Husband William Cross 1 2 3 4
Born: Abt 1785
Christened:
Died: 24 Nov 1861 - Clintonville, Clinton Twp, Venango Co, PA 2 5
Buried: - Cross Cemetery, Clintonville, Venango Co, PA 6
Father: Samuel Cross ( -1841) 2 3 7 8
Mother: Unknown ( - )
Marriage:
Wife Jane Weakly 2 3
AKA: Jane Merkley,4 Jane Weakley 9 10
Born: Abt 1783
Christened:
Died: 20 Dec 1862 - Clintonville, Clinton Twp, Venango Co, PA
Buried: - Cross Cemetery, Clintonville, Venango Co, PA 6
Father: Robert Weakly ( - ) 2 3
Mother:
Children
1 M Samuel W. Cross 2 10 11 12
Born: 1809
Christened:
Died: 1880
Buried: - Cross Cemetery, Clintonville, Venango Co, PA 13
Spouse: Anna Jane McCutcheon (1823-1905) 12 14
2 M Judge Robert Cross 2 4 10 11
Born: 3 May 1811 - Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co, PA 2 11
Christened:
Died: 22 Jun 1874 - Clintonville, Clinton Twp, Venango Co, PA 2 11
Buried: - Cross Cemetery, Clintonville, Venango Co, PA 13
Spouse: Hannah McKissick (1816-1893) 2 4 10 15
Marr: 25 Dec 1835 2 10 15
3 F Harriet Cross 10 11 16
Born: Abt 1813
Christened:
Died: 12 Apr 1835
Buried: - Cross Cemetery, Clintonville, Venango Co, PA 6
Spouse: Thomas Hoge (1808-1885) 10 11 17 18
Marr: 1835 19
4 M Wilson Cross 2 10 11
Born: Abt 1815
Christened:
Died: 2 Apr 1837
Buried: - Cross Cemetery, Clintonville, Venango Co, PA 13
5 F Caroline [1] Cross 2 10 11
Born: Abt 1820
Christened:
Died: 24 Sep 1822
Buried: - Cross Cemetery, Clintonville, Venango Co, PA 13
Spouse: Did Not Marry
6 M William Carlisle Cross 10 11 20 21
Born: 22 Jan 1823 - Butler Co, PA 22
Christened:
Died: 1895
Buried: - Cross Cemetery, Clintonville, Venango Co, PA 6
Spouse: Isabella Cummings (1828-1867) 20 22
Marr: 20 Sep 1848 20 22
Spouse: Mrs. Mary Jane Ford ( - ) 22 23
7 F Caroline [2] Cross 10 11
Born: Abt 1826
Christened:
Died: 30 Nov 1830
Buried: - Cross Cemetery, Clintonville, Venango Co, PA 13
Spouse: Did Not Marry
8 F Sarah Jane Cross 2 10 11
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Nathan Davis ( - ) 2 10 11
9 F Matilda Cross 2 10 11
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: John Maxwell ( - ) 2 10 11
General Notes: Husband - William Cross
He died Nov 3, 1861. [HVC 1879, 572]
He was one of the enterprising men of Venango County, Pennsylvania, and during the prosperous period of the iron industry, one of its wealthy citizens. He removed from Centerville, Butler County, to Franklin in 1831, and within the next twenty years placed six furnaces in operation in Venango County, two of which were in Clinton township. He came to Clintonville in 1835. The region was then heavily timbered; there were deposits of ore accessible at comparatively slight expense, while the water power of Scrubgrass creek was scarcely utilized at all. The mill built by Craft Ghost, on its west branch, was still in operation, and this, with several hundred acres of land, was purchased by Mr. Cross. He built a frame mill, with two sets of buhrs, a mile west of Clintonville, where the Mercer road crosses Scrubgrass creek, in 1837. A race was built to the dam at Ghost's mill, a mile and a half distant. It was a marvel of engineering skill; the region through which it passed was wild and rocky, and in many places the channel was constructed at great labor and expense. When completed it provided a fall of fifty feet, sufficient to furnish motive power for a grist mill, saw mill, foundry, carding mill, and blast furnace. The foundry was on the north side of the road. Here hollow-ware, plows, potash kettles, stoves, etc., were made, and sold in the surrounding country. In 1840 a carding mill was built, farther down the creek. There were two carding machines, and here wool was prepared for domestic manufacture. A little later a tannery was built on the east side of the creek; there were also a furniture factory, blacksmith and tailor shops. Patrick Thornbury and William Baird were in charge of the foundry; James and Andrew Russell were cabinet makers; Isaac Miles was the tanner; William Atwell, the blacksmith; and George Jack, the tailor; James Weakley had charge of the carding mill.
The construction of Jane furnace was begun in 1840. It was built of stone; the cupola was thirty-five feet high with a bosh diameter of seven feet. It was first put in blast November 7, 1842. Like all furnaces of that day, the cold blast was in use and charcoal was used as fuel. Charcoal burning thereupon became an important industry. Wood choppers received from forty to fifty cents per cord, and colliers from two dollars and a half to two dollars and seventy-five cents per hundred bushels, after deducting the cost of the wood. The metal was hauled to the mouth of Scrubgrass at a cost of one dollar and a half to two dollars per ton, and shipped to Pittsburgh by flat boat, for which one dollar per ton was charged. The cost of ore ranged from two dollars and a half to three dollars and a quarter per ton. The best limestone ore was obtained at the Buchanan bank in Butler county, ten miles distant. There were about fifteen houses occupied by the furnace operatives, who received from sixteen to forty dollars per month. Jane furnace blew out in 1859, but before that date the tannery, foundry, etc., had successively fallen into disuse. [HVC 1890, 719]
He served during the War of 1812 in the commissary department. Removing in 1831 to Franklin, Pennsylvania, he leased a forge and engaged in the manufacture of iron there for a short time, also living in Rockland Township, Venango County, before he settled at Clintonville, in July, 1835. There he made his home during the remainder of his life, one of the most active business men of his day. He erected a residence and store, being the first merchant at that place, and for years carried on a grocery and general mercantile business alone or in association with others, a great part of the time in partnership with his son Robert. But he was especially well known as a skillful builder of furnaces, having erected and operated the following: Slab furnace, in Cranberry Township; Sandy, in Victory Township; Van Buren, in Cranberry Township; Bullion and Jane, in Clinton Township; Forest, near Tionesta; and Pleasant Grove, in Lancaster County. He was also interested in various grist, carding and saw mills, erecting many in the western counties of Pennsylvania, and at one time having seven in active operation. His energy never abated, though he lived to his seventy-sixth year. After the discovery of oil in his locality he spent a great deal of time and money in experiments with refining, a process not yet understood, skimming oil from the surfaces of rivers and creeks for this purpose. He put thirteen thousand dollars into these experiments. His death occurred while he was driving home to Clintonville in his wagon with a supply of oil from the river. He was a member of the United Presbyterian Church, and a Whig in politics. [HVC 1919, 603]
The family had the best educational advantages possible here at the time, the parents, who were among the most advanced residents of the locality, taking great interest in the establishment of the academy and helping to start it. [HVC 1919, 603]
General Notes: Wife - Jane Weakly
She was the founder of the famous Jane academy.
She died at seventy-five years of age. [HVC 1919, 603]