By Muriel Bristol | December 27, 2020
Charles William Gross was born in Brunswick, ME, December 11, 1842, son of William T. and Ellen (Quint) Gross.
He received his early education in the public schools, graduating from high school in 1859 (Bowdoin College, 1914).
Charles W. Gross, of Brunswick, ME, a farmer, aged twenty years (b. ME), single, registered for the Class I military draft in June 1863.
In early manhood he was engaged in farming, but began the study of medicine in 1866 with Dr. John D. Lincoln (Bowdoin, 1843), attended three courses of lectures at the Medical School of Maine, receiving his degree in 1869 (Bowdoin College, 1914).
(John D. Lincoln appeared in the Brunswick, ME, directory of 1867, as a physician, on Main street, corner of Lincoln street, with his house there also).
William Gross, a farmer, aged fifty-two years (b. ME), headed a Brunswick, ME, household at the time of the Ninth (1870) Federal Census. His household included Ellen S. Gross, keeping house, aged fifty-three years (b. ME), Charles W. Gross, a farmer, aged twenty-eight years (b. ME), Lizzie Gross, at home, aged twenty years (b. ME), and William Haskill, a farmer, aged seventeen years (b. ME). William Gross had real estate valued at $7,000 and personal estate valued at $1,650.
He continued his medical studies after graduation and began the practice of his profession at Acton, Maine, in May 1871. In October 1876 he removed to Milton Mills, N.H., where the remainder of his life was spent as an active and successful country physician (Bowdoin College, 1914).
The ME Medical Association approved C.W. Gross, of Acton, ME, for membership in the association at its meeting in Portland, ME, June 13, 1872 (ME Medical Association, 1873).
C.W. Gross appeared in the Milton directories of 1875, 1876, 1877, and 1880, as a physician at Milton Mills.
In the earlier portion of his career he pursued post-graduate courses in New York City and spent a summer and a fall in Europe (Bowdoin College, 1914).
Charles W. Gross, M.D., of New Hampshire, a graduate of the Medical School of Maine’s Class of 1869, was a medical student at Columbia University, in New York, NY, in the 1878-79 academic year (Columbia College, 1878).
Crosby B. Remick, a hotel keeper, aged thirty-three years (b. NH), headed a Milton (“Milton Mills”) household at the time of the Tenth (1880) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Jennie Remick, keeping house, aed twenty-eight years (b. ME), his daughter, Ada Remick, at school, aged ten years (b. ME), and his boarders, Charles W. Gross, a physician, aged thirty-seven years (b. ME), and George Leavitt, a [-]iner, aged thirty years (b. NH). His household appeared in the enumeration between those of Ira Miller, a storekeeper, aged fifty-three years (b. ME), and Elvira W. Fox, keeping house, aged forty-four years (b. ME).
C.W. Gross appeared in the Milton directories of 1881, 1882, 1884, 1887, and 1889, as a physician at Milton Mills.
Charles W. Gross, M.D., of Milton Mills, reported on local contagious outbreaks to the NH State Board of Health, in 1886.
Typhoid Fever – Four cases in North Shapleigh, Me., all caused by water from contaminated wells. Think polluted water is the most common source of the disease in the country. Diphtheria – Eight cases. Found bad sanitary conditions in every case (Clarke, 1886).
W.F. Wallace, M.D., of Milton, reported five cases of typhoid fever in Milton and Lebanon, ME, but none of diphtheria.
He represented his town in the state legislature of 1887 and 1888 (Bowdoin College, 1914).
New Hampshire Medical Society. The New Hampshire Medical Society will hold its ninety-ninth annual meeting in Concord, N.H., on June 16 and 17, 1890. Dr. William Child of New Hampton will preside. The programme is an attractive one. Among the papers to be read, we note the following: Beverages of the Past and Present; What shall be the Beverage of the Future? – Dr. C.W. Gross, of Milton Mills; Ptomaines – Dr. C.P. Frost, of Hanover; Recent Epidemics of Diphtheria in Keene – Dr. H.K. Faulkner, of Keene; Necrology – Dr. J.J. Berry, of Portsmouth; Medical Men – Dr. Thomas Hiland, of Concord; Railway Hygiene – Dr. G.P. Conn, of Concord. An exhibition of drugs, chemicals, pharmaceutical preparations, foods, etc., will form an interesting additional feature (Dulles, 1890).
Regrettably, it seems that we may never know Dr. Gross’ opinion regarding the “Beverage of the Future.”
C.W. Gross appeared in the Milton directories of 1892, 1894, and 1898, as a physician at Milton Mills.
MILTON. At the republican caucus Saturday afternoon, the following delegates were chosen to the different conventions: State – E.W. Fox and Frank Horner; Congressional – R.M. Kimball and C.D. Fox; Senatorial – Luther Hayes and B.B. Plummer; Councillor – Chas. A. Jones and S.W. Wallingford; County – Fred B. Roberts and C.W. Gross; Town Committee – Chas H. Looney, president; B.B. Plummer, secretary; Luther Hayes, C.A. Jones, J.H. Avery, W.H.H. Pinkham, Fred B. Roberts, S.W. Wallingford, Charles D. Fox and Charles W. Gross (Farmington News, September 9, 1892).
Street Railway Review. New Hampshire. Manchester, N.H. Milton Mills Electric elects Edward P. Parsons, president; John E. Townsend, vice president; C.W. Gross, M.D., treasurer; Freeman Loud, secretary (Windsor & Kenfield, 1893).
