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Robert J Cross booklet index 2015

References in Winnebago County History

View 1847 letters to RJC at Ill. State Legistlature

Land Patents

1859 Map Cross Property

1888 Map Cross Estate

1836 Roscoe Church News
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Wm A Cross Roscoe ME Church pastor 1894 -1897 1839 Roscoe Land Sales

Robert John Cross was born 1 October 1803 in Newburgh, Orange Co., New York, the son of Rev. John Cross and Margaret Hanna Cross.¹ He died 15 Feb 1873 in Roscoe, Winnebago Co., IL

On 18 Sep 1836, in Nassau, Rensselaer, NY, (or, in Perington, Monroe, NY) he married Hannah BENEDICT. She was born 21 Jul 1812 in Nassau, Rensselaer, NY and she died 4 Oct 1893 in Roscoe, Winnebago Co., IL. She was the daughter of Jacob BENEDICT (b 23 Apr 1779) and Rhoda BEEBE (b 24 Jan 1788)

They had five Children:

1 John CROSS, born 2 Nov 1837 Roscoe, Winnebago Co., IL, "born in the large log house, built on the bank of Rock River on R J Cross farm"⁽⁴⁾, and died 22 Jul 1917 in Iowa, View of grave. He was married to Sarah Louisa PELTON 12 Oct 1856.Sarah was born 4 June 1836 and died 18 June 1895 in Iowa. View of Grave.

2 Margaret Louise CROSS, born 21 Apr 1839 in Roscoe, "born in the large log house, built on the bank of Rock River on R J Cross farm"⁽⁴⁾, and died 18 Oct 1918 in Chicago, Cook, IL. she married James M. MCAFFEE (m 22 Mar 1866).

3 William Hanna CROSS, Rev. Born 22 Jul 1842 "in the large log house, built on the bank of Rock River on R J Cross farm"⁽⁴⁾.
He graduated with honors from Chicago Theologican Seminary

• He was Pastor of Roscoe, IL Methodist Church October 1894 to October 1897
• Was pastor of Tomah, WIsc. Congregational Church
• Hollister California Congregational
• and 20 years at Saratoga Congregational near San Jose

1. Elizabeth, born 16 July 1871 in Tomah, Wisconsin and died 21 May 1944 in Alameda, California. She married Eric H May on 30 September 1902 in Santa Clara, California. He was born 14 August 1878 in California and he died 13 March 1973 in Okland, California.
2. Mary Hanna, born 27 March 1875 in Tomah, Wisconsin and died 24 June 1929 in Berkeley, California. She marrried Edwin Williams. They had one child,
   • Donald Williams.
3. Grace Ellen, born 14 January 1882 in California and died 5 March 1956 in Los Angeles County, California. She married Ernest L Sprinkle in July 1935 at Claremont, California. He was born 13 December 1871 in Tennessee and died 5 March 1955 in Los Angeles County, California.
4. Robert William, born 11 October 1887 in Saratoga, California and died 26 November 1945 in Los Angeles, California. They had two Children
   1. Stuart Green, born 28 June 1918 in Palo Alto, California and died 2 February 2001 in Tucson, Arizona. He married Lenore H Oehlmann in about 1951, she was born 7 October 1925 in Alameda, California and died 5 September 1984 in San Mateo. They had two children,
      • Robert H, he married Linda.
      • Thomas W, he married Tina, they had two children,
        • Alex
        • Morgan
   2. Rosemary, born 16 November 1922 in San Francisco, California and died 17 November 2008 in Portola Valley, California. She married in 1950 to William Hornby, they had two children,
      • Melinda Cross
      • Megan

4 Mary Antoinette CROSS born 25 Sep 1849, "born in the village of Roscoe"⁽⁴⁾, Winnebago Co., IL She died 1 Sep 1851 in Roscoe, Winnebago Co., IL.

