Paying Respects to Susan and Harrison Cross
Today, and for the first time, I visited the cemetery where Susan and Harrison Cross are buried. This was my first view of the large family headstone.
The large family headstone is surrounded by four small headstones of family members.
The family headstone is impressive.
The granite is exquisitely carved, and shows no wear whatsoever.
Just so beautiful.
The headstone of Harrison Cross, and…
…his wife, Susan Cross. And…
…their only child, Charles. And his…
…second wife, Katherine. It is curious that no names are carved on the headstones; just initials.
There are four Cross family members buried in the family plot.
Just four. And none have been interred since 1930.
This seems profoundly….sad to me. I had expected Mary to be buried here as well, the only daughter of Charles and his first wife, Kate. Upon her marriage, Mary moved from Emporia to Washington state, and her descendants live there today.
As I stood before the plot, a wave of grief overtook me. Susan and Harrison planned their grand house during a national economic expansion. But the house was finished during the Great Panic of 1893. Then, six months after moving in, Harrison died. My research indicates that his death was a bit mysterious.
Charles was President of the First National Bank (as Harrison had also been before retiring), which was declared insolvent in 1898. That same day, Charles committed suicide, which caused shock waves throughout Emporia.
At the time, it appears that Mary was living in the Cross House with her grandmother, Susan, and I often try and imagine their situation. An elderly woman and her young grandchild, in a huge house, touched by tragedy and scandal. My heart goes out to them.
And what of Katherine? At the time of her death she was living in a sanitarium. She survived her husband by thirty-two years. As I stood looking at her gravestone I wondered what those years were like.
Mary’s family reached out to me two years ago via an email but I received no response to my reply. I would love to have contact with the family.
Susan and Harrison Cross could never have known that the house they created would touch so many lives, such as the Mouse family and Toms family, who respectively owned the house from 1929 to 1992. Bob Rodak purchased the house in 1998, and sold it to me it 2014. Bob was passionate about the house and I met Bob and late wife, Debbi, during their first open house in 1999. Their young children are grown now and I imagine they have extraordinary memories of the house.
Susan and Harrison could never have known, too, that their house would be owned and profoundly loved by a crazy single guy, formerly of New York City, who would create something amazing called a blog which would be read by people across the globe allowing them, also, to share the adventure of restoring the house.
The house was a motel as well and thousands must have enjoyed the grand old place. The same with the sororities which occupied the house and at least two fraternities. Just last week a man stopped and talked to me. He once rented an apartment in the house, as many, many others did.
I do not know what Susan and Harrison thought of their creation. I do not know if they enjoyed it. I hope they did. But I do know that their creation has touched many lives, an extraordinary number really. And their creation has transformed my life.
As I stood looking at the simple headstones, I smiled and thanked Susan and Harrison.
I wish I could have known them.
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Ross. What a lovely, poignant post. The family live on in your blog and in the marvellous work which you are continuing to bring their creation back to life.
As ever, I, along with many others to marvel at the sheer effort you put in to everything you do on the house; and to be inspired by it.
Colin
I was about to comment & add my thoughts on this poignant as well as nostalgic post when I read Colin Boss’ post. It engendered the same feelings. The sheer joy you have brought to so many through this amazing blog is surely causing Harrison & Susan & so many others to smile down from heaven. Surely Charles Squires as well!
Beautifully written. It’s amazing that despite growing up in the neighborhood and walking past that house so many times on my way to school at William Allen White, the Cross family was unknown to me; until there was you!
The pictures look like Memorial Lawn, close to Lincoln?
I believe I can understand why Mary’s family did not respond. Shame and pain are powerful motivators. Our fascination with history is someone’s grandmother’’s deepest pain. My grandfather’s prominent cousins (a name you would recognize) shunned him when he needed help. How can I proudly claim that name? When my mother and her siblings were cold and hungry and their cousins only mildly inconvenienced?
I’m sure Susan and Harrison Cross would be amazed and thrilled that someone like you came along and, not only saved their house, but loved it too. It’s easy to imagine Mary wanting to leave Emporia and all the controversies behind and start again somewhere new. However, thanks to you alone, their mark on Emporia, Kansas will live on.
