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Augustus Cross - Beech Flats Cemetery, Bradford County, PA

Augustus Cross – Beech Flats Cemetery, Bradford County, PA

JOHN A. CROSS, coal and ice dealer of Sunbury, Northumberland county, has been engaged in that business from early manhood and enjoys a prosperous trade, which he has built up by honorable dealing and satisfactory service. He was born in Sunbury April 7, 1874, and is a son of George W. Cross. Mr. Cross’s great-grandparents lived in the Mohawk Valley, near Troy, N. Y., and died when comparatively young, leaving three children: Dennis, a farmer, who settled in Bradford county, Pa., and there married a Miss Webster (he is buried near his old homestead); Hannah B., Mrs. Connors, who lived in northern New York; and Augustus.

Augustus Cross, grandfather of John A. Cross, [and my husband’s 3rd great-grandfather] was born in 1811 near Troy, N. Y., and was a small boy when his parents died. About 1840 he moved from New York State to Pennsylvania, making the journey with teams, and settled in Bradford county, where he passed the remainder of his life, dying in 1882. He was a farmer, owning a small farm, where he spent all his later years, previous to which he had also followed shoemaking and stone masonry. He held local office, and was a useful citizen.

Mr. Cross married Margaret Teller Whitlock, who was born in 1819, and died in 1890, and they are buried in Canton township, Bradford county. They had ten children, as follows: Hannah F., Catharine M., Margaret J., Thomas D., William D., George W., Perkins A., Mary B., Phoebe A. and Imogene. Mrs. Margaret Teller (Whitlock) Cross was one of the descendants of Anneke Jans, heirs to the famous estate including the Trinity Church property, in New York City, which has so long been a matter of dispute.

George W. Cross, son of Augustus, was born Sept. 3, 1847, in Canton township, Bradford Co., Pa., received his education in the public schools there, and worked on the farm until 1863. Then, though only sixteen years old, he enlisted for service in the Civil war, becoming a member of Company C, 30th Regiment, Pennsylvania Emergency Men, with which he served six weeks during the emergency. He was at Carlisle the night the Confederates burned the barracks. Returning home to the farm, he remained there until February, 1864, when be enlisted in Company B, 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry, serving as a private in that command under Grant and Gregg, from the battle of the Wilderness to Appomattox. He received his second honorable discharge Aug. 20, 1865. Mr. Cross went back to the farm, and worked at agricultural pursuits and in the lumber woods until May 1, 1871, when he came to Sunbury and at once entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Railway Company, as brakeman. The following year he became a fireman, and in 1879 was made engineer, serving as such until incapacitated by blindness, brought on by nervous dyspepsia, in 1906.

Mr. Cross was a faithful and efficient employee through-out his active years and is still retained on the payroll of the company. He is a well known resident of Sunbury, particularly in fraternal circles, being a member of the I.O.O.F., which he joined when twenty-two years old; a Mason, having joined Bloss Lodge, No. 350, F. & A.M., at Blossburg, Tioga Co., Pa., in June, 1870; a member of Lodge No. 416, K. of P., of Sunbury, which he served as treasurer for a number of years, until his blindness prevented further service; a charter member of True Cross Commandery, No. 112, Knights of Malta, of Sunbury, of which he was first treasurer, holding that office eight years; a member of Lieut. William A. Bruner Post, No. 335, G.A.R., and a member of the Veteran Railroad Association of the Eastern and Susquehanna Division. Politically he is a Republican.

On Sept. 3, 1870, Mr. Cross married Amelia A. Williams, daughter of John J. and Margaret (Harris) Williams, of Blossburg, Pa. Four children have been born to this union, namely: George M., of Westchester, Pa.; John A.; William, who died in infancy; and Harry P., who married Bertha Seaman, of Snyder county, Pa., and has one son, George Perkins. The family lives in the home at Sunbury erected by Mr. Cross in 1884.

John A. Cross attended public school in Sunbury, graduating from the high school in 1891. He and his brother George M. carried on the ice business in partnership until 1897, when John A. Cross purchased the brother’s interest, and has since conducted the business alone. Meantime, in 1894, he had enlarged his experience in that line by working for a time for the old Knickerbocker Ice Company, in Philadelphia. Since 1895 he has had a retail coal business, and at present he keeps four teams busy, doing a prosperous business in both lines, and holding his trade by upright methods. He is well thought of in the community, and has served two terms in the borough council. Mr. Cross is a Republican in politics, and fraternally a member of several secret organizations.

On Oct. 26, 1908, Mr. Cross married Cora M. Mertz, of Northumberland borough, a daughter of Benjamin F. Mertz (who died in April, 1910) and a granddaughter of George Mertz, who was born in Berks county, coming to this county along with the Hummels and Hilbishes. Peter Mertz, great-grandfather of Mrs. Cross. was a pioneer of Union county, Pa. He settled near Freeburg, and went to farming, his farm consisting of 112 acres. He is buried at Freeburg Pa. He and his wife had children as follows: a Mrs. Straub; Catharine, who married (first) a Mr. Brown and (second) a Mr. Heimbach; Peggy Mrs. Snell; Philip, who lived near Lewistown, Pa.; John, who lived at Freeburg; Peter, who lived at Freeburg; and George.

Taken from Floyd’s Northumberland County Genealogy Pages 850 thru 874 File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Tony Rebuck. Tar2@psu.edu Electronic edition copyright 2001 by Tony Rebuck. All rights reserved. This electronic work may be freely distributed and displayed: (1)without modification, (2) on a strictly non-commercial basis, and (3) retaining this copyright notice.

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