5 Lewis B. CROSS born 31 Oct 1851 "in Roscoe village"⁽⁴⁾, Winnebago Co., IL Died 5 Apr 1931 in Wood River, Hall, Neb. He married Lydia BOONE (m 19 Mar 1873).

Robert J Cross Time Line -

• Birth - 1 October 1803 in Newburgh, Orange Co., New York, the son of John Cross and Margaret Hanna Cross.
• 1824 May, he purchased 75 acres from William A. Peck, Ontario County Courthouse, Canandaigua, NY.
• 1825 June, in Tecumseh, MI, Robert J. Cross, entered four hundred acres of land on section eight.
• 1826 September, the last day of, came to Tecumseh to make it our home.
• 1826, During that fall and winter, we built our log cabin.
• 1830 in the autumn we bought land, and removed to Coldwater in Branch county.
• 1832 only returning to Tecumseh in to take to my new home the girl who had agreed to share life with me in the pioneer's cabin. [actually this is his brother William Hnna Cross]
• 1835, June when he came to his present residence in Winnebago Co., Illinois, (where he continually resided until his death).
• 1836 August, being a member of the election board for the first election ever held in Winnebago Co., IL.
• 1836, at their first meeting, He was elected by the County Commissioners, County Treasurer, which position he held for three years.
• 1836, Sept. 18 he married Miss Hannah Benedict, of Monroe Co., N. Y.
• 1841 April 13,. Winnebago County Agricultural Society was organized Robert J. Cross, vice-president.
• 1846, he was elected by the Whigs as a representative to the General Assembly for his county
• 1847, as the colleague of Hon. Selden M. Church, a delegate to revise the Constitution of the State.
• 1849 Sent letter to Congressman Abraham Lincoln of Illinois.
• 1862, he was an independent candidate for the position of delegate to the Convention to again revise the constitution but narrowly defeated.
• 1869 he was unanimously nominated by the Republicans for member of the Convention that formed our present constitution. Later he was nominated by the Republicans and elected one of the three members from Winnebago and Boone Counties to the General Assembly.
• Chairman of the Board of Supervisors several years, occupying that position at the time of his death.
• 1873 Feb 15 date of death.

¹On the banks of the upper Delaware in the hilly country of Sullivan county New York in the town of Bethel on the 6th day of March 1807 William Hanna Cross was born His father John Cross was an only son of Joseph Cross of county Londonderry Ireland who soon after the birth of John left his wife and child and came to America.

The Revolution of the colonies soon after commenced and the wife never again met her husband nor heard from him but a few times but learned that he had joined the armies of the colonies and was wounded at Charleston South Carolina and so concluded that he died from this cause

Left alone the mother struggled to provide for herself and child and soon after he arrived at an age sufficient to do somewhat for his own support she too left him then alone in the world. By dint of hard work and self denial the lad obtained a limited education and before he attained his majority became a convert to Methodism and was licensed as one of Wesley's earliest itinerants in his native land. In his travels he met Margaret the young widow of Bernard Connolly of Armagh, a daughter of the aristocratic Hannas of Newry and contrary to their wishes the young itinerant and the blooming widow were married.

The opposition of the wife's family continuing the young couple removed to Sligo where they resided for several years and until after the Emmett rebellion in 1798. Mr Cross protected some of the implicated parties and in consequence fell under the suspicion of the government as being in sympathy with the rebels and his business as a grocer which he had taken up some time after his removal to Sligo was so much disturbed that in 1803 he determined to remove to America.

Fearing annoyance and possible arrest the mother took the family and crossed the Atlantic alone with the children leaving the father to close up his business and follow her two months later when they were again united in New York city and after a short stay settled in Newburgh Orange county New York where Robert J the brother of the subject of this sketch was born in 1804. In 1806 the family removed to Bethel Sullivan county where Mr Cross engaged in the mercantile business. Here in the rude school houses of that day under the government of the birch rod and maple ruler the ideas of school education instilled into the youthful minds of Robert J and William H were wrought out.

