George Cross
George W. Cross (1869-1959) was a teacher and farmer from Huntsville who served as Scott County School Superintendent in the 1890s.
See Also: Scott County School Superintendents
Preceded By: Horace M. Robbins • Succeeded By: S. Marion Foster
Biography
George Walter Cross was born in Scott County in 1869. His mother was Nancy Jane Cross Barnes (1846-1906), who married Marian Barnes. His maternal grandfather was a brother to Larkin Cross of Buffalo, who was murdered by Confederate soldiers during the Civil War.
George married Narcissus “Narrah” Hamon (1870-1959) in 1893. She was the daughter of Jacob L. Hamon (1829-1919) and Rosa Buttram (1839-1908) of Norma. They did not have children. However, they raised their niece, Rosa Bradshaw, and adopted her.
Rosa Bradshaw was the daughter of Isaac Bradshaw and Sylvania “Sylva” Hamon. Sylva was Narrah’s younger sister. She died of heart disease in California in 1909, when Rosa was eight, and Rosa was taken in by George and Narrah. Rosa went by Cross as of the 1920 census. She later married Andrew Kronquist and returned to California.
Another of George and Narrah’s nieces, Lillie McCullah, lived with them for a period of time in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Superintendent of Schools
George Cross was appointed Scott County Superintendent of Schools by the Scott County Quarterly Court in 1897, and was reappointed in 1889, serving a total of four years. He succeeded Dr. Horace M. Robbins in that position, and was himself succeeded in 1901 by S. Marion Foster.
Prior to serving as school superintendent, Cross was a teacher in the Norma community.
Later Life
George and Narrah Cross left Scott County after 1901, and George Cross took a position as school superintendent on a Navajo Indian reservation in McKinley, New Mexico, where he was serving when the 1910 census was taken. He also served as postmaster of the Tohatchi Post Office in McKinley, a position to which he was appointed in 1909.
Later, Cross served as school superintendent on an Indian reservation in Redlake, Minnesota. His obituary stated that he worked in that position for 17 years. However, he was named to the position in 1919, and by 1930, he had returned to East Tennessee and was working as a banker in Knoxville.
George and Narrah retired back to Scott County, and were living on Mudd Street at New River in 1940. In his latter years, he worked for Scott County as a librarian. He was a deacon at First Baptist Church of Oneida and taught a men’s Bible class.
Death
George Cross died March 12, 1964. He was buried at Hamon Cemetery in Norma. His headstone states that he died in 1959, but his obituary appears in the March 13, 1964 edition of the Knoxville News Sentinel. His wife, who is also buried at Hamon Cemetery, also has a headstone stating that she died in 1959. However, the News Sentinel obituary states that she survived her husband.