New Hampshire passed a medical licensing law, March 1, 1897, which required medical practitioners to be tested, licensed and registered as of September 1, 1897. (Charles William Gross, William Emerson Pillsbury, and Frank Sherman Weeks, of Milton Mills, and Malcolm A.H. Hart, Charles Dana Jones, and John Herbert Twombly, of Milton, were all rated “A”- they were already in practice prior to the passage of the law – i.e., they were “grandfathered in” and did not have to pass the new examination) (NH State Board of Education, 1906).
Charles D. Fox, a hotel keeper, aged forty-five years (b. NH), headed a Milton (“Milton Mills Village”) household at the time of the Twelfth (1900) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of thirteen years), Hattie M. Fox, aged forty years (b. NH), his daughter, Edwina E. Fox, at school, aged six years (b. NH), his servants, Lucy Witham, a house servant, aged twenty-two years (b. ME), and Adah Renualt, a house servant, aged twenty years (b. NH), and his boarders, Charles W. Gross, a physician, aged fifty-seven years (b. ME), J. Edward La Bonte, a shoe trimmer, aged forty-nine years (b. Canada (Fr.)), Joshua S. Mathews, a shoe factory superintendent, aged fifty-four years (b. MA), May Ella Mathews, aged forty-nine years (b. ME), Harry Hamilton, a shoe puller-over, aged twenty-three years (b. NH), and John D. Hanson, a hostler, aged fifty years (b. NH). Charles D. Fox rented their house. Hattie M. Fox was the mother of one child, of whom one was still living. The hotel appeared in the enumeration between those of Asa A. Fox, an undertaker, aged sixty-three years (b. NH), and Maude A. Berry, a housekeeper, aged sixty-five years (b. NH).
C.W. Gross appeared in the Milton directories of 1901, 1904, 1905-06, and 1909, as a physician at Milton Mills. (In 1909 he resided at the Central House hotel).
He was a member of the New Hampshire Medical Society. His practice extended over several towns and he was highly esteemed and respected in the community (Bowdoin College, 1914).
The NH Medical Society approved C.W. Gross, M.D., of Milton Mills, for membership in the society at its meeting in Concord, NH, May 16, 1907 (NH Medical Society, 1907).
Fred Rowe, a hotel keeper, aged thirty-nine years (b. NH), headed a Milton (“Milton Mills”) household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of nineteen years), Ellen Rowe, aged forty-two years (b. VT), his servant, Graces Lora, a hotel servant, aged twenty-eight years (b. ME), his clerk, Marcia St. Germain, a hotel clerk, aged seventy-three years (b. Canada (Fr.)), and his boarders, Charles W. Gross, a physician, aged seventy years (b. ME), John Jewett, a portable mill sawyer, aged twenty-five years (b. NH), Matt Archibald, a line stock dealer, aged forty years (b. NH), and Cecil Howard, a private family coachman, aged twenty-eight years (b. MA). Fred Rowe owned the hotel free and clear, without any mortgage. The hotel appeared in the enumeration between the households of Albert Wiggin, a woolen mill boss finisher, aged thirty-eight years (b. ME), and Wilde A. Miller, a woolen mill finisher, aged twenty-six years (b. ME).
C.W. Gross appeared in the Milton directory of 1912, as a physician at Milton Mills, resident at the Central House hotel.
Charles W. Gross [of Milton Mills, NH,] died of heart disease and apoplexy, i.e., a stroke, at the Maine General Hospital, in Portland, ME, January 8, 1912, aged sixty-nine years.
Dr. Gross died, unmarried, 7 Jan., 1912, at the Maine General Hospital at Portland from a complication of diseases (Bowdoin College, 1914).
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. Strafford, SS. Court of Probate. To the heirs-at-law of the estate of Charles W. Gross, late of Milton, in said County, deceased, intestate, and to all others interested therein: Whereas, Louise S. Fuller, administratrix of the state of said deceased, has filed in the Probate Office for said County, the account of her administration of said estate. You are hereby cited to appear at a Court of Probate to be holden at Dover, in said County, on the seventh day of September next, to show cause, if any you have, why the same should not be allowed. Said Administratrix is ordered to serve this citation by causing the same to be published once each week for three successive weeks in the Farmington News, a newspaper printed in Farmington, in said county, the last publication to be at least seven days before said Court. Given at Dover, in said County, this 9th day of August A.D., 1915. By order of the Court, WILLIAM W. MARTIN, Register (Farmington News, August 27, 1915).
References:
Bowdoin College. (1914). Obituary Record of the Graduates of Bowdoin College and the Medical School. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=llbOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA218
Clarke, Arthur E. (1886). Report of the State Board of Health of the State of New Hampshire, 1886. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=NfXuFiUMXqMC&pg=PA39
Columbia College. (1878). Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Columbia College, for the Year 1878-79. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=Wk1CAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA85
Dulles, Charles W., M.D. (1890). Medical and Surgical Reporter. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=WIc6AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA683
Find a Grave. (2010, January 28). Dr. Charles Gross. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/47250405/charles-gross
ME Medical Association. (1873). Transactions of the Maine Medical Association. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=4AigAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA212
NH Medical Society. (1907). Transactions. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=WMwyAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA27
NH State Board of Education. (1906). Biennial Report of the New Hampshire State Board of Education. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=6wBJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA96
Windsor, H.H. and Kenfield, F.S. (1893). Electric Railway Review. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=AUE_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA381
Milton Observer 