Vincent Gross

As printed in 1912

VINCENT GROSS (Deceased)

The late Vincent Gross was one of the best known men in Johnson county, where he was one of the early settlers, and where he redeemed several pieces of land from the wilderness. He was born near Belford, France, January 8, 1822, and was a son of Gregory Gross, who fought twelve years under General Napoleon. He came to America in 1840 and first located in Ohio. He learned the trade of blacksmith from Henry Cook, of Harrisburg, Stark county, that state, and came to Iowa City in 1842, helping to make the first plows manufactured in that city. He laid out the village of South Liberty, the postoffice being named Bon Accord, and which was in Liberty township.

Vincent Gross crossed the ocean in a sailing vessel, which was thirty-two days making the voyage, and on the same ship there came Nicholas Birrer and his eldest son, Martin Birrer, the latter of whom still lives in Liberty township, Johnson comity. The place where Nicholas Birrer settled is now occupied by John Dietch. The Birrer family were prominent in the early history of the region and are given further mention elsewhere in this work. After landing at New York City, the Gross and Birrer families went on to Albany and thence over the Erie Canal to Buffalo, then by boat to Cleveland, whence they went overland to Canton, formerly the home of President McKinley. In June, 1845, Mr. Gross went to Wellsville, Pennsylvania, and thence down the Ohio and up the Mississippi river to what is now Muscatine, but was then Bloomington, Iowa. There his brother, Gregory Gross, met him with teams and they crossed the prairies to Iowa City, then the state capital. Soon afterward Vincent Gross opened a blacksmith shop at South Liberty, and the town was surveyed and the plat laid out May 9, 1857, the name of the postoffice, which was Bon Accord, being recorded July 10, of the same year, in the presence of F. H. Lee, a notary public of Iowa City. There were then eight or ten houses, two general stores, a harness shop, a shoemaker's establishment and a wagon shop. Around this little hamlet were sometimes seen as many as twenty ox wagons, and a stage coach passed the town.

Among the papers left by Vincent Gross were records of many early transactions in the town, which have been printed in the form of a pamphlet and which form interesting reading to the present generation. He purchased several preemption claims from soldiers of the War of 1812, and also made many purchases from the Government direct, the latter including the place now occupied by his son Charles, the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 18, township 78, range 6, the title for which was dated March 1, 1850, signed by Zachary Taylor (President), and made upon a sheepskin. He paid $50 for forty acres to Cushing Shaw, an Ohio veteran of the War of 1812, the deed being also signed by Polly Shaw, and dated January 29, 1853. He secured the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 17, Liberty township, by paying $100 to William Secor, who received a deed December 24, 1845. His brother Gregory entered forty acres comprising the northeast quarter of section 18 of the same township, the deed executed by William B. Ford, J. P. On September 4, 1848, Mr. Gross secured his final naturalization papers, before the district court at Iowa City, signed by Clerk Stephen Gardner and witnessed by Frank Joseph Schnoebelin. His land purchases included several other patents which he purchased from veterans of the War of 1812, and in this way the land now owned by his descendants has passed through very few hands and is subject to very few entries on the title deed. Gregory Gross executed a title dated March 13, 1856, when he was justice of the peace, the same being signed by Zachary Taylor and comprising the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 18, of the two previously mentioned, and this piece of ground, one-half an acre in extent, was the site of the school house.

Mr. Gross erected a log house, which he occupied for many years, then built a more pretentious home, but when the latter burned, he again lived in the original log house. He subsequently erected a comfortable residence which is now occupied by one of his sons. He continued working at the trade of blacksmith until 1860. His son Charles purchased the original homestead for the sum of thirty dollars per acre, and also owns all except two lots of the old townsite. As mentioned in the sketch of the latter, Vincent Gross made his own horse shoe nails. He was an expert in his line and worked at his trade many years before there was much machinery to make it easy to conduct a blacksmith and repair shop. He became well known for the high quality of his work and had a good patronage. He donated a piece of ground, where a log school house was erected, but upon the school being located elsewhere in later years, the land reverted to the door and is now a part of the farm of his son Charles.

