Genealogy by Martha

Cross - Love - Culpepper - Herron - Mordecai - Shelby - Cobb

John Noil Cross

Male 1906 - 2000  (94 years)


Personal Information    |    Media    |    Notes    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name John Noil Cross 
    Born 26 Apr 1906  Erin, Houston Co., TN. Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died 6 Oct 2000  Selma, Dallas Co, AL Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried New Live Oak Cemetery, Selma, Dallas Co., AL Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I1823  MyTree
    Last Modified 7 Aug 2012 

    Father John Philbert Cross,   b. 22 Aug 1878, Erin, Houston Co., TN. Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 2 Jan 1936, Birmingham, Jefferson Co., AL Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 57 years) 
    Mother Lena Elizabeth Smith,   b. 19 Feb 1884, Stewart Co., TN Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 28 Dec 1975, Birmingham, Jefferson Co., AL Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 91 years) 
    Married 2 Jul 1905  Clarkesville, Stewart Co., TN Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F2659  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Margaret Lorraine Spencer,   b. 2 Dec 1905, Greensboro, Hale Co., AL Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 9 Jan 1990, Birmingham, Jefferson Co., AL Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 84 years) 
    Married 14 Sep 1926  Birmingham, Jefferson Co., AL Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
    +1. Betty Lorraine Cross
    +2. Robert Noil Cross, Sr.
    Last Modified 17 Jul 2017 
    Family ID F4589  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Photos
    John Noil Cross
    John Noil Cross
    John Noil Cross Lawman
    John Noil Cross Lawman
    Philbert's Kids
    Philbert's Kids
    Philbert and Lena Cross' children: John Noil Cross, Alma Ruth Cross, Bossell Cross, and George Adron Cross

    Headstones
    John & Margaret Cross headstone
    John & Margaret Cross headstone
    Headstone for John Noel Cross and Margaret Lorraine Cross (nee Spencer) located at New Live Oak Cemetery, Selma, Dallas Co., AL

  • Notes 

    • 1930 United States Federal Census
      Name: John Cross
      Gender: Male
      Birth Year: abt 1907
      Birthplace: United States
      [United States of America]
      Race: White
      Home in 1930: Attalla, Etowah, Alabama
      Marital Status: Married
      Relation to Head of House: Head
      Spouse's Name: Loraine Cross
      Father's Birthplace: United States
      Mother's Birthplace: United States
      Household Members:
      Name Age
      John Cross 23
      Loraine Cross 22
      Betty Cross [11/12]

      1940 United States Federal Census
      Name: John H Crass
      Respondent: Yes
      Age: 33
      Estimated Birth Year: abt 1907
      Gender: Male
      Race: White
      Birthplace: Tennessee
      Marital Status: Married
      Relation to Head of House: Head
      Home in 1940: Pine Flat N, Dallas, Alabama
      View Map
      Street: Hy 80
      House Number: 219
      Inferred Residence in 1935: Pine Flat N, Dallas, Alabama
      Residence in 1935: Same House, Dallas, Alabama
      Sheet Number: 14B
      Number of Household in Order of Visitation: 219
      Neighbors: View others on page
      Household Members:
      Name Age
      John H Crass 33 (John Noil Cross)
      Margarett L Crass 33 (Margaret Lorraine Cross)
      Bettis L Crass 10 (Betty Cross)
      Babbis N Crass 4 (Bobby Cross)
      Maygrt Tayler 28 (?)

      Last Residence: 36701, Selma, Dallas Co., AL

      John Noil was my favorite uncle on my father's side of the family. He
      was funny and always full of energy. He worked for the Selma Police
      Dept. most of his life. My favorite photograph of him was made
      probably in the early thirties. He is standing beside his old jalopy
      (probably a Ford) with his badge on and his pistol, in its holster,
      strapped to his hip. I called him the Law of Dallas County.

      When he was in his late eighties he called me on the phone one night.
      I hadn't heard from him in years. He just wanted to see how I was
      doing, he said. Dinkey, his wife, had been dead for a while so he
      was living alone in his own home. He told me that he was still
      independent but that Betty, his daughter, came over to check on him
      now and then. A few days back, he said, he was up on his roof
      straightening his TV antenae when Betty drove up to check on him. He
      hid behind the antenae so she wouldn't see that he was on the roof
      because she would read him the "riot act". We both had a great laugh.
      He was still like a little boy doing whatever he wanted and avoiding
      being caught.

      In the 60s Uncle John participated in the "March to Selma" led by Dr.
      Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a mounted policeman, at the time, and
      very proud of it. Dr. King with his followers led everyone over the
      Edmund Pettus Bridge, which my grandfather John Philbert Cross, and
      his sons, including my father, had participated in building. The
      bridge opened in 1940 just three years following my birth.

      When I was 18 months to 3 years, my father, mother and I lived in
      Selma. When the rains came, the Alabama River would flood it's banks.
      The house we lived in was built on stilts so that the flood waters
      could run under the house. After a flood, water moccasins and other
      water snakes were everywhere. Needless to say, I was not allowed out
      of the house.

      Also, following floods, my father and others from the area would have
      to go to the cemeteries and rebury the caskets and bodies because the
      floods would soften the earth so much that they would float up to the
      top of the ground. It eventually became a law that concrete covers
      had to be placed over all caskets so that this would continue to
      occur.

      Selma was essentially an arsenal during the Civil War. There were
      many battles there. When I was a child I remember seeing cannon ball
      damage to the pillars of the old Courthouse.