Cheney C. Gross, M. D.


	This biography appears on pages 344-346 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				CHENEY C. GROSS, M. D. 

	Dr. Cheney C. Gross, capably, actively and successfully engaged 
in the practice of medicine in Yankton, has since entering upon the 
work never deviated from the high standards which he has set up, 
standards which embody the most advanced ethical ideas concerning 
medical and surgical practice. 

	Dr. Gross was born in Naperville, Illinois, on the 15th of 
February, 1868, a son of Daniel N. and Mary E. (Dudley) Gross, who were 
the parents of five children, Dr. Cheney C. Gross being the second in 
order of birth. His paternal grandparents were Conrad and Salome Gross, 
natives of Germany, who on leaving their native Bavaria crossed the 
Atlantic to the new world and settled in Pennsylvania, where they lived 
until 1833, when they removed westward to Du Page county, Illinois, 
where they remained throughout the residue of their days. The Dudley 
family was represented in New England in pioneer times, representatives 
of the name living in New Hampshire and Vermont, while later they 
became pioneer settlers of Du Page county, Illinois, arriving there at 
about the same time as the Gross family. Both took up their abode near 
the town of Naperville, where they were connected with farming 
interests. Conrad Gross was a devout member of the German Evangelican 
church and was widely recognized as a man of upright character whose 
fidelity to duty was above question. The Dudleys were 
Congregationalists of the most orthodox New England type and the 
maternal grandfather of Dr. Gross was active in forming the church of 
that denomination in Naperville, becoming one of its charter members 
and remaining for a number of years one of its most generous and 
helpful supporters. His father, John Dudley, was a soldier of the 
Revolutionary war and the old flintlock musket which he carried in the 
contest with Great Britain remained as a precious heirloom in 
possession of the family for many years. This branch of the family came 
originally from England, the ancestors having crossed the ocean in 
1630. 

	Daniel N. Gross, the father of Dr. Gross, was born in Naperville, 
Illinois, in 1837. His educational opportunities were very meager, for 
he never attended school after reaching his thirteenth year. When quite 
young he apprenticed himself to learning the carpenter's trade, which 
in due time he mastered, becoming a skilled mechanic along that line. 
For some years prior to the outbreak of the Civil war he was foreman in 
a carpenter shop at Naperville but with the call to arms he was one of 
the first in that town to enlist, joining Company E of the Eighth 
Illinois Cavalry, with which he was on active duty until he was made an 
aide on the staff of General Sumner. His command was attached to the 
Army of the Potomac and he participated in a number of the important 
campaigns in Virginia, taking part in many sanguinary battles which led 
up to the final victory that crowned the Union arms. In January, 1864, 
following his return from the war, he wedded Miss Mary E. Dudley and 
they became the parents of five children of whom four survive: Bertha 
C., who conducted a kindergarten at Riverside, California, but is now 
married to Judge Robert B. Tripp of Yankton, South Dakota; Cheney C.; 
Dean D., who is a hardware merchant; and Mary S., who is at home. The 
youngest child was Fred A. Gross, who died m San Diego, California, 
June 28, 1900, at the age of eighteen, after an illness of two years. 
The father was prominent in public affairs in Du Page county, Illinois. 
He served for three terms as treasurer of that county and was 
postmaster of Naperville for fourteen years. In 1883 he removed with 
his family to Yankton, South Dakota, where he became a partner in a 
hardware firm, remaining in active connection with that business until 
his death, which occurred November 28, 1889. A year prior to that date 
he was elected auditor of Yankton county and in that as in other 
positions which he had filled he discharged his duties in a most prompt 
and able manner until death terminated his efforts. His worth as man 
and citizen was widely acknowledged and the number of his friends 
indicated the worth of his character. 

	Dr. Gross spent his youthful days in his native city, attending 
the schools of Naperville, and when the family came to Dakota continued 
his education in Yankton until graduated from the high school with the 
class of 1886. He was a youth of fifteen when the family arrived in 
this state and since that time he has taken an active and helpful 
interest in many of the movements which have resulted to the benefit 
and upbuilding of Yankton. He supplemented his high-school course by 
three years' study in Yankton College and at the fall term of 1890 he 
matriculated in the medical department of the Northwestern University 
at Chicago, from which he was graduated in the summer of 1895. During 
one year of that period he was connected with the drug house of G. W. 
Frostenson in Yankton, but when he had won his professional degree he 
put aside all other interests to engage in the practice of medicine and 
surgery. He has since followed his chosen calling and his increasing 
ability, resulting from further study and broad experience, has gained 
for him a position of distinction. His reputation extends far beyond 
the limits of the state and his skill and knowledge are attested by his 
colleagues and contemporaries, who speak of him in terms of high praise 
and esteem. He is at all times loyal to the highest ethical standards 
of the profession and anything which tends to bring to man the key to 
that complex mystery which we call life is of deep interest to him. The 
consensus of public opinion names him as one of the leading physicians 
of his section of the state, there being constant demand upon him for 
professional service. 

	Dr. Gross belongs to the leading local and state medical 
associations and takes an active part in their deliberations. His name 
is on the membership roll of the Sioux Valley Medical Association, the 
Yankton District Medical Association, the South Dakota Medical Society, 
of which he is ex-president, and the American Medical Association. He 
has also filled a number of important positions in the path of his 
profession, including that of health officer of Yankton and 
superintendent of the county board of health, which position he filled 
for six years. He was likewise county coroner for two terms and for a 
number of years he has been surgeon for the Great Northern Railway at 
Yankton, while for a number of the leading old line life insurance 
companies he is medical examiner. In addition he has an extensive 
private practice and few physicians of his age and experience have come 
so prominently to the front as Dr. Gross and none have been more 
faithful and capable in the discharge of their duties. 

	In religious faith Dr. Gross is a Congregationalist, holding 
membership in the First Phoenix lodge of the Knights of Pythias. He 
ever acknowledges his indebtedness to the teachings and the sympathy 
and encouragement of his mother, who is a strong, earnest and sincere 
Christian character, possessing unusual intellectual strength and 
ability. She supplemented her education in the schools of Naperville, 
Illinois, by study in the Rockford (Ill.) Female Seminary and has ever 
kept in touch with the trend of modern thought along many lines. She 
still maintains her place at the head of the household, of which Dr. 
Gross is yet a member, and she has shared with him in all of his 
interests and ambitions. He possesses a studious nature and scholarly 
habits and is as well read in the field of general literature as he is 
in that of medicine. An interesting talker, it is evident at once that 
he understands the subject under discussion. He possesses a social, 
genial nature which renders him a pleasing companion and he has a 
circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of his 
acquaintance. It would be impossible to present a complete history of 
Yankton without mention of Dr. Gross, for he is justly accounted one of 
its leading citizens.