P. K. Cross

Prof. P. K. Cross, a native of Illinois, comes from a worthy pioneer family of Winnebago county. He was born in that county April 18, 1856. His father, A. B. Cross, a descendant of Scotch pioneers, of New York state, has always been known to the people of Winnebago county for his sturdy support of upright principles and progressive measures. The subject of our sketch, when a lad, obtained a good training in the elementary studies of the common schools of the district in which he lived, and at the age of sixteen he entered college at Beloit, Wis. There he applied himself to a regular collegiate course of study, and began fitting himself as an educator. At nineteen he began teaching as a profession, as also for the purpose of earning money to complete a thorough and systematic training, which he did subsequently by spending about two years in the Illinois State Normal School, when he resumed teaching. His success has been favorably marked, and he is now found a leader in the profession. He passed some five years at Somonauk, Ill., where he raised the public schools from a chaotic condition to that of a thoroughly graded system, and had the pleasure of not only being complimented with a salary nearly double of what he began with, but of graduating two large classes in a thorough English literary course. Finishing his work there he accepted his present position in 1883, where he has been successfully connected since, as the records of Wyoming's school shows. In politics he is a pronounced republican, of strong temperance proclivities, principles espoused not only through his own observations, but inherent, as his father was prominent among the many early abolition and temperance workers of Winnebago county in promulgating those views. Prof. Cross was happily married in Somonauk, Ill., to Miss Emma L. Hess, a lady of clever literary and musical attainments, and a fitting helpmeet to him in his professional labors. He is a member of the Masonic order. In person he is tall and of commanding presence, of a frank and generous nature, but of a disposition to reason deeply and conscientiously on all matters, and when resolved, to stand manfully to his opinions. Since coming to Wyoming he has won the admiration of all good lovers of its school interests.