John Daniel Gros

Background

John Daniel Gros was born in the Bavarian Palatinate at Webenheim near Zweibrticken, Germany on May 25, 1738, the son of Lorenz and Anna Magdalena Gross, and was baptized on June 22, 1738.

Education

John Daniel Gros matriculated at the University of Marburg on April 20, 1759, and at the University of Heidelberg on April 21, 1761.

Career

John Daniel Gros landed at Philadelphia December 4, 1764. Eager to add him to its ranks, since he was a man of scholarly attainments, bore good credentials, and was vouched for by John William Hendel, the Coetus of Pennsylvania, of which Caspar Dietrich Weyberg was then president, ordained him forthwith instead of first securing the approval of the Dutch Synods.

This was the first overt act of the Coetus in the long struggle to free itself from the benevolent but short-sighted supervision of the Dutch church authorities.

Gros was pastor of German Reformed congregations at Allentown, Egypt, Jordan, and Schlosser’s (now Union) between 1765 and 1770, at Saucon and Springfield, 1770-72, at Kingston, N. Y. , 1773-83, in New York, 1783-95, and at Cana- joharie, 1796-1800.

While in Pennsylvania he was a useful member of the Coetus. Quite naturally he took umbrage when his backwoods parishioners withheld his pay and refused to hear his preaching.

He left the province and thereafter was virtually an independent minister.

As chaplain of regiments of New York militia he took part in the battles of Oriskany, Sharon, and Jamestown. In New York he was highly esteemed for his learning. William Hendel, Jr. , Philip Milledoler, and other men of future importance studied theology under him, and with the reorganization of King’s College as Columbia College in 1784 he was appointed professor of German and geography.

His course consisted of a “description of the Globe in respect of all general matters: rise, extent, and fall of ancient empires; chronology as low as the fall of the Roman Empire; present state of the world; origin of the present States and Kingdoms—their extent, power, commerce, religion, and customs; modern chronology. ” Herbert B. Adams characterized it as “a highly creditable course, the best that the writer has found in the annals of any American college at that early period”

In introducing into America this broader orientation of history in accordance with German rather than English methods, Gros was a forerunner of Francis Lieber. He served also as pro- fessor of moral philosophy, 1789-1795. His course in this department was a marvel of laborious thoroughness, beginning with an introductory study of the nature of man and then following a triple division: the first containing “the law of nature, that is, the natural and invariable principles of justice and equity, by which human conduct ought to be regulated”; the second showing “how those principles are to be applied to the various states of man”; the third exhibiting “the application of these natural principles to the states of the nations of the earth. ” In 1795 Gros published the text of this course as Natural Principles of Rectitude for the Conduct of Man in All States and Situations of Life. He also acted as regent of the University of the State of New York, 1784-1787, and as trustee of Columbia College, 1787-1792, offices for which he was fitted by a shrewd practical element in his nature. He acquired considerable wealth by purchasing soldiers’ land-warrants and bought a farm near Fort Plain, New York, whither he retired to spend his last years in philosophic calm. He died in the neighboring town of Canajoharie.

Achievements

• John Daniel Gros was conspicuous in the battles of Oriskany, Sharon, and Jamestown as well as a great educator. His most famous book is Natural Principles of Rectitude for the Conduct of Man in All States and Situations of Life.

Works

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  • Natural Principles of Rectitude for the Conduct of Man in All States and Situations of Life: Demonstrated and Explained in a Systematic Treatise on Mo

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • Natural Principles of Rectitude for the Conduct of Man in All States and Situations of Life: Demonstrated and Explained in a Systematic Treatise on Mo (Paperback) - Common

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • Report Of The Commission On Site For Naval Observatory

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Natural Principles of Rectitude for the Conduct of Man in All States and Situations of Life: Demonstrated and Explained in a Systematic Treatise on Moral Philosophy ...

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Natural Principles of Rectitude for the Conduct of Man in All States and Situations of Life

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Natural Principles of Rectitude for the Conduct of Man in All States and Situations of Life: Demonstrated and Explained in a Systematic Treatise on Moral Philosophy ... (Paperback) - Common

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Religion

Gros was a member of German Reformed Church.

Connections

Father:

Lorenz Gross

Mother:

Anna Magdalena Gross

References

• John and Horace Dodge: Automotive Pioneers
• First Edition of EDthoughts - What We Know About Mathematics Teaching & Learning John Sutton - Alice Krueger
• Fahrenheit 499 Magazine — June/July 2017: Volume 1, Issue 1
• Arizona Department of Transporation Archaeological Testing Program: Part 2, East Papago Freeway