Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1919-04-29
One OF WAUSAU'S MOST
PROMINENT CITIZENS IN
YEARS PAST
Able Business Man, He Was Most
Successful i'm River Valley; Has Re-
sided In Pasadena Past Ten Years
Funeral to Be Held Friday

The message which flashed over the
wires from Pasadena, Calf, last Fri
day morning, April 25th, 1919, to rela-
tives in Wausau, conveyed the sad in
! formation of the death of a man whose
name has been household one in the
Wisconsin river valley for the past
fifty years-James McCrossen. Re-
ports had come to Wausau, from his
western home, that he was not well
| but as he had weathered the storms OF
! life for ninety years and was marvel
! in mind and body for one of his adj
vanced years his friends did not think
for a moment, that it was the final
/ illness of this grand old man. When
he was here last fall, though active in
mind and body, and as keen il bus
| mess venture, as a man of fifty years
he realized that he had lived long be-
yond the years allotted to man, and
said laughlingly to the writer, that he
thought this was about the last trip
he would make home-as he always
! designated Wausau.
{ One of the many characteristics OF
James McCrossen was his great de-
votion to his family; whatever affected
any of it's members likewise deeply
affected him, and the death of his
! daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth McCrosser
Grace, who suddenly passed away Oh
/ the 9TH of February, 1919, weighed
heavily upon him and no doubt hast
ened the end.
! From the time he came to Wausau
! fifty years ago, at which time he was
a man of means and capable Of hand
. ling large enterprises, he at once be-
came prominent as merchant, lum-
| herman and real estate dealer. He
purchased large tracts of pine timber
some of which he logged and others
held for time and whenever he could
realize a reasonable advance he SOLD
and reinvested. There was, perhaps
no man during the time of his activity
; that kept large enterprises so contin-
ually on the move as did Mr.. Nc
| Crossen. He was able to calculate
with almost unerring certainty the flu
ture conditions of business, and this
contributed very highly to his success
Even after he had retired, he could
not resist the opportunity to make in
vestments, where, in his judgment
there was an assurance Of ample re-
turns. His good judgment did not fail
him, and he had as result large
holdings in the West Broad as were
the advances in the Valley, there was
never a day while he lived here, when
the was behind the spirit that actu-
ated its citizens and he was often in
the lead of that thought and forecast
which has made our city the metrop-
oils of the northern pinery. He was g
man who had hosts Of friends, who
served his day and generation faith
fully, and as far as in him lay, strove
to leave the world better for his hav
ing lived.
With an abundance of force and en-
ergy he was at the same time mar
of even temperament, generous, milo
and lovable to all.
James McCroSsen was born in Garlic
ton, New Brunswick, Feb. Is, 1929. H,
was a son of Robert and Elizabeth
McCrOssen, both of whom were of Irisl
?, birth and Scotch ancestry. Robert Nc
Crossen emigrated to New Brunswick
in 1922, residing in Carleton ten years
and then removed to the parish o
Lancaster, st. John county, where TO
eleven years he engaged in lumberin!
and agricultural pursuits. Thence h
removed to Baltic, near st. Andrews
Charlotte county, same province, dyin;
in 1887, at the advanced age of eighty
seven years. His faithful wife passet
: away at Musquash, parish of Lancas
ter, st. John county, in 1870