Greene County IAGenWeb

1907 Past and Present Biographies

James E. Moss

James E. Moss is a retired farmer residing in Scranton, Greene county. He came to this county in 1876 and for many years thereafter was closely associated with general agricultural interests. His birth occurred in Kendall county, New York, October 21, 1844, and when ten years of age he came to Illinois, his parents being James and Sarah (Moore) Moss, both of whom were natives of the Empire state. The father was a farmer by occupation and reached the advanced age of ninety-seven years. In the family were seven children, of whom the subject of this review is the eldest. Five of the number are yet living, including D. M. Moss, who is a resident of Greene county.

James E. Moss had passed but the first decade in his life when the family removed to Illinois and there he was reared to general agricultural pursuits, early becoming familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. During the winter seasons he attended the public schools and thus acquired a good education. He continued a resident of Illinois until 1876. In the meantime he enlisted for service in the Civil war, joining the army when only seventeen years of age. He became a member of Company E, Thirty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, on the 10th of August, 1861, and served for three years or more as private and corporal. He proved a brave and loyal soldier, faithfully performing every military duty, whether in the heat of battle on the firing line or stationed on the lonely picket line.

When the war was over Mr. Moss returned to his home in the north and was married in Paw Paw township, De Kalb county, Illinois, October 25, 1867, to Miss Susan A. Powers, a native of that county. They became the parents of four children, of whom three are yet living: Frances, the wife of James Knight, a resident of Woodbine, Iowa; Jennie P., the wife of Clyde Fletcher, a resident of Indian Territory; and Sadie Beth Marjorie, at home.

Mr. Moss continued to engage in farming in Illinois until 1876, when he came to Greene county, Iowa, and purchased four hundred and eighty acres of land of a Mr. McDermot. For about three years he rented his land and remained in Illinois until 1879, when he took up his abode on his Iowa property. It was largely a tract of raw and unimproved prairie when it came into his possession, but in 1877 he erected some buildings upon it. He also saw to it that the sod was broken and that the work of improvement was carried on in the fields. He made his home on the southeast quarter of section 27, and as the years passed his energies and labors wrought a wonderful transformation in the appearance of the place, whereon he continued to reside until 1900. Some of his land was covered with timber, but he cleared this away, and in the course of time brought the fields under cultivation. As opportunity offered he also added to his property, buying one hundred and sixty acres on section 28, Jackson township, eighty acres on section 22, Jackson township, and also twelve acres of timber land in the same township. He now rents all of his land, while he lives retired. In the residence which he purchased he installed gas plant lights and a water heating system, and, in fact, added all of the accessories and conveniences of a model home. While living upon the farm he likewise engaged in the raising of full-blooded shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs. Both his stock-raising interests and his cultivation of the fields brought to him a good return and he is now one of the substantial citizens of the county. He has worked diligently and energetically as the years have gone by to achieve success and has accomplished what he has undertaken. He started out in life with little capital, but he possessed earnest purpose, laudable ambition and keen business discrimination and has utilized these qualities as a foundation upon which to build his prosperity. In all of his transactions he has been found thoroughly reliable and trustworthy and as the years have passed he has steadily forged ahead until he has reached the goal of success. Moreover, he has at all times been a loyal citizen, patriotic and public-spirited - as true to his duties to his home locality and his country today as when he followed the old flag upon southern battle-fields.

Transcribed from "Past and Present of Greene County, Iowa Together With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Prominent and Leading Citizens and Illustrious Dead,"
by E. B. Stillman assisted by an Advisory Board consisting of Paul E. Stillman, Gillum S. Toliver,
Benjamin F. Osborn, Mahlon Head, P. A. Smith and Lee B. Kinsey, Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907.

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