Body Of Hero To Be Buried In This City

Funeral of Private William E. Bross Will Be Held Thursday

The body of Private William E. Bross, who died in France February 10, 1919, arrived in this city on the Mountain express at six o’clock Monday afternoon. The body was brought to this country on the transport “Wheaton” with 5, 212 others, arriving at the pier at Hoboken May 19. Floyd W. Bross father of the young man, received word from the war department May 19 state that the body of his son would be shipped to this city from Hoboken.

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William Bross Died In Camp

Taken Ill After Glorious Service in Battle

Mr. F.W. Bross, of 53 King street, Port Jervis, received a telegram from Washington that it was officially reported and the authorities deeply regret to inform him of the death of his son, Private William E. Bross, of 307^th F.A. who died on February 10 of broncho pneumonia. The telegram was signed by Harris, adjutant general.

Private William E. Bross left here last April and was in the France the first of June and saw a great deal of fighting and was shelling the Germans when the order came to cease firing when the armistice was signed.

His Death In Florida

More Particulars of the Killing of Engineer Bross—A Singular Coincidence

In the Florida Mirror of Fernandina, Fla., of April 21st, there appears an account of the death of engineer Edward Bross, who was killed on the Sunday previous, by the derailment of the engine. He jumped from the engine, and his lifeless body was found six or seven feet away, under the trucks of the baggage car, his feet protruding from the mud, his head crushed and his arm severed. The Mirror says he “was a general favorite, and considered one of the most careful engineers on the road.”

Killed On A Florida Railroad

Engineer Stephen Edgar [sic] Bross, Formerly of Port Jervis, in a Collision.

Stephen Edgard [sic] Bross, son of Noah Bross of this place, was killed Sunday on a railroad leading to Jacksonville, Florida. He was running as engineer on the road. The details of the accident are not yet known here. The body will be brought to Port Jervis for interment.

The Body Of Engineer Bross

The body of engineer Edward Bross, who was killed on a Florida railroad, will arrive in this place on the milk train, this afternoon. The funeral announcement cannot be made until tomorrow.

Source: Port Jervis Union, April 18, 1888.

Killed In The South

A dispatch was received by Mr. Noah Bross, of Kingston avenue, this village to-day, to the effect that his son, Edward Bross, an engineer for the past two years on the Florida Railroad & Navigation Co.’s road in Florida, had been killed in a serious accident on Sunday afternoon last. The remains of the young man, he is but 26 years of age, will arrive in this village by Wednesday night. Mr. Bross is a brother of Wickham Bross, fireman for engineer Joseph Weed, and Janson [sic] Bross, a bridge carpenter for the Erie, and Mrs. John E. Van Sickle of Kingston avenue, is a sister.

Source: Port Jervis Evening Gazette, April 16, 1888.

This Afternoon’s Wedding

The Marriage of Wickham Bross and Minnie Altemeir—The Presents

A very pleasant social event occurred at the residence of the bride’s father, Henry Altemeir, corner of Broome and Canal streets, this village, in the marriage of his youngest daughter, Minnie, to Mr. Wickham Bross, a popular young fireman of the Delaware division of the Erie. The wedding took place at 4:30 o’clock, and was witnessed by a large number of relatives and friends. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Jas. A. McWilliams of the Presbyterian church. The bride was handsomely attired in dark brown silk, tailor made, while the groom was dressed in the usual full evening dress. After the wedding, and the usual congratulations, the guests sat down to a bountiful repast prepared for the occasion. The young couple will take train 8 this evening for a wedding tour to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and Fernandina, Fla., and will be absent about four weeks.

The wedding was one of the most fashionable in German circles that has occurred in this village, and the young couple were the recipients of many useful and handsome presents, among the many being a handsome bedroom suite from Mr. Jos. Weed, who runs the engine on which Mr. Bross is a fireman, an elegant plush manicure set from Mr. and Mrs. Eli Farnum; chamber set from the bride’s brother, George; cake basket form Mr. and Mrs. Conzelman; crazy quilt, shams and picture from the bride’s mother; lamp, Mrs. H. Kophman; tea set, Noah Bross; castor, Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Geisenheimer; linen table cloth, Mr. and Mrs. Adam Smith; silver spoon standard, with spoons, Mrs. Mamie Humphrey; chamber set, John Bross; hanging lamp, from the groom’s brother firemen, Messrs. Sweeney, Westfall, Downs, Kane, and Reagan; card stand, Clara Weigand; chair and rug, groom’s mother; chair, Mr. and Mrs. C. Weigan; Turkish rug, Annie Geisenheimer; castor, Mr. and Mrs. F. Higle; plush album, J. Conroy; pair vases, Amelia Geisenheimer; pair slippers, Mrs. J.M. Dolph; parlor lamp, Chris. Rupp; oil painting, J.F. Cross; towels, Leila Cross; quilt, from bride’s sister; quilt, from Mrs. G. Furth; watch and chain from the groom and bedroom suit from the bride’s brother, A.P. Altemeir.

Mr. Bross is an industrious, intelligent, deserving young man, and we are pleased to note that his friends did not forget him on his wedding day.

Source: Port Jervis Evening Gazette, December 23, 1886.

Deaths and Funerals from the 1890s

The funeral of the late Eliakim Bross will be held from the house, at 225 Jersey avenue, Saturday at 2 p.m. Interment in Laurel Grove Cemetery. (Port Jervis Evening Gazette, October 3, 1890)

Every member of High Point Lodge No. 200, I.O.G.T., is requested to attend lodge Friday evening. Arrangements will be made to attend the funeral of our late brother, Eliakim Bross. (Port Jervis Evening Gazette, October 3, 1890)

Mrs. Sutton, relict of the late Johnathan [sic] Sutton, of Orion, and mother of E.B. Sutton, Esq., of Sault St. Marie, died at the residence of her bother, M.J. Predmore, of Romeo, last Monday, the 3d inst. (Pontiac Gazette, April 7, 1893)

Miss Garrabrant Weds Stanley Boyce At 11 a.m. Today

An exceptionally pretty home wedding took place this morning at 11 o’clock at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Jansen Bross, 6 Lyman street, when Miss Lillian Mae Garrabrant, daughter of Mrs. Maude Bross Garrabrant, was united in marriage to Stanley Thomas Boyce, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel C. Boyce, of Matamoras.

The event was of double interest, as it was the forty-eighth wedding anniversary of the bride’s grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Jansen Bross.

The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Charles M. Ackerman, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, in the presence of only the immediate families of the bride and groom.

Lester Van Sickle

PORT JERVIS – Lester Van Sickle, eight Lane street, died in St. Francis Hospital yesterday.  He was born July sixth, 1886, a son of John Emmet and Sarah Almeda Bross Van Sickle. 

Surviving relatives are his wife and a sister, Miss Esther Jennie Van Sickle.  Funeral services will be held Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the Quackenbush Funeral home with the Rev. C.B. Geyer officiating.  Interment will be in Laurel Grove cemetery.

Source:  Middletown Times Herald, November 18, 1938.