‘DARIUS CROSS was born in Rowe, Franklin County, Mass., June 5, 1814. His father, Jude Cross, was born in Bucklin, Franklin County, Mass., October 15, 1773. His father, Abel Cross, came from England and settled in Bucklin, early in 1700. He was a soldier in the French and Indian War, and was taken prisoner by the Indians and imprisoned in Detroit for two years, when he made his escape and returned to Massachusetts. He afterwards served through the Revolutionary War.
Jude Cross was a farmer, and always lived in Franklin County, Mass. He was the father of fifteen children, and died in Rowe, December 26, 1852. He was married twice. First to Mary Ware, of Bucklin, February 7, 1793. She died in Rowe, September 11, 1819. He next married Susannah Wheeler, of Zoar, Mass., in 1820. She died March 30, 1859.
Darius Cross lived in Bucklin until the fall of 1837, when he came to Michigan and took up 80 acres of land in Medina township. He chopped off an acre or so, and sold out to a man named Perry. He afterwards purchased land near Madison Centre. He has resided in Madison ever since. Mr. Cross has always been an active man. He early in life learned to play the snare drum, and his father, being an expert fifer, he, with two brothers, composed a ‘martial band’ that was in demand at every ‘general training’ in his native country. Mr. Cross, when in his 89th year, challenged any man of his age in the county to a drumming contest. He had been drumming for more than 70 years, and is still expert with the sticks, always on hand when there was an opportunity to make music.
August 15, 1837, he married Miss Lucretia Ranny, daughter of Jessie and Ruth Ann (Flowers) Ranny, of Ashfield, Franklin County. Mass., by whom he had six children: Edwin D., born in Madison, Lenawee County, Mich., July 20, 1840, married January 1, 1866, Susan A. Potter. She died January 24, 1892. They had one child, Japheth, born March 3, 1869; Ruth Ann, born in Madison, March 3, 1842, married George Cross, June 9, 1870. They have one child. Christopher, born May 30, 1872; Orpha Eulana, born in Madison, April 1, 1848, died March 17, 1849; Ella Amanda, born May 25, 1846, died September 16, 1851; Ella Adelle, born in Madison, August 1, 1851, married Edgar L. Dalton, November 15, 1876. She was the mother of four children. She died at Tyre, Mich., May 10, 1885; Cora Belle, born in Madison, January 29, 1859, and now resides in Madison. Mrs. Lucretia Cross, was born in Ashfield, Franklin County, Mass., February 24, 1819. Her parents raised a family of nine children, and Mrs. Cross is the only survivor. Since the above was written Mr. Cross has passed away, having died at his home in Madison, August 3, 1903.”
Source: Illustrated and Biographical Record of Lenawee County, Michigan, by John I. Knapp and R.I. Bonner, The Times Printing Company, Adrian, Michigan, 1903, pages 382-384
