The Gross Sisters
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The Gross Sisters History Hightlights
The Gross Sisters
By Laurel Guadazno Banner Columnist
On July 25, 1734 Abigail Crowell married Hincks Gross. In 1740 they had a son, Thomas. Thomas and his wife Abigail Young (who was also born in 1740) had 13 children, 10 girls and three boys. The three boys were Thomas, Hincks, and Jonathan. The family lived on Gross Hill, which takes its name from the Gross family, northeast of Wellfleet Village, just below Gull Pond in Wellfleet.
Pictured here are the 10 Gross sisters. This photograph was made in 1850 on the occasion of the sisters being all together for the first time in their lives. At the time of the photo their ages ranged from 54 to 84 years. A note with the photograph says the sisters were all singers of great ability, and Cynthia, who was a doctor, made her rounds on horseback, riding side saddle.
They are (left to right, front row seated): Sarah (1773-1867) age 77, Abigail (1769-1854) age 81, Laurania (1766-1856) age 84; (left to right, center seated) Bethiah (1775-1868) age 75 and Thankful (1790-1872) age 60; (left to right, back row) Rebecca (1785-1862) age 65, Mary (Polly) (1787-1876) age 63, Dr. Cynthia (1788-1865) age 62, Miriam (1796-1877) age 54, and Deborah (1792-1882) age 58.
The family was known for being long-lived. One of the accounts of the Gross family that I read said that in the 1800s, the combined age of the 10 sisters and three brothers totaled more than 1000 years. Yet by my reckoning they would have only had a combined age of 874 years in 1850. Further, since Abigail died in 1854, I doubt that this silly but initially impressive statistic was ever true. The family was long-lived, however, all the sisters died in their late 70s, 80s and 90s. Their mother, Abigail Young Gross, lived to be 95. Bethiah married Micah Dyer of Wellfleet, had 10 children, and lived to be 93 years of age. Lurania and Thankful also each had 10 children.
[Laurel Guadazno is Visitor Services Manager for the Pilgrim Monument & Provincetown Museum. She also writes 'History Highlights,' heard regularly on WOMR, 92.1 FM.]