A Look at the Will of Charles Cross

Recently I had an opportunity to view the will of my fourth great grandfather Charles Cross. His will, now on microfiche at the Erie County Courthouse,was Case #1028 in Erie County Probate Court, which was filed at the Courthouse shortly after the death of Charles Cross on November, 18, 1889. Judge A.E. Merrill was the judge of Erie County Probate Court in 1889.

Some of the pages of the will were very difficult to read.






















The undertaker who handled my great great great great grandfather's funeral was J. Krupp & Son, on Market Street in Sandusky. Besides handling funerals and embalming, J. Krupp & Son were also furniture makers. The bill states that Charles Cross had a cloth casket with handles and a name plate, and eight hacks had been in use at his funeral.















The tombstone of Charles Cross was purchased from Christian Schlenk. The monument cost $65.00, and the engraving cost $24.00.





















Several members of the Cross family are remembered on this monument at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio.


















This section of the will of Charles Cross gives the names and residences of his four surviving children. Sons James Cross and Charles A. Cross both lived in Sandusky, Ohio. Catherine/Katherine Dunham was living in Buffalo Gap in South Dakota. South Dakota had just become a state in the same month that Charles Cross died, so the state is listed simply as Dakota. Another daughter, Mary Cowell, was living in Antwerp, Ohio in 1889.
















A portion of the inventory of items in the household of Charles Cross included a listing of the titles of several books and periodicals. Charles Cross owned books about religion, travel, history, geography, and literature. He seems to have been a man of many interests!






















While I was unable to read every single word on this lengthy document, I certainly learned some interesting things about Great Great Great Great Grandfather Charles Cross! I am fortunate that the wills of many of my ancestors are on file right in my hometown. Now if there were only more hours in a day, so I could get on with that task!