Philip A. Gross Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1386-1387 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.


	PHILIP A. GROSS, of Webster, Day county, is a native of Sweden, 
where he was born on the 23d of May, 1865, being a son of Benjamin and 
Johanna Gross, of whose four children he was the second in order of 
birth. The subject was reared in his fatherland and there received his 
educational training in the well-equipped national schools. At the age 
of sixteen years he emigrated to America and located in Hutchinson, 
Minnesota, where he was employed until the spring of 1884, when he went 
to Illinois, where he passed the summer. He then returned to Minnesota 
and there remained until the autumn of 1885, when he came to Day county, 
South Dakota. In the following year he purchased relinquishment claims 
and turned his attention to farming, developing and improving his 
property and continuing to be successfully identified with agricultural 
pursuits until the autumn of 1892, when he rented his ranch and took up 
his residence in the town of Webster. Here he found employment in 
connection with the management of the lumbering business conducted by H. 
O. Frank, with whom he remained in this capacity for two years, after 
which he was for six years employed by Mr. Frank in the buying and 
shipping of grain. He then entered into the employ of the Miller 
Elevator Company, and they have since conducted a most prosperous 
business, the concern having a well-equipped elevator and controlling a 
large and important business. Mr. Gross is a man of indefatigable 
industry and it may be noted in this connection that during his eleven 
years' residence in Webster he has never lost a day's pay, having always 
been found at his assigned post. He is the owner of a valuable farm of 
three hundred and twenty acres, one mile distant from Webster, and is 
also the owner of village property, having four dwellings in Webster and 
renting three of the same, as does he also his farm. 

	In his political proclivities Mr. Gross is a staunch adherent of 
the Republican party, and takes a deep interest in public affairs of a 
local nature. He is a member of the city council of Webster, and in 1904 
was made the nominee of his party for the office of sheriff of the 
county. Fraternally he is identified with the lodge and encampment of 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also with the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen of America. 

	On the 7th of June, 1890, Mr. Gross was united in marriage to Miss 
Emma Olsen, who was born in Sweden, and they have five children, Vina, 
Cora, Mabel, Herman and Dewey.