CENTRE LINES

The GROSS Family

This column is part of a feature series which focuses on a different Centre County family each week. Five new columns will be released each month unless some technical difficulty enters the picture.

This column's focus is on Gross. An effort has been made to identify all persons carrying that name in the 1890 U.S. Census, using the Centre County business directory which was formed from a preliminary review of that census before the larger set of 1890 U.S. Census records was destroyed by fire. (Sadly, the postal directory does not typically provide the ages of females, but it's the best record we've got).

There are no books in the Pennsylvania Room of the Centre County Library in Bellefonte that apparently deal in part with the Gross family.

There are 7 first-name entries for Gross in John Blair Linn's History of Centre and Clinton County (1883). In addition, there are several mentions of the name in Beers' Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania (1898), with two persons having full-length biographical profiles: David Gross (b. 1833, s/o Jacob and Catharine Benfer); and, George Gross (b. 1823, s/o Philip and Elizabeth Schoch).

And, now, your ancestors' Gross neighbors in 1890:

BELLEFONTE Borough:

Barbara--158 S. Potter Joseph 34 Elizabeth Catharine Annie Carrie Emma George, 45, laborer--50 N. Water Catharine A. John W. 14 Edward A. 12

HOWARD Borough:

L.M., 36, laborer Nannie Essie Bruce 3 Harvey 72

HARRIS Township:

William, 35--Linden Hall Ellen Franklin 12 David 10

PATTON Township:

Emma--Fil;more William, 56--Fillmore Mary Emma Sella Joseph 17

RUSH Township:

Mathew, 43, laborer--Philipsburg Frederick 16

SPRING Township:

Jacob, 52, axemaker--Axemann Catharine Henry I. 26 Mary E. Elizabeth Francis 10 Catharine Priscilla--Bellefonte William 2 Samuel 15--Bellefonte