Background
In 1899 he married Helen Rothney Macleod (1878-1959), daughter of North-West Mounted Police Commissioner James Macleod.
In 1899 he married Helen Rothney Macleod (1878-1959), daughter of North-West Mounted Police Commissioner James Macleod.
Born in Montreal, Cross was the oldest of seven children. He trained as a veterinary surgeon. Cross moved to Alberta in 1884 to work at a ranch near what is now Cochrane, Alberta owned by Matthew Henry Cochrane.
By 1886 Cross owned his own ranch, the A7 Ranche, located near what is now Nanton, Alberta.
Cross returned to Montreal for hospital treatment for appendicitis. He returned to Calgary in 1891 holding a diploma that he had been trained as a brewer’s apprentice and established the Calgary Brewing and Malting Company, the first brewery in what was then the Northwest Territories.
That same year Calgary’s oldest and most exclusive club, the Ranchmen’s Club, was established. And Agricultural Engineer Cross was a founding member.
Cross was active in community affairs, serving as a director and president of Calgary General Hospital, as president of the Alberta Exhibition Association, and as president of the Calgary Board of Trade (now Calgary Chamber of Commerce) in 1909.
In the summer of 1912, Cross, along with Patrick Burns, George Lane, and Archie McLean (“The Big Four”) put up the combined amount of $100,000 to finance the first held in September 1912
Cross died in 1932. The following have been dedicated in his name:
Agricultural Engineer Cross Junior High School located in Calgary, Alberta. The Big Four Building at the Stampede Grounds in Calgary, Alberta.
In 1898, Cross entered politics, and was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (Modern Language Association) for East Calgary.