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Editor of Democrat;
Sir; Complying with
your request we take pleasure in presenting this brief sketch of Uncle
Mose Downing and know the same will be appreciated by his many admirers.
A few years ago it was announced through the press that Uncle Mose
Downing had married a thousand couples. Since that time he has been
going right along on the second thousand and has already two hundred and
thirty six more notches on his stick. He has attracted such general
notoriety in the matter that he is receiving numerous requests for his
photograph, and facts for a newspaper write up. It occurred to us that
we could make a few suggestions that would be true to history and help
the good cause along and give Uncle Mose's matrimonial bureau a little
more momentum.
Uncle Mose and his good wife
have lived in Davis County ever since the Indians left. He helped tramp
down the prairie grass and kill the rattlesnakes, preparing the way for
later civilization and dog kennel. Everybody in the county knows Uncle
Mose and it is not safe to say a word against him in any crowd unless
you are prepared for a rough and ready fist fight. He has held almost
every office in the county until he got tired and quit. When he was a
candidate for any county office all he had to do was ask the people whom
he had married to be sure and get out to the polls and they never failed
to come. He used to teach school and the good times the young people had
a t his spelling bees are still remembered in the neighborhood. When he
held the office of county superintendent of schools he was a little
careful and strict about giving teachers license to male applicants but
no good looking school marm ever left his office without a first class
certificate. He is a Christian preacher, but he preaches only as a
sideline. He is spruce and starchy for a man of 75 or a little over when
he dons his ministerial suit and silk hat which have done good service
on many occasions, he steps off as spry and straight as an Indian. If
you read one of his characteristic marriage notices published in a local
paper some months ago, you would know that he is a noted character and
possessed of a good deal of humor. Here is a quotation from one of them.
The writer takes this
opportunity to say to all persons contemplating matrimony that he is
still doing business at the old stand on East Walnut St, one block south
of SE corner of the square, pink house, all marrying done in the latest
and most artistic manner, either private or public, runaway couples made
a specialty, married any hour, day or night, and pursuers thrown off the
track, reduced rates to those that have been married before, red lantern
at front door, night bell under the latch, no dog on the premises. He is
a handy man and can preside with dignity at any kind of public function.
He is an expert at funerals, can tie the marriage knot on short notice,
(he always kisses the bride) can offer an acceptable invocation on the
Fourth of July, or at a picnic dinner, and can lay the boys out at the
wedding spread.
Uncle Mose has married
One thousand two hundred and thirty six couples, and it is a well known
fact that the knots which he ties seldom slip, or come undone. His only
enemies are the divorce lawyers. A great many good jokes are perpetrated
on Uncle Mose. If some stranger comes into our prohibition town and
happens to ask a native where he can get a drink the probability is that
he will be sent to Uncle Mose Downing. On being asked for a drink Uncle
Mose enjoys the joke and seriously says that he is just out and is
looking for a fresh consignment by express in a day or two.
When Uncle Mose learned to
preach intoxicating liquors were used by everybody and found on the side
board of the parson. It commonly entered into the first draught of the
infant and the last of the dying man. Physicians prescribed it, the
Government issued it with rations to the soldier and sailor, and to have
a log-rolling, barn raising, husking bee or hoe down without it
was possibly insufferable. As a necessary commodity teamsters hauled it,
boats bore it from clime to clime, winds wafted it from continent to
continent and it was both an elixir and sine quanon.
Uncle Mose has a talent for
music, which has made him a social lion. He can play a violin to the
queen's taste. In pioneer days, violin music was about the only kind
known and appreciated and the children cried for it. Dances were the
chief neighborhood amusement. When Uncle Mose was present and the
fiddler happened to be late or too full for utterance, he would seize
the Cremona or Stradivarious from the peg on the wall and say, "On
with the dance, let joy be unconfined, no sleep till morn, where youth
and pleasure meet, to chase the glowing hours with flying feet."
They laid the babies on the bed in rows, and went on with the light
fantastic. Uncle Mose can play all the old familiar music of that day
and in years has been a winner in a fiddler's contest entertainment.
He prefers weddings to
funerals and probably because there is usually a fine banquet and better
fees. He is an expert in carving turkey, and hits the joints with a
carver everytime. He learned in an early day when it was the custom to
bring the turkey, roasting hot to the table, and have the minister
dissect the carcass in presence of the gazing banqueters. He probably
blushed when a beginner, but his cheek is calloused now as a lawyer's
and he likes to carve to the heart. We are talking of getting up a
celebration for Uncle Mose next Fourth of July and invite as honored
guests, all the people he has married and have them bring all their
children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Such an occasion would
be a merry one and more than fill the public park.
Uncle Mose has lived a useful
life. He is not responsible for all the matches he has made, but he has
done his part well. He agrees with President Roosevelt on the race
suicide question. He has no arbitrary wedding fee, but lets the fellow
pay according to the love he has for the bride and the bargain he thinks
he is getting. Uncle Mose enjoys a joke and can give and take. So
here is a good one on him. About four years ago last December, a colored
lady and gentleman, just fresh from Missouri, called at his residence.
The gentleman says, "My name is Mr Jackson, the lady's name is Miss
Johnson." "Mr Jackson, Miss Johnson, happy of your
acquaintance,"
says Uncle Mose. "We have just called on your county clerk, sir,
and have the necessary papers, sir, and we desire to be united in the
Holy Bonds of Wedlock, and your county clerk recommended you to us, as a
gentleman that can perform the marriage ceremony in first class
style." "Yes sir," says Uncle Mose, "I can give you
a nice little ceremony, sprinkled with rose water and sugar."
