Cross & Co. Vancouver B.C. 1894-1963

[Canadacan]

Hmmm Not sure about that at all. Thing I wonder about is where he went after the soda venture..maybe he went back to the merchant business. And really amazing that the company remained under excellent business leadership after he left and after A.D. Hossack left. The company managed to survive through the depression!

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

I have seen census records and other references for Gavin D. Cross after 1905 and will post some of those findings in the morning. In the meantime ... The attached article is where I found the reference for J. D. Cross ... but I'm starting to think it might be a typo for G. D. Cross. For some reason I was under the impression there were two individuals, possibly brothers, who were involved with Cross & Co., but now I'm not sure. Did I imagine the second individual or is there proof positive of his existence and involvement? Article from ... Vancouver Daily World ~ January 19, 1905

 

[Canadacan]

Yes that has be a typo...I never observed a J. D. Cross in the directories, I'll have to re-read this post now![]That's ok today I had it in my mind that Cross ran the company right to the end!...geesh[&:] I do a great job of confusing myself at times...most of the time[]

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

This is cropped from a 1911 Vancouver, Canada census and list Gavin Cross' occupation as a ... Sea Captain / ????? River I can't make out the word that's before 'River' but perhaps someone else can. The 11-2-31 is a backwards date for February 31, 1911, but I don't know what it represents. Gavin would have been about 49 years old in 1911.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Correction ... I did some double-checking and discovered the 1911 census is not for Vancouver but for ... Province: British ColumbiaDistrict: New WestministerPlace of Habitation : Ladner

 

[CanadianBottles]

I'm pretty sure that says "Fraser River" which is the major river flows through Vancouver. Also that's the Iron Cross, which was the symbol of the German military at the time (or possibly not long before, as I'm not sure when Cross started using it), not the Southern Cross. Someone just superimposed that similar cross over the Southern Cross, the two aren't related at all. What's weird about them using the Iron Cross is that at that time the Germans were the enemy, or had recently been the enemy. Seems a strange symbol to want associated with your product.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

I was kind of leaning toward the cross symbol as possibly being related to the cross atop the crown on Gavin Cross's 1883 2nd Mate certificate, which I believe is the crown of Scotland. ??? 1. Gavin's 1883 2nd Mate certificate2. Cropped portion of certificate with crown and cross

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Here's Gavin Cross's Master (Captain) certificate dated October 12, 1888 when Gavin was 26 years old and four years prior to his immigrating to Canada in 1892.

 

[Canadacan]

Yea it could be a Crusader Cross at the very tip of the crown....my theory is he just simply chose it as a symbol because his last name is Cross..that's all, I mean initially he may have chosen a specific one but there are three different types used over the years .The earliest style on the bottles is Cross Pattee ...then the Cross Formee, and on the last bottles the Formee Pattee.

The Crusader states were a number of mostly 12th- and 13th-century feudal states created by Western European crusaders in Asia Minor, Greece and the Holy Land, and during the Northern Crusades in the eastern Baltic area.

 

[Canadacan]

[attachment=Cross's variations.jpg]