 
now deceased. The others are all married and nicely located. 

	Politically, Mr. Cross is a Republican with prohibition 
tendencies, being a strong temperance man, and in early life he took 
quite an active and prominent part in local politics, efficiently 
serving as county commissioner in Clay county, South Dakota, for a time. 
He was also a member of the territorial legislature in ~879-80 and was 
regarded as one of the most influential men of his community. During the 
dark days of the Civil war Mr. Cross offered his services to the 
government, enlisting in Company C, Fourteenth Wisconsin Volunteer 
Infantry, and he was holding the rank of second lieutenant when he 
received his discharge. He has long been an active worker in the 
Methodist church, and for the past sixteen years has been an 
evangelistic minister.