Name/Title
Gathering Moss, Growing Up in the Wild-Wild Midwest, The Memories of Josiah B. Moss, St. Joseph, 1850-1942Entry/Object ID
2020.1.404Description
Gathering Moss, Growing Up in the Wild-Wild Midwest, The Memories of Josiah B. Moss, St. Joseph, 1850-1942. Collection of over 100 of the news articles he wrote in his later years for the Union-Observer newspaper.
Moss was a boy about town during the days of the wagon trains and the Civil War. A bachelor into his 40s, he knew most of the prominent men, women & families who built the City and hung out with their sons and daughters on the social scene. He knew prominent men such as Samuel Nave, William Wyeth, John Patee, Eugene Field, etc. He was almost immediately on scene when Jesse James was shot and went with the funeral director to identify the body. He experienced the 1880s heydey of the City and participated with his lumber business, Doughtery & Moss.
He built a castle-style home at 9th & Sylvanie that still stands in 2020. The property originally the home of his uncle and guardian; and right across the street from the rented home of Eugene Field. He was prominent in real estate and worked from his office in the Moss building downtown.
He experienced St. Joseph during both the Civil War and World War I and lived to see the entry of the U.S. into World War II.
He gives the reader a view into how the City and the riverfront looked physically before creeks were diverted into sewers and addition after addition added streets and parks. He provides the reader with the feel of being a boy roaming the streets with your friends in a time of adventure and excitement in a city going from rough to sophisticated.
Moss, who was born in 1850, lived to be 92, his death in 1942.Lexicon
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St. Joseph Early History, Civil War in St. Joseph, Western MigrationBook Details
Author
Westcott, GaryPlace Published
City
St. JosephState/Province
MissouriDate Published
2020Call No.
StJoArea WENotes
Copy No.: 1Condition
Overall Condition
ExcellentRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Josiah B. MossPerson or Organization
Field, EugenePerson or Organization
Jesse JamesPerson or Organization
Samuel Nave