I love cemeteries because of this exact feeling that you are describing. Families like the Cross family, who lived together (or not) often end up spending eternity together clustered around a massive granite memorial. It’s not unusual for a planned plot like this to be arranged like it is. Central memorial and small markers for each family member.
If you drop the C in Cross you get Ross. Look at the fourth picture down.
“However, thanks to you alone, their mark on Emporia, Kansas will live on.” Let’s not forget about Bob AND Debbie Rodak, without whom the house would almost assuredly been lost.
I meant no disrespect to Bob and Debbie Rodak or any of the previous owners who, all in their own way, kept the house going through the years. This post though was about Susan and Harrison Cross and I meant the comment in the context of Ross RESTORING the house, as much as possible, to THEIR vision for the house. Does that makes sense?
Hi Ross! I did a little research about Mary because I love this kind of thing and because I clearly have too much time on my hands! I won’t bore you with all the details of things you probably already know, but here is one thing you probably didn’t know… There is a wikipedia page and photo for Kate Smeed Cross! Apparently she was featured in a book published in 1893 entitled, “A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading Women in All Walks of Life.”
According to this account, she married Charles Cross in 1880. They had a daughter, Mary Kathryn Cross Gourlay. They divorced in 1895, and she moved to California. THIS would explain why Mary was sent to live with her grandmother.
I have a lot more information about her husband, the full names of her 4 children, and the Washington connection if you’re interested. I know you’re probably skeptical of internet sources, but I can give you the source if you’re interested. (It was NOT ancestry.com which is notoriously inaccurate.) Going by what you have said and the names of her children, I’m confident that this information is correct. As an example, her youngest sons’ name was Sumner Harrison Gourlay and her husband died in Washington state in 1930.
Sumner Harrison Gourlay was my grandfather, and I can assure you that he DID NOT die in 1930! That may have been the year he married his wife, my grandmother, Virginia Violet Pickering. She died in 1981, and he died in 1990. They don’t show up in Find A Grave, because both were cremated, and their ashes scattered in Lake Washington, in front of their house in Lake City, which sat on a cliff overlooking the lake. (13716 39th Ave NE in Seattle, Washington, no longer owned by our family).
Mary Katherine (Kathryn) Cross married Arthur Clyde Gourlay, and they did indeed have four children: Arthur, Robert (Bob), Sumner (Bill), and Kathryn. I knew all my great-uncles and great-aunt, as well as my great-grandmother. Art, Bob, and Mary were buried in California. Kathryn died in Seattle, but I can’t remember where she was buried. My mom (who is now 83) has many stories from Mary (her grandmother) about growing up in the Cross House, traveling by private rail car, and staying in fine hotels. She will get this info posted when she can manage it.
Hi again, Katherine!
Kerri wrote : “As an example, her youngest sons’ name was Sumner Harrison Gourlay and her husband died in Washington state in 1930.”
I think a comma would have helped: As an example, her youngest sons’ name was Sumner Harrison Gourlay, and her husband died in Washington state in 1930.
In short, Keri did not state that Sumner Harrison Gourlay died in 1930.
Hi Ross! I did a little research about Mary because I love this kind of thing and because I clearly have too much time on my hands! I won’t bore you with all the details of things you probably already know, but here is one thing you probably didn’t know… There is a wikipedia page and photo for Kate Smeed Cross! Apparently she was featured in a book published in 1893 entitled, “A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading Women in All Walks of Life.”
According to this account, she married Charles Cross in 1880. They had a daughter, Mary Kathryn Cross Gourlay. They divorced in 1895, and she moved to California. THIS would explain why Mary was sent to live with her grandmother.
Sorry about the full post and then a half post! I kept getting “timed out,” so I tried to break my comment into two, but now I see it did post by original comment. So sorry!
I’m sure it’s not been missed by you that your name is in the Cross house. Ross Cross….. so many reasons that you were destined to have this house!
God bless you Ross