Mr. Gross was one of the original members of St. Stanislaus Roman Catholic church, which was located in the same township and southwest of his home, and was one of the earnest workers in the cause. He was a democrat in politics. He was among the few pioneers who entered land from the Government, and was one of the most industrious men of his day. For a long time his nearest trading point was Bloomington, or Muscatine, as it is now named, and the medium of exchange was some kind of goods. Very little money was needed and that was for paying taxes, for which the early settlers managed to procure some currency. The old spinning wheel which his wife used for preparing the cloth for family use is still in the possession of the family. She used lindsey for the girls ' dresses and made jeans for the boys. She, as well as her husband, worked hard, and they reared a large family. She was a good manager and a kind and loving mother, caring for the physical and moral welfare of her family and helping to win the success which became their in a financial sense.

On Independence Day, 1846, Vincent Gross married Phoebe March, daughter of John and sister of Enoch Marks, of Hills. The marriage ceremony was performed by an early missionary in St. Mary's church at Iowa City. They became parents of the following children: Mary, Mrs. Jacob Hirt, of Hills, Iowa; Mrs. Sarah Anna Reed; Frank, of California; John, of

Omaha; Charles, a sketch of whom also appears in this work; Celia, wife of J. Smith, of Liberty township; Eva, wife of Philip Michael, of Sharon township; Ida, wife of Albert Ruppenkamp, whose farm adjoins the old Gross farm on the west. The father of these children served in many public offices, such as township trustee, school director, and member of the town board, of which he was president for some time. He died September 19, 1900, at the age of seventy-seven years, and his widow survived until January 8, 1906, when she passed away, at the age of seventy-five years. Both are held in loving memory by their surviving children and are held in kind remembrance by their many friends. They had made a home in a new country and had done their share to help along in the general progress of events, always having at heart the welfare of the community with which they were identified.

VON STEIN — RoSSLER

John Peter von Stein was born at Neunkirchen, Germany, December 28, 1819, and died at Iowa City, Iowa, December 13, 1903. He was the elder son of John William von Stein, who was born December 14, 1782, at Neunkirchen, Germany, and died March 3, 1835, at Chambersburg, Franklin county, Pennsylvania. The latter was married May 8, 1814, to Anna Barbara Blumenschein, of Winterkasten, Germany, who was born February 28, 1787, and died February 24, 1855. They, with their five children, planned to go to Canada, but changed their minds and about 1827 settled in Pennsylvania. Of the five children, two, John Peter and John Philip, came to Johnson county, Iowa; Marie Katharine died in childhood; Mrs. Marie Barbara Kliih and Mrs. Marie Katharine Klock remained in Pennsylvania. John Philip enlisted in the Union army during the Civil War and gave his life for his country, in the battle of Cedar Creek.

, John Peter von Stein outlived his brother and sisters. He was eight years old when his parents came to America. In 1838, when he was eighteen years of age, he left Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and went with a family of his acquaintance to St. Louis, Missouri. That being a "dry" year and so:;

the Ohio river low, the trip was made in a flatboat from Pittsburg. He remained six months in St. Louis, during which time he was employed in a boot and shoe establishment. At the end of that time he returned to Chambersburg and there, later, conducted a boot and shoe business of his own. His arrival in Iowa City was prior to the advent of the railroad, and it was while he was associated with Jacob Ricord in the boot and shoe business that the first iron horse awoke the echoes on the Iowa river. The Pennsylvania House was his boarding place in these primitive days. Pending the arrival of the railway, however, John Peter von Stein was not idle, for in 1850 be was the owner of one hundred ami sixty acres of land near North Liberty, in Penn township, to which be later turned his practical attention, adding to his holdings until he was the owner of two hundred and ninety-nine acres in that township. On April 5, 1858, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Friedricke Rossler, daughter of John George Rossler. The young people improved their farm in Penn township and made it their home until 1893, when they sold it and removed to Iowa City, where they built a home in 1894.

