Short History of Uncle Mose

Written by his friend D H Payne, April 1909

 1833-1920

1869    County Superintendent

1878    Deputy Treasurer

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

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 ...