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Sac County, IA Genealogy TrailsThe name of Judge Eugene Criss figures closely within the pages devoted to the history of Sac county, and he is best remembered as "the father of Sac City."' He, in fact, founded the city and assisted in its future development. He was the friend and adviser of scores of settlers, to whom his words of counsel were guiding stones in their pathway of redemption of the prairie lands and their emergence from the embryo state into a landscape of smiling meadows and substantial homes. His value to the county as a citizen and official during the pioneer days can not be properly estimated. He was a man among men in the old days when men of integrity and iron resolution were needed.
Judge Eugene Criss was born in West Virginia and reared in the state of Maryland, the son of Michael N^Criss. His birth occurred July 27, 1822, on a farm. After his marriage he and his wife resided on the parental farm until their removal to Illinois, in October of 1844. They rented a farm in northwestern Illinois, Jo Daviess county, for a period of two years. In the meantime, Mr. Criss worked in the lead mines of the vicinity for a period of three years while conducting his fanning operations. He then engaged in the mercantile business in the town of Shullsbtirg, Wisconsin, for a period of eleven years. In the spring of 1855 he loaded his stock of merchandise on a covered wagon and commenced the long overland journey to Sac county, Iowa. He varied the monotony of the journey by trading with the farmers on the way, replenishing his stock of goods from time to time. His ostensible purpose in leaving Wisconsin was to. hunt for a location wherein he intended to establish himself with his business permanently. On the way he heard of the rich lands to the westward awaiting the magic touch of the settler's ax and the industry of the husbandman. He decided upon Sac county and arrived on the banks of the Raccoon in the month of October, 1855. He at once began the erection of a log building of a story and one-half to house his store of goods, and built a log cabin, which was pointed out for years as the first cabin built in Sac City. Judge Criss had a natural liking and an inborn aptitude for agriculture, and as soon as possible he became possessed of four hundred acres of excellent farm land, which he cultivated up to the time of his death. Seeing the possibilities of the development of the lumbering industry, he erected a saw mill, which he operated for a number of years, the output of the mill finding a ready sale among the incoming settlers. He erected the first flouring mill in Sac City and built the famous old mill dam, which is known as a noted landmark in Sac City to this day. In turn he was a miller, lumberman, successful merchant and farmer, filling these diversified and very necessary occupations with credit to himself, large personal benefit and for the convenience of his fellow citizens. Judge Criss naturally became the owner of a very large acreage of Sac county land, and was one of the largest land owners of western Iowa previous to his death. He was the first postmaster of Sac City, and was likewise the first county judge, upon the initial organization of the county, in which he took an active part. He served several terms as county judge and performed duties very similar to those now devolving upon the county supervisors. In 1868 further honors were conferred upon him by his fellow citizens, who sent him to represent the district in the state Legislature. Later he was a candidate for state senator. During the Civil War he served as provost marshal of the district, with his headquarters at Fort Dodge. His territory during the war embraced practically all of western Iowa. Judge Criss was a prominent member of the Freemasons and a worshiper in the Methodist Episcopal faith.
Judge Eugene Criss was married July 27, 1843, to Frances Hall, daughter of Jesse and Sarah Hall, who removed from their ancestral home to a farm in Preston county, West Virginia, in 1825. To this union were born the following children: Mary Jane Wine, who was born in February, 1844, and resides in Sac City: James L., born in November, 1846, and nowr a resident of Omaha, Nebraska; Helen V. Davis, deceased, born in the state of Illinois in 1848; William H. Criss, of Sac City; Lola M. Beimer, deceased. Three grandchildren, Miss Neva Beimer, Eugene and Clifford Beimer, make their home with their grandmother.
Frances Hall Criss was born on a farm in Monongahela county, West Virginia, May 16, 1823. It is not given to many women to have lived to an extreme age and to have seen the development of a rich and prosperous section of country, and to have been the first resident of a beautiful and wealthy city and watched with loving gaze its expansion during the course of half a century of progress. We revere the pioneers and cherish them on account of their sterling qualities and long associations with the body politic. Frances Criss has been a resident of Sac City for upward of'fifty years. She has attained the great age of ninety-one years and is yet in possession of all her faculties and in sound bodily health. She has seen the unfolding of a landscape of wilderness and prairie into a thriving and populous community enjoying all the luxuries and conveniences of modern-day civilization. She has resided in Sac City since the inception of the town, and has taken an active part, in conjunction with her distinguished and able husband, in assisting in its settlement and development. "Grandma Criss" as she is affectionately called by her intimates and friends, is a living embodiment of all that is best and noblest of womankind. She cherishes the memories of bygone, halcyon days, when her stalwart husband was taking such an important and energetic part in the building up of his adopted community.
One of the most notable occurrences in the history of Sac county occurred July 27, 1902, the occasion being the eightieth birthday anniversary of the honorable gentleman whom this biography chronicles. A great barbecue was held in honor of the Judge's birthday, to which he invited the people of the surrounding country. The scene of the immense gathering was in the beautiful Fair Grounds park, just east of the city. It was a gathering notable for the number of friends and pioneers who assembled to do honor to the aged citizen whose days on earth were even then numbered. The entire day was given over to partaking of the hospitality of the Judge, and it was long remembered as a gala occasion throughout the countryside. Several oxen were roasted whole, and other viands were supplied by the donor in profusion. The people of the entire section for many miles around were invited whole-heartedly to come to Sac City, and three thousand five hundred assisted the Judge in celebrating his notable anniversary. He did not long survive the happy occasion, however. On March 11, 1903, was closed a most eventful and useful life, and the kindly old gentleman was mourned by thousands who would miss his benign presence for long years to come. (History of Sac County Iowa, by William H. Hart, 1914, Pages 360-362)