MOSS, William C.
MOSS, CARDWELL, DIXON
Posted By: Gordon Felland (email)
Date: 12/30/2009 at 10:59:34
William Charles Moss was born in the city of New York, June 17, 1835, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, eldest son of Nathaniel W. and Margaret (Cardwell) Moss.
When about the age of three years his family removed to Utica, Oneida county, New York, and thence to Waterville in the same county, at which places his early boyhood was passed. His father was a practical tailor and clothing manufacturer, and he served an apprenticeship at an early age in his father's shop, meanwhile keeping up his place in class at the local schools. Developing a taste for mathematics, and showing proficiency in penmanship, he took a course at the celebrated Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York, when about the age of fifteen, and upon its completion accepted a position as bookkeeper at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and while filling this new position attended the high school of the latter city.
He encouraged the western movement which brought the family to Iowa in 1854, and in January, 1856, he received appointment as a clerk in the United States land office at Decorah, Winneshick county, which position he continued to fill after the land office was moved to Osage, Mitchell county, serving under Receiver A. K. Eaton and Register J. D. Jenkins. He entered land on section 32, near his father's location, in Jenkins township; and March i, 1859, in company with his brother Edward and James Hills, a neighbor, joined the gold-seeking quest to Pike's Peak, Colorado. The expedition was made with ox teams, progressing to about four hundred miles west of Plattsmouth, Nebraska, and meeting numerous parties returning. Discouraged with hardship, they abandoned the project and returned to Iowa, reaching their homes in Jenkins township after an absence of six months, where he continued his farming operations, and on December 24, 1861, at Riceville, married Miss Susan Sophia Dixon, daughter of a pioneer settler in the township.
His brother John having gone to the Pacific coast in 1857, he yielded to the alluring visions depicted by him in correspondence, and in 1863 again joined the gold-seeker. His mining ventures in California were profitless, and he engaged as an overseer in charge of government supply trains in the latter state, during which service he was shot by an hostile Indian, the wound giving him inconvenience at various times in,after-life.
Returning to his Iowa home late in 1864, he broke new farm acreage, and in 1867 was offered the democratic nomination for county treasurer, which he declined. In 1870 he was the nominee of his party for clerk of courts, and in 1871 for county auditor. In 1873 Edward P. Shipherd, with whom he had formed a warm friendship during land office days, was elected county treasurer, and offered to him the position of deputy, which he accepted and removed with his family to Osage, where he continued to reside during the remainder of his lifetime. After eight years' service as deputy he was successively elected and served four years as county treasurer, following which he was again employed as deputy, later serving several years as deputy clerk of courts, and upon the completion of twenty years in subordinate and principal county positions he was presented, by his courthouse associates, in token of their respect and regard, with a gold topped support for his aging steps, which he ever afterward carried out with modest pride.
During succeeding years he conducted his insurance and conveyancing business and was on occasion again employed as deputy clerk of courts.
He was also secretary of the Mitchell County Agricultural Society, and a member of the Osage Library Board. In the early '70s, while residing on his farm (of which he retained ownership until a few years before his death), he was a member of the Patrons of Husbandry, and an officer of the local Grange. During these early years he was secretary of the local Masonic lodge, Relief Lodge, No. 211, at Mossville; filled local school board and township positions, and was a contributor of articles of local and county interest to the Mitchell County News, then conducted by his friends Arthur W. Clyde and John G. Stradley, at Osage. He was made a Freemason in early life, and was a member of the Osage Chapter and Commandery of Knights Templar. He was also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Iowa Legion of Honor, and Ancient Order of United Workmen.
Born during the administration of Andrew Jackson, he was, in national politics, a lifelong democrat. In 1888 he sat, as one of the delegates from Iowa, in the National Democratic Convention at St. Louis which nominated Grover Cleveland for reelection as president. In religious faith he was, by baptism, an Episcopalian, but his Christianity was intuitive and practical, following no defined channels of creed or tenet.
He was stricken with paralysis at his home in Osage, December 25, 1902, and after a lingering illness, accompanied by successive strokes, died October 13th following. His funeral was conducted by the Knights Templar; the sermon being preached by the pastor of the church of which his wife was a member. The editor of the Mitchell County Press, in the issue of October 21, 1903, pays this tribute to his life and memory:
"In the death of William Moss, which occurred Tuesday, October 13th, our community loses one of its oldest members, and one who through all his life has been identified in every way with its interest.
