William Bross

William Bross was born on November 4, 1813, in northwest Sussex County, New Jersey. He was the eldest of eleven children of Deacon Moses Bross and Jane (Winfield) Bross. He was the eldest because he was born a few minutes before his twin Stephen Decatur Bross. When they were nine, the family moved to Milford, Pennsylvania in anticipation of the construction of the Delaware and Hudson Canal. The boys worked with their father to furnish lumber for the canal near Shohola.[1]

In 1832, Bross enrolled at Milford Academy, then attended Williams College, rooming with his twin brother. William Bross was one of the founding members of The Social Fraternity at Williams, forerunner to Delta Upsilon. Shortly after graduating in 1838, he became the principal of Ridgebury Academy in Ridgebury, New York. In 1843, he began to teach at a school in Chester, Pennsylvania, where he worked for another five years. Starting in 1846, Bross took trips west to identify a better place to settle. He decided on the emerging city of Chicago, Illinois, which he reached on May 12, 1848.[1]

Bross quickly formed a partnership with S. C. Griggs and the Newman & Co. publishing house, opening the book-selling firm of Griggs, Bross & Co. The partnership dissolved eighteen months later. In the autumn of 1849, Bross co-published the Prairie Herald, a religious newspaper, with Rev. J. A. Wright. Bross first achieved prosperity in 1852 when he teamed with Chicago postmaster John L. Scripps to start the Democratic Press. The paper espoused Democratic viewpoints, but differed from the party line regarding slavery, notably opposing Stephen A. Douglas's Missouri Compromise.[2]

When the Republican Party formed in 1854, Bross became a public speaker on behalf of the cause. He gave the first public endorsement of John C. Frémont for President in the West, speaking at Dearborn Park the night he was nominated. Bross toured southern Illinois, generally a pro-slavery area, to extoll the virtues of Frémont.[1] While at the former State House in Vandalia, Illinois, he became acquainted with fellow Frémont campaigner Abraham Lincoln and the two would often speak at the same engagements.[2]

In 1855, Bross was elected to the Chicago City Council, serving for two years. The Democratic Press struggled financially after the Panic of 1857. On July 1, 1858, the paper was merged into the Tribune, creating The Press and Tribune. Bross advocated for Abraham Lincoln for President following his nomination. Following the outbreak of the Civil War, in 1863 Bross helped to raise the 29th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry. It was commanded by one of his brothers, Col. John A. Bross, who was killed on July 30, 1864 during the Siege of Petersburg.[1]

Bross's support of Lincoln helped him to gain nomination as the Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois under Richard J. Oglesby. He traveled with Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Schuyler Colfax in 1865 to examine the path west to California. two years later he traveled to Europe with his daughter.[1]