JOHN H. GROSS, whose valuable farm of sixty-rive acres is situated in Green Creek Township, on the Maumee Turnpike Road, about five miles east of Fremont, was born on the old Gross homestead in Rice Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, Nov. 10, 1862, and is a son of John and Katherine (Wolf) Gross.
     The elder John Gross was born in Germany, in March, 1833, and came to America when twenty years of age, a few years afterward sending to the old country for his parents, George and Katherine Gross.  He settled in Rice Township and there his father, George Gross, died in 1889 and his mother in 1896.  For some years, John Gross, Sr., worked by the day and in that way accumulated enough capital to enable him to buy eighty acres of his present farm, to which he subsequently added and on which he still lives, now aged seventy-six years.  He cleared this land and resided in a log house for a long period, but now has fine, substantial buildings.  He married Katherine Wolf, who was brought from Germany while young, the Wolf family settling in Rice Township across the road from the Gross family.  She died in 1896, aged seventy-five years.  They had eight children, namely: Emma, who is the wife of Josiah Overmeyer; Rose, who is the wife of Conrad Overmeyer; Charles, who died in 1897, aged thirty-five years; John H.; Herman; Louisa, who is the wife of F. F. Hurt; and William and Moses.
     John H. Gross spent his boyhood on the home farm and until he was sixteen years of age he divided his time between attending the district schools and helping his father.  Then he was hired out to neighboring fanners for several years by his father, after which he went to Michigan and worked on a farm near Lansing for two years.  When he returned to Sandusky County he lived with his sister in Riley Township for two years.  After he was married he rented a farm from Fred Martin, in Green Creek Township and in 1904 he bought his present farm from the King estate and has successfully followed general farming here ever since.  Mr. Gross, through his own industry and with the assistance of an estimable wife, has gained independence, having worked hard for all he owns.  On Apr. 3, 1897, Mr. Gross was married to Mrs. Ella King Packard, daughter of George W. and Elizabeth King, of an old and prominent county family.  Mr. and Mrs. Gross have one child, Augusta, who was born May 28, 1903.  In politics he is a Democrat and he has served as school director since 1906.  He is a member of the order of Modern Woodmen of America, being connected with the lodge at Vickery.
     Mrs. Gross's parents were born in Ohio —her father in Fairfield County and her mother in Sandusky County.  They have eleven children, two sons and nine daughters: Mrs. Mary Boggs, Mrs. Ella Gross, Mrs. Louisa Kappus, Sam King, Kentucky, Mrs. Almeda Fetterman, Mrs. Minnie Hetrick, John King, Mrs. Ida Rover, Mrs. Nettie Monroe, Miss Carrie King of Lansing, Mich., and Mrs. Daisy Kiser.
     Mrs. Gross was married Sept. 22, 1886, to Daniel Packard, who died Feb. 10, 1890.
After being a widow seven years she married Mr. Gross.
Source:  Twentieth Century History of Sandusky County, Ohio & Representative Citizens - Publ. Richmond - Arnold Publishing Co. - Chicago - 1909 - Page  850