"Mr. Moss was interested in all the problems of good citizenship. His life and character was an obstinate devotion to opinion and principle, which trait early developed in his character and became the mainspring of action with him. He was a good scholar, a keen observer of men and events and readily acquired a large fund of information.
"He was charitable and kind in disposition, the cry of distress fell upon no unheeding ear. He lived a good life, above the sordid and selfish interests that animate so many. He followed the promptings of a heart that felt for all humanity, and in his death he leaves a memory that will always be cherished in fond remembrance.
"Such a man needs no eulogies in death. Those who knew him recall only pleasant things in connection with his life. He was broad-minded and liberal in every way. Those who knew him longest, and were permitted to share his friendship in a confidential way, know that he never had an unworthy aspiration, and never wronged a fellowman in the slightest degree. The strongest element in his character was his devotion to what he believed to be right, and his scrupulous regard for personal honor and integrity."
His wife was born in London, England, October 26, 1842, eldest daughter of James W. and Susan (Virgo) Dixon. Her father was a well-to-do cap manufacturer in London, and she was given educational advantages commensurate with her years before coming to America. The family, consisting of her father and mother and twelve children, came to New York city from London in 1853, and thence to Iowa, James W. Dixon preempting the southeast quarter of section 25, township 99, range 15, whereon the principal part of the town of Riceville is platted, on April 9, 1857.
Mrs. Moss was a devoted wife and mother; in her was exemplified the genius and spirit of home and family life. Essentially gracious and refined, she was also blessed with clarity of vision, a strong sense of justice and high ideals of duty. She was reared in the Church of England communion and during her residence in Osage united with the Congregational church of that city. She was a member of the degree of Rebekah, serving as delegate to the grand lodge of that order, and of the Eastern Star, being for some years chaplain of the Osage Chapter. Surviving her husband until March 8, 1914, she passed away at her home in Osage, mourned by all who knew her.
William C. and Susan Moss were parents of four children, boys, all born in Jenkins township, all educated there and in the schools at Osage, and all of whom have lived active, useful lives in their respective communities.
The eldest, Lee J., born October 21, 1862, served as deputy county treasurer, and during President Cleveland's first term was appointed a railway postal clerk, promoted to a chief clerkship, and made assistant superintendent of division at St. Paul, Minnesota. He was for nearly ten years a member of the Iowa National Guard; was adjutant of the Sixth Regiment, and appointed by Governor Boies on his military staff, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was elected grand chancellor of the Knights of Pythias of Iowa, and is author of the Pythian memorial day service, which was in 1890 adopted by the supreme lodge of the order for universal use. For the past twenty-eight years he has resided at Superior, Wisconsin, identified with the industrial and commercial growth of that city, and where he has filled various positions of local trust and is now engaged in the real estate and insurance business.
William C, the second son, born November 20, 1865, began his business career as an abstracter of titles in the office of Foreman & Marsh at Osage, removed to Superior, Wisconsin, where he followed the real estate business and served as justice of the peace, after which he engaged in manufacturing, and later removed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he now resides, with his wife, being a member of the wholesale lumber firm of McCulloch & Moss. He was for several years a member of the National Guard in Iowa, and since locating at Minneapolis has served as president of the Northwestern Cedarmen's Association.
Louis N., born June 8, 1867, followed farming for a time, learned the grocery business in the store of G. N. Symmes & Company at Osage, became a traveling salesman for John T. Hancock & Sons of Dubuque, which position he filled nearly fifteen years, then removed to Spokane, Washington, where he now resides with his wife and children, interested in reclamation projects, operating a fruit farm, and engaged in the real estate and loan business.
The youngest son, Fred H., born January 25, 1869, learned the watchmaker's trade in the shop of M. Morrison at Osage, and Winona, Minnesota, traveled as a salesman for John T. Hancock & Sons of Dubuque, and his health failing, resigned and became associated with Gus Swanson in the wholesale tobacco and cigar manufacturing business known as the Editor Cigar Company at Osage, which business continues to contribute materially each year to swell the jobbing trade of the city. He has served on the library board and filled other civic positions, and, always a consistent worker for the democratic party, has been its committeeman in local and district service, its candidate for the legislature, and under appointment of President Wilson is the present postmaster at Osage. He has been married, has one son, and resides on the same ground site at Osage to which he removed with his parents and brothers from Jenkins township forty-four years ago.
Source: History of Mitchell and Worth Counties, Iowa, 1918, Vol. II, pages 130-135.
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