During his business career there was no man better or more favorably known in the eastern part of Scott County than Joseph Gross. Mr. Gross was born in Alsace, France (now German), on the Rhine, January 26, 1824. His early educational advantages were very meager, and hence what he learned was in the practical school of experience. His parents died when he was quite young, and being thrown upon his own resources, he decided to learn the cabinet-maker's trade. After he completed his apprenticeship he was employed as a journeyman cabinet-maker until he came to America, which was in May of 1851. He came direct to Le Claire, Iowa, and is said to have been the first German who settled in that Township. He first secured employment in the boat yards, and then worked at odd jobs until 1866, when he had saved up a small amount of money and opened a cabinet shop. Through strict attention to business and the economy practiced by himself and wife, he built up a prosperous trade, putting in after a time a stock of furniture and undertaker's goods. For many years he was the leading undertaker of that vicinity, and continued in that business until his health failed and compelled him to dispose of his interests and retire from the active conduct of affairs. He never regained his health, and passed away March 16, 1886. He was a member of the Catholic Church and a staunch Republican.
August 11, 1851, he was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Schweine, who was born in Bavaria, November 11, 1826. Of this union seven children were born: Louise died young, Lewis died, aged eleven; George died in infancy, Matilda died at the age of fourteen, Albert L grew to manhood and was a very successful business man; he died September 2, 1894, aged thirty-five and unmarried; Elizabeth M. married N.M. Smith and resides in Le Claire; Amelia, the youngest daughter, married Charles S. Simpson and lives on the homestead.
In November, 1888, the home of Mrs. Gross was destroyed by fire, and in 1889 she erected the handsomest residence in Le Claire, over looking the Mississippi river, and equipped with all the modern improvements.
As a merchant, husband and father, Mr. Gross was respected and loved, and in this history of the representative men of Scott County he is entitled to honorable mention as one who achieved success, lived uprightly and wrought worthily during his lifetime.
BIOGRAPHIES