Frank M. GROSS

  General Notes:

Sources: Earling, Iowa 1981 Centennial Book St. Joseph Cemetery, Earling, Iowa 2001 Directory "Past and Present of Shelby County Iowa" By Edward S. White - - Volume II Illustrated - - 1915 by B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc. Indianapolis,Indiana: Page 700, 701, 702

GROSS, FRANK The 1910 census showed that there were more than ten million German citizens in the United States, who were either born in Germany or descendants of German parents, which means that one-tenth of the total population of the United States is of German descent. The great German migration to this country began in 1848, during the time of the great uprising in Germany of that year, and has continued uninterruptedly down to the present time. Thousands of the best farmers in Iowa were born in Germany, and inShelby county may be found several hundred who left their native land for thisprosperous section of the state of Iowa. Without exception the German citizensof this county have been thrifty and have accumulated land and property, whileat the same time they have assumed the duties of American citizenship in a waywhich makes them American citizens of the highest type. Among the many German farmers of Union township who have prospered exceedingly, Frank Gross, the owner of two hundred acres, has an honorable place. Frank Gross, the son of Adam and Joanna (Kramer) Gross, who was born in Walworth county, Wisconson, May 9, 1866. Both of his parents were born in Germany and came to America when they were children with their parents and settled in Wisconsin. Adam Gross received hiseducation in Germany and worked in his father's brick yard there until he cameto this country at the age of eighteen with his parents. The Gross family first settled in Racine county, Wisconsin, but a year later located in Walworth county, where they bought one hundred and tweny acres of land. The father of Adam Gross died shortly after the family came to Wisconsin, and Adam managed the farm and assumed the responsibility for the caring of the other children. He married in that state, bought the old homestead and farmed it until 1874. In that year Adam Gross brought his family to Mills county, Iowa, landing there on the 4th day of February, 1874. A month later he settled in Westphalia township, in Shelby county, where he bought forty acres of land and lived on this farm until 1880, when he retired from active farm life to Westphalia, where he and his wifeare now living. Adam Gross and wife were the parents of eleven children: Frank, whose history is subsequently recorded in this connection; Louisa, the wife of Matthew Kool; Mary, who died at the age of six months; Joseph, who married Mary Engel; Aloyious, single; Kate, the wife of Matthew Schleier; Frederick, who married Mary Allers; Mary, the wife of Emil Zimmerman; Josephine, the wife of Frank A. Jacobs; Gertrude, the wife of Matthew Miller, and George, who married Clara Kinman.

Frank Gross, the oldest child of his parents, was seven years of age when the family moved to Shelby county, Iowa, and consequently received all of his education in Shelby county. After leaving the school room he worked as a hired hand on the farms in the township until he was twenty-three years ofage. He then learned the carpenter trade and followed this vocation for five years, when he married and began the life of a farmer on a rented farm. He and his wife lived economically, and were soon able to buy a farm of one hundred andtwenty acres in Union township, where they now live. In 1909 Mr. Gross added eighty acres to his farm and built a fine modern home, new barn and various outbuildings, so that he now has one of the most attractive farms in his township. On his farm of two hundred acres he raises good crops and handles a large amount of live stock each year. He is thoroughly up-to-date in his farming methods and has all of the latest improved machinery, so that he gets the maximum results with the least effort.

Mr. Gross was married

Frank married Bertha T. RUESCHENBERG, daughter of Joseph Franz RUESCHENBERG and Josephine (Maria Josepha) SASSE, on 4 Sep 1893 in St. Boniface Catholic Church, Westphalia, Shelby Co., IA. (Bertha T. RUESCHENBERG was born in Jan 1872 in Prus, died in 1941 and was buried in St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery, Earling, Shelby Co., IA (Gravesite: Ii-5-17).)

  Marriage Notes:

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