1. William Bross was elected as the 16th Lieutenant Governor of Illinois.
18 Facts About William Bross
1. 2.
William Bross engaged in the lumber trade with his father before attending Williams College.
3.
William Bross taught at schools for ten years, then headed west to Chicago, Illinois.
4.
William Bross engaged in book-selling and publishing interests before co-founding the successful Democratic Press paper.
5.
William Bross was born on November 4,1813, in northwest Sussex County, New Jersey.
6.
William Bross was the eldest of eleven children of Deacon Moses Bross and Jane Bross.
7.
William Bross was the eldest because he was born a few minutes before his twin Stephen Decatur Bross.
8.
In 1832, Bross enrolled at Milford Academy, then attended Williams College, rooming with his twin brother.
9.
William Bross was one of the founding members of The Social Fraternity at Williams, forerunner to Delta Upsilon.
10.
William Bross decided on the emerging city of Chicago, Illinois, which he reached on May 12,1848.
11.
William Bross gave the first public endorsement of John C Fremont for President in the West, speaking at Dearborn Park the night he was nominated.
12.
William Bross toured southern Illinois, generally a pro-slavery area, to extoll the virtues of Fremont.
13.
In 1857, William Bross was elected to the Chicago City Council, and represented the 1st ward until 1859.
14.
William Bross advocated for Abraham Lincoln for President following his nomination.
15.
William Bross traveled with Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Schuyler Colfax in 1865 to examine the path west to California.
16.
Grandson William Bross Lloyd was a founding members of the Communist Labor Party of America.
17.
In 1879, William Bross established the William Bross Foundation at Lake Forest University in memory of his son Nathaniel.
18.
William Bross died in Chicago on January 27,1890, and was buried in Rosehill Cemetery.