The second war with Great Britain in 1812 so disturbed all business relations that Mr Cross found himself at its close financially crushed and the mother having some means in Ireland and hoping for some aid from her family there to check the tide of misfortune left her home to again cross the ocean in 1815 going and returning alone but bringing means with her sufficient only to stay the rush downward for a time. After struggling on between hope and fear for a few years they at last gave up all and in 1822 removed to Bloomfield, Ontario county where the father gave up the unequal contest in July 1824 and sank to his rest.

The sisters being married and the two remaining sons being aged twenty one and eighteen respectively the family home was broken up in the spring of 1825. Robert J coming in June of that year to Tecumseh, Lenawee county, Michigan and locating a farm whither in September 1826 he and William removed and began their pioneer life as bachelors being their own cooks housekeepers and washer women sick at times and no one to care for them but the sympathizing settler miles away perhaps yet gaining a self reliance that no school but that of bitter experience could give. For a year and a half theirs was the frontier cabin on the Raisin River. In 1829 William transported a load of goods to Mottville to the old trader Elias Taylor and looked first upon the prairies of the west. He hauled one thousand five hundred pounds of merchandise mostly whisky with two yoke of oxen and was three weeks on the round trip. The view of Sturgis prairie so pleased the young man that the brothers sold their lands on the Raisin in June 1830 and in the month of September following selected their farms at Coldwater then the town of Greene county of St Joseph being the east three quarters of section twenty two.

In November following they built their second cabin twelve by fourteen feet inside with a sloping roof to the north leaving the roof inside at the rear but six feet high. Here they spent two winters and one summer hauling their supplies the first year from Tecumseh and Detroit. In the fall and winter of 1831-32 William built a log house on his own farm on the same ground now occupied by the mansion of Judge Loveridge of Coldwater. But a bachelor's freedom could not always compensate for its other disadvantages and the pioneer met his fate at Tecumseh where on the 12th day of March 1832 he surrendered his single blessedness unconditionally to find a more perfect union and was united in marriage to Nancy a daughter of John and Lydia Landon of Ithaca New York.

Scarcely six weeks had passed when the Black Hawk war which had been raging in Illinois reached Michigan in its effects and the colonists were called to the defense of their own borders and to assist their brethren farther west and the young bride was left with two others who had just passed the honeymoon with her. Mrs Judge Harvey Warner and Mrs James B Tompkins to alternate fears and hopes while the young husband shouldered his rifle in obedience to the command of the State and the instincts of self preservation. But the cloud of war was soon dissipated by the capture of Black Hawk and the young people were reunited in about three weeks and business though seriously interfered with recommenced again on the farm. In June 1835 Mr Cross and his brother Robert sold their farms to an eastern company Robert going to Winnebago county Illinois and settling on Rock River where he died in 1873."

"During his years of minority Robert resided mostly in Bethel, Sullivan Co., of that state."

Report of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan, vol. 2, 1901, an article by Judge Wm. H. Cross: "In the month of June, 1825, just one year from the time of the first settlement of Tecumseh, now fifty-four years ago, my brother, Robert J. Cross, entered four hundred acres of land on section eight. Before making this selection he had been through the south part of Oakland county the northwest part of Wayne County, and all the settlements of Washtenaw county, and finally made choice of a farm in Tecumseh. "On the last day of September, 1826, we came to Tecumseh to make it our home. On Sunday morning, the first day of October, we started up the river on the west side to find our land. We passed Jacob Woodward's ......etc.."

"During that fall and winter (1826), we built our log cabin, and for more than a year and a half it was the extreme cabin of the settlement on the east side of the river, and on the main trail up and down the river, and at least a score of Indians passed our place to one white man....." (He goes on to describe other experiences.)