"That's just what we want," said the colored gentleman. Uncle
Mose arranged them on the floor properly and pronounce the magic words
that made them one for life, in an solemn and dignified manner. At the
conclusion he said, "the statues of the state of Iowa allow the
officiating minister the privilege of kissing the bride, but on this
occasion we forego the pleasure" This nettled the colored gentleman
a little and he replied without a moments hesitation, "the statues
of Iowa, allow the groom the privilege of paying the officiating
minister, anywhere from 50 cents to ten dollars, but on this occasion we
forego that pleasure."
So here is to the health and
happiness of Uncle Mose, as well as the 1236 couples married by him, and
their numerous progeny for all time to come. From his friend,
Dillon H Payne. Bloomfield Democrat 1909
Miscellaneous Marriages- By Rev Mose Downing,
gleamed from newspaper clippings Samuel Clyman & Ida M Lampman Sarah
Talitha Lough & Herbert D Evans 12/24/1905 Elroy
Strickland & Lulu Lang 12/24/1905 J W Smith & Jessie C Watts
Martin Randolph & Anna McKee 12/7/1905 Diana Myers & Chad
Dodd 1/17/1903 L Christy & Maud Dennis 1/24/1903
Will Scoles & Alpha Kutch 1/24/1903 Ezra Losey & Sussie
Johnson 2/9/1903 John W Pilcher & Effie Grinstead
2/10/1903 Samuel Patterson & Eliza Bohi 2/22/1903
Homer Brunks & Cloe Bunnel 2/22/1903 John McVey & Ida
Romminger 3/1/1903 E Z Morrow & Lorena Curl Apr 8 1903
O K Shields & Martha D Money David Carlisle & Anna Himes Shotto May
1903 Clay Owens & Ella Coy Aug 1903 J MIller &
Laritia A Law Aug 1903 Thomas Chapman & Mary L DeHaven
Aug 21 1903 Albert Jones & Carrie Sapp Chas Ed Daughtery &
Anna Gertrude Ore Aug 25 1903 John Kirkham & Isabelle
Wickless Lennie Pence & Roy Pottorff Elmer Carnahan & Myrtle Jones
L P Kinsinger & Alda Brown Sept 1903 Harrison feagins &
Ona Small Etta Lough & Sylvester Bales Wm L Dodge & Rosa May
Livingston Dec 1903 Clara Holt & Richard Brown Ida
Sampson & J W Buzzard |
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Marriages
Alma Fortune Emery C Berry 1894
Mildred Smith Henry Horn Oct 20, 1896
Emma Shook Willis Battin Oct 25, 1896
Conrad Ritz to Ellen Bales Feb.
22, 1863
Harrison Feagins & Ona Small- 1903
L P Kinsinger & Alda Brown- 1903
James N Ware & Agatha May
Hull-
Oct. 23, 1900
George W Roberts& Nancy Mustard 5-3-1888 J
D McCormick & Mary Galpin Nov 6, 1887 John T
Barker & Lizzie Ritz October 1901 James
Ernst & Lucy Wilkinson Jan 27, 1895 E J
Strickland & Lula Lang O K Shields
& Martha Money 4-8-1903 Solomon Bales &
M Birchmier 7-10-1888 S N McCormick & Rose
Daughtery Dec 20, 1894 Wm McCormick & Anita
Minnick 2-14-1891 A J Christy & Dora Hining
3-17-1900 J A Wilkinson & Louise Matt
3-13-1901 Earl Smith & Maye Hall
May 1908 John
W Cecil & Amanda A Barnett - June 1908 Fred
Lowenberg & Anna Bain - June 1908 Pearl Garmon & Benjamin Selman 1900 Anna
Rothenstein & Seymour Rogers 1896 Charles
Washington Barker & Sylvia
Downing 16 Jan
1907 J P Huston & Maude
Buffington 1904 Harry Mason &
Minnie E Foster 11 Oct 1904 George H Farnsworth
& Minnie Harle 22 March 1904 Vaye Downing
& Wm Pettit Jr 30 Mar 1904 Lee Taylor &
Alma Caswell Dec 1900 A A Pinnell & Lena
Barker November 1901 Curth B Good & Effie V
Patterson -1899 Wm Scoles & Alpha Kutch Jan
24, 1903 L Christy & Maud Dennis Jan 17,
1903 Ezra Losey & Susannah Johnson Jan 21,
1903 Samuel Patterson & Eliza Bohi Feb 10,
1903 John W Pilcher & Effie Grinstead Feb 9,
1903 LW Griggs & Millie A Koebke 1902 GO
Goodson & Mabel L Warthen 1902 Max Hinkle
& Cora Hamilton 1902 Ab Doke & Mmie
Hamilton 1902 LD McMains & Ora Battin
11-16-1902 Harvey Thompson & Rebecca Hildew
11-11-1902 Andrew Herbert & Mary Haney
12-20-1902 JW Rogers & Della Grinstead
2-26-1902 Hiram Post & Mary Foster
1-25-1886 Gilbert L Hancok & Frances E Cook
1-26-1888 Jennie Humphrey & George Parker
1898 Lillie Finley & Ernest McGants 1898
James M Longfellow & Lillie Elliott 2-7-1897
John H Ashby & Minnie Adeline Scoles 4-3-1897
And many, many more ... |
