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� 2008, Mount Mora Burial Records |
| Record Last Updated On:
5/5/2021 |
| Name: JOSIAH B MOSS |
| Death Date: APR/1/1942 |
Interment Date:
APR /3/1942 |
Birth Date: JUL/29/1849 |
| Age at Death: 92 yrs, 8 months and 2 days |
Cause of Death:
Serious illness of a few days. |
| Location at Death:
St. Joseph, MO |
| Physical Location at Death:
Mr and Mrs Doyle Barrow, son-in-law and daughter. |
| Sex: M |
Nativity: |
Ethnicity: White |
| Occupation:Lumberman, Dougherty & Moss Lumber Company.
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| Military Branch: |
Military Rank: |
War Service: |
| Other Special Distinctions/Memberships: Wrote a history of Early St. Joseph entitled, The Reminiscences of Old St. Joseph |
| Child of: Preston Moss and Susan B. Moss |
| Spouse of: Mary Leach Moss, married in 1891. |
| Mother of: |
| Father of: Preston L Moss and Mrs. Doyle Barrow |
| Other Known Relatives: Uncles: Robert I Boyd, Mason Moss |
| Brief Biography: Obituary
St. Joseph Union-Observer, 1942-04-03
J. B. Moss Dies at Age of 92; Historic Figure He Wrote a Series of 178 Articles for Union-Observer on Early Day Life in St. Joseph and His Travels Abroad --
Josiah Beattie Moss, 92 years old, St. Joseph's outstanding pioneer and a native son, died Wednesday afternoon following a serious illness of a few days.
Funeral services were to be held Friday forenoon at the Heaton BeGole and Bowman funeral home, with burial at Mount Mora Cemetery.
Mr. Moss was best known to Union-Observer readers for the series of articles which he wrote about early day life and events in St. Joseph, and his travels abroad. Mr. Moss wrote 178 of the articles over a period of four years, the last of them appearing last December. He stopped writing in order to devote some time to a family history he was preparing. He had intended to resume his reminiscences in a few weeks.
Saw First Rider The articles written by Mr. Moss were widely read by old and young in St. Joseph. He was a good story teller, he had a remarkable memory, he was a careful observer, and from his earliest childhood he was allowed by his elders to go about wherever he pleased. If anything interesting took place in the community, he usually managed to get there.
In his articles he told how, at the age of 11, he rode a pony along behind the first Pony Express rider from the World Hotel (now the Sun Mfg. Co. building) where the first mail sack was picked up, to the Pony Express stables and then through the town to the ferry at the river bank.
Knew Eugene Fields He told of incidents in the Civil War, of visits made to his father's home by Brigham Young and of experiences on the old Chisholm trail. He went about some with Eugene Field when he was in St. Joseph, and listened to him recite some of his poetry.
He was one of the first to reach the Jesse James house at Thirteenth and Lafayette when that famous character was killed. He hunted wild turkeys, prairie chickens and other game at places now a part of the city of St. Joseph, and he was a part of this section when hemp was widely grown here and rope making was an important industry. He watched the pioneers outfit here for their journeys to the West in covered wagons.
Watched Indian Traders He saw many Indians encamped on Prospect Hill, and watched them trade their furs for merchandise at his father's store.
His father was Preston T. Moss, who died at the age of 38. Mr. Moss was born in a small frame house at Third and Francis streets which at that time was at the outskirts of the town. The business section was along the river bank. He was married in 1891 to Miss Mary W. Leach, who survives.
Mr. Moss died at the home of his son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. J. Doyle Barrow. Surviving also are a son, Preston L. Moss of Kansas City, and two granddaughters, Miss Mary Barrow of Chicago, and Miss Catherine Barrow of St. Joseph, and grandson, Preston L. Moss, Jr., of Kansas City.
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| Epithet: J. B. Moss
Source: St. Joseph Gazette Editorial,
Apr 3, 1942
TRAILS END
For a long, long while it seemed that Josiah B. Moss would not grow old as other men do. His compatriots in age whitened of hair, grew frail and stooped, and finally passed from our vision. But four score and ten years passed for Mr. Moss and he walked among us, erect and vigorous as one half his age. He was, it seemed to us, as immutable an institution as the buildings and hills of the city he loved so well.
This could not last always, but it was only a few days ago that his great age and its infirmities kept him indoors. And now he has passed on in his 93d year, a builder of his own memorial. If appreciative generations provide no additional monument, they will have for living memory of him his records of research and observation in this region, without which histories already written would be incomplete, and future historians would be lost.
Josiah B. Moss saw with his own eyes St. Joseph grow from a bustling village on a river bank to its present imposing stature. Himself one who as a lad of ten had seen the start of the famed Pony Express, he had a keen and never satisfied interest in events that had gone before, and in the relation of later happenings to the growth and prosperity of this community. For years he was the oracle to whom journalists and historians turned for information that had become obscured by lapse of time, for his passion for detail had enticed him not only into exploration of major events but of comparative trivia as well. Anything that had the least tangible bearing upon St. Joseph's history awakened his interest. His research and his writings had an amazing variety.
And now he has joined the pioneers with whom he had traveled in fact and so often in research. It is the end of the trail, and may he have covered the last miles of it conscious that the greatest reward bestowed upon a well spent life is his --the esteem and gratitude of his fellow man.
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| Tombstone Material: N/A |
Tombstone Shape: N/A |
Tombstone Condition: N/A |
| Vault Type: |
Burial Number: 12073 |
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| Mausoleum: N |
Ashes: N |
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| Other Relatives in Plot: s/o Preston T.& Susan Beattie Moss |
| Lot Owner: LLEACH |
| Lot Location: 2 |
| Block Location: 2 |
| Section/Range Location: D |
| GPS Coordinates: |
| Funeral Home: Heaton Begole and Bowman Funeral Home |
| Funeral Home City/State: St. Joseph, MO |
| Cost of Interment: 12.00 |
Date Paid: 04/30/42 |
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| Photo(s): |
J.B. Moss
Courtesy Of:Margaret Sparrow
J.B. Moss
Courtesy Of:Margaret Sparrow
Mr. J. B. Moss is ninety years old.
Courtesy Of:Mount Mora Board
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