"In the autumn of 1827, my brother and myself were taken down with the fever and ague, and on writing back to our mother that we were ill, she determined to come and see her sick boys; and in November of that year she came and kept house for us--we having kept bachelor's hall till then. But when winter was over it was the wish of our mother to go to Tecumseh on the Sabbaths to attend meeting, for once in six, then four, and ere long, two weeks we had preaching, and I being the youngest must provide a way to go. So, on Sunday morning I must start out and find the oxen and yoke them to the large lumber wagon; then get mother into the wagon, and start for the school house, which was also the meeting house, and by the time we reached Brownville, we would have a wagon load of women and children, and the men were walking alongside. On arriving at the school house we would chain the oxen to a wheel of the wagon, seat ourselves on the slab benches, and perhaps worship as fervently and acceptably as cushioned pews to rest in, and a hired choir to sing our songs of praise for us. After the service we used to ride home leisurely in the strong carriage, and get home before night....etc."

"In 1829 I took a trip on White Pigeon and Mottsville to haul a load of goods to Mr. Taylor, an Indian trader, located at the Chicago trail and the St. Joseph river, and then I first saw a western prairie, but while the trip was a rough and tedious one, the country so pleased me that my brother and I sold our farms the next year, and in the autumn of 1830 we bought land, and removed to Coldwater in Branch county, only returning to Tecumseh in 1832 to take to my new home the girl who had agreed to share life with me in the pioneer's cabin." (There are about four printed pages of this account, but no more mention of his brother, Robert J. Cross who went to Roscoe area in 1835. I guess their mother came back to Michigan again since the Coldwater history shows she had 80 acres there in 1834 and 162 acres in 1836. Supposedly she died there in 1846 at Ann Arbor.)

From History of Branch Co., Mich., 1879; "Col. A. F. Bolton was the first justice of peace for Coldwater, receiving his appointment in the fall of 1830; Robert J. Cross being the second, of whom it is related that on being proposed for the office he at first declined, but on being pressed accepted on condition that one of his friends, better versed in judicial lore, teach him the difference between a summons and a subpoena....."

"The following entries were made on ground covered by the township: Margaret Cross, 162.73 acres, March 28, 1836; Wm. H. Cross, 40 acres, Oct. 22, 1835; Wm. H. Cross 146.16 acres, Oct. 22, 1835; Margaret Cross, 80 acres, May 15, 1834, Wm. H. Cross, 80 acres, Aug. 27, 1831; Wm. H. Cross, 53.15 acres, Jan. 6, 1836."

The following is a quotation.² "When about 22 years of age, he with a younger brother, decided to emigrate to the then far West, and going to Detroit, purchased a farm in Tecumseh, Lenawa Co., where he remained until 1830. He and his brother then sold out and removed to Coldwater, Mich., where they remained until June, 1835, when he came to his present residence in Winnebago Co., Illinois, (where he continually resided until his death). The next year he married Miss Hannah Benedict, of Monroe Co., N. Y., who still survives him. (She was a charter member of the Roscoe Congregational Church organised 28 November 1843.)³

At the time Mr. Cross came to Roscoe, no land was in market and he was forced to purchase a squatter's right to his present farm, and as some of the land in Wisconsin was subject to entry in the Green Bay land district, he selected some along the Rock River from Janesville to Beloit, and on foot and alone he made his way to Green Bay, through an unbroken wilderness, and bought his land in Wisconsin.
(Click here to view list of his land patents in Rock Co. About 670 acres total.)

From thence via the lakes he returned to Detroit and Coldwater, and in the fall of that year became the occupant of the present homestead. Mr. Cross was essentially a pioneer--a man of strong frame of body, of unyielding tenacity for the right; even in boyhood the champion of the feeble, or those he deemed oppressed.

"He was a stalwart oak, on whom could ever lean the feeble and the frail--as Minister E. B. Washburne declared, a "Noble Old Roman." A farmer all his life, and yet a firm, reliable business man, as a life constantly occupied in public affairs proved him to be. Yet he was ever as tender in heart as a little child, and his sympathy was even larger than his frame, or his purse; and truly was it said of him, those who knew him best, loved him most.