Mr. von Stein's ancestors have been adherents of the Lutlieran faith since the Reformation. Both he and his wife were descendants of families that stood for good citizenship and the betterment of mankind. The von Stein family formerly came from Switzerland, and later went to Germany. It is said of the progenitors of the von Stein and Rossler families that they were trustworthy, deserving people, and frequently held official position in the Fatherland.

John Peter and Mary Friedricke von Stein were the parents of five children: Anna Catherine, Mary Charlotte, George William, Sarah Elizabeth and one daughter who died in infancy. George William also died in childhood. The remaining children reside on the Iowa City homestead. Sarah Elizabeth was formerly a teacher in the public schools of Iowa City. Mr. von Stein was a firm believe in the principles of democracy and gave his active political support to the democratic party.

Mary Friedricke Rossler, who became Mr. von Stein 's' wife, was born December 9, 1827, in Wurtemburg, Germany. Her maternal grandfather was Gottlieb Emmanuel Ebersard Seutter, a native of Germany, who came to America in 1830 and died about the age of sixty-three years and was buried near Columbus, Ohio. He married Marie Dorothea Weingartner, who was born and died in Germany. Katherine Dorothea Seutter, daughter of this couple and mother of Mrs. von Stein, was born at Grossglattbach, Wurtemburg, Germany, September 10, 1800. She became the wife of John George Rossler, who was born in Germany February 13, 1796, and died at his home in Sharon township, Johnson county, August 5, 1859. The parents of Mr. Rossler were Christopher and Marie Agnes Rossler, both natives of Germany. John George Rossler, with his wife and seven children, came to America in 1830. Mrs. Rossler 's father accompanied them on the ocean voyage, which occupied thirty-five days, in a sailing packet or mail vessel. The travelers went up the Hudson river to Albany, thence to Buffalo and Cleveland, and then on to Columbiana county, Ohio, where they located. After remaining there four years, they moved to Warren county, Ohio. Disposing of their land there in 1840, they started for Iowa. Their arrival at Iowa City occurred on July 3, 1840, and the following day was deeply impressed on their memories from the fact that it was the day of the laying of the cornerstone of the new capitol building, as well as the second Fourth of July celebration in Iowa City. Iowa's capital city at that time contained about forty or fifty families.

After spending about eighteen months in Iowa City, John George Rossler and family settled in Sharon township and began to improve his farm, in the fall of 184-1. In 185b' he sold his farm of five hundred acres and located in the same township south of the farm which later became the homestead of his son Jacob. There Mr. Rossler spent his last days. Some years later his widow took up her above next door to her son Jacob and this was her last home. She died when in her seventy-ninth year, January 27, 1879.

Five of the ten children of John George and Katherine Dorothea (Seutter) Rossler lived to old age. The dates of their births and deaths are as follows: Christopher Samuel, born December 26, 1819, died November 3, 1893; Gottlieb Friedrich, born March 19, 1821, died May 10, 1889; John Jacob, born October-1, 1822, died February 10, 1911; Marie Katherine, who married John Bruhn, was born July 1, 1824, and died March 10, 1887; Mary Friedricke von Stein, born December 9, 1827, died July 5, 1900. All of these mentioned were born in Germany, became residents of Johnson county, and there spent their declining years.

These pioneer families were among many who contributed largely to the transformation of Johnson county and the surrounding country. They built comfortable homes, and their hospitality was extended to all. They reared families who, like themselves, are casting their influence for all that is uplifting in their communities.

The Rossler and von Stein ancestry having been Lutherans, it was not surprising that John Peter von Stein and his wife should have taken a deep interest in the affairs of the church. Both were charter members of the English Lutheran church at North Liberty and were active in all departments of its work. They left an appreciable good influence in the neighborhood where they were early settlers and all who knew them revere and cherish their memory.

As printed in Leading events in Johnson County, Iowa, history (1912). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.