"During his residence of 36 years in this County, Mr. Cross was closely and intimately identified with its development, politically, socially and materially, never being backward in anything that would aid in its moral or religious advancement. A warm friend of education, he always lent a willing hand to aid in building school houses and establishing schools.

Click here to view his own tales about early Roscoe

"Mr. Cross assisted at the organization of the county, being a member of the election board for the first election ever held in it, August, 1836. He was elected by the County Commissioners in 1836, at their first meeting, County Treasurer, which position he held for three years. In 1846, he was elected by the Whigs as a representative to the General Assembly for his county, and in 1847, by them as the colleague of Hon. Selden M. Church, a delegate to revise the Constitution of the State. In 1862, he was an independent candidate for the position of delegate to the Convention to again revise the constitution, but was defeated by a small plurality. In 1869 he was unanimously nominated by the Republicans for member of the Convention that formed our present constitution, and was elected without opposition. Later he was nominated by the Republicans and elected one of the three members from Winnebago and Boone Counties to the General Assembly. In all these legislative bodies he has borne an honorable and conspicuous part.

"In addition to this, Mr. Cross was Chairman of the Board of Supervisors several years, occupying that position at the time of his death.

"He was also township School Fund Trustee for over thirty consecutive years, during which time the township never suffered loss from the funds being loaned on insufficient securities, as was the case in most townships.

"He had five children, John, Margaret, Louisa, William Henry, Marie Antoinette(deceased), and Lewis. The estimation in which he was held was manifest by delegations of early settlers of the county, members of the Board of Supervisors and from the State Legislature, in attendance at his funeral."⁴

"The first claims against the county were presented at this session, (August 1836).⁵ Germanicus Kent, Robert J. Cross and J. P. Griggs, as judges of election, and D. A. Spaulding and S. A. Lee, as clerks, were allowed one dollar each...D. A. Spaulding was allowed fifty cents for stationery furnished for poll-books."

"At that time the assessment was made by the county treasurer, and taxes were collected by the Sheriff. R. C. Cross, the treasurer, consumed fifteen days in making this assessment. His compensation was thirty dollars, or two dollars per day. He was also allowed nine dollars and twenty-eight cents, for receiving and disbursing the taxes when collected. This commission was two per cent on four hundred and sixty-four dollars, the amount actually collected."⁶

The Winnebago County Agricultural Society "was organized April 13, 1841. Dr. Haskell was elected president; Robert J. Cross, vice-president. An exhibition was held on the 13Th. of October. Thus was held, in a single day, the first cattle show in northern Illinois."⁷

"In pursuance of an act of the general assembly, approved February 20, 1847, a constitutional convention assembled at Springfield, June 7th. of the same year. The delegates from Winnebago county were Selden M. Church and Robert J. Cross... Upon organization of the convention, Mr. Church was appointed a member of the standing committee on the organization of departments and office connected with the executive department; Mr. Cross, a member of the committee on the bill of rights... On June 26Th. Mr. Cross introduced the following resolution: 'Resolved, That the committee on elections and the right of suffrage be instructed to inquire into the expediency of changing the time of holding elections from the first Monday in August to the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, and the manner of voting from 'vive voce' to ballot.' Mr. Cross also led in an effort to secure the new constitution a provision for a state superintendent of schools, with a liberal salary."⁸

Robert J Cross gravestone.
Roscoe, Illinois Cemetery.

Find A Grave view

• Roscoe Township Founder Park Named after Robert J Cross
• Roscoe Township purchase of Cross Home

1. Source (2), Page 618.
2. Source (2), Page 618.
3. Source (35), Page 26.
4. Source (36)
5. Source (2), Page 619.
6. Source (50), Page 57.
7. Source (50), Page 84.
8. Source (50), Page 172.
9. Source (50), Page 264.

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