Ruth (Smith) Mosher (1806 - 1897)

Born 26 Feb 1806 in Dutchess, New York, United States

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 4 Feb 1897 at age 90 in Wapsinonoc Township, Muscatine, Iowa, United States

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Biography

Ruth was a Friend (Quaker)

Ruth Smith was born in Duchess county, New York, the daughter of Israel and Elsy (Southwick) Smith. Her paternal grandparents were David and Mary (Yeomans) Smith. They came to Ohio at an early day where the eldest son Isaac entered a piece of land, on which they made their home. The family was much afflicted. The father for many years was blind and the three sons all died together in a well from damps. A daughter, also died the same season and the mother the year following. Ruth Mosher's opportunities for school training were very limited, consisting of only three months all told. Her only book was a speller. But on that meager foundation she builded a liberal education, such as was attained by but few in those days. She lived to the age of ninety-one years, retaining her faculties and her interest in the world's doings to the day of her death. Mr. and Mrs. Mosher settled on a farm, long known as Edgewood, on the northern line of Muscatine county near it's western limit, which for fifty-eight years has been in the possession of the family and is now occupied by a granddaughter and her family. ^[1] Ruth married Stephen Mosher, the son of Asa Mosher (1771 - 1843) and Bethiah Mosher (1771 - 1856), Quakers of New York. ^[2]

Stephen and Ruth lived, first in Ohio, (where they had a "station" on the "underground railway", and then, circa 1864, when their youngest son was six, moved to Iowa. The family settled on a farm, long known as Edgewood, on the northern line of Muscatine couny, near its western limit. The property was occupied by the family for at least fifty-eight years and a granddaughter and her family were living on it at the time of the writing of the 1911 edition of History of Muscatine County.

The children of Stephen and Ruth Mosher were all born in Morrow County, Ohio and are as follows :

1. Elizabeth Mosher, born October 18, 1829, passed away on May 3, 1832.
2. Lemuel Mosher, born May 25, 1831, died May 8, 1832.
3. Elizabeth Jane Mosher, born May 20, 1833, married Isaac E. Schooley, a carpenter and farmer, the ceremony occurring on September 28, 1856.
4. Hannah Mosher, born July 5, 1853, and on the 16th of December, 1855, married James S. Barclay, a farmer and carpenter.
5. Ruth, born December 1, 1837, married December 9, 1858, to Matthias Wilson, a carpenter, farmer and soldier.
6. Mary S. Mosher born October 7, 1842, married March 12, 1868, to Blackburn Vore, a widower, who engaged in farming and blacksmithing in Fredericktown, Ohio.
7. Esther Ann Mosher, born March 15, 1845, married January 4, 1872. Wellington K. Eggleston, a widower of Boulder, Colorado.
8. Bethiah Elsy, was born in Morrow county, Ohio, August 11, 1850. She was married to A. D. Sinclair, of Muscatine, Iowa, on the 6th of February, 1873
9. HenryMosher, born March 27, 1840, came to Iowa with his parents in 1853 and remained at home till his marriage to Henrietta D. Gibson, March 28, 1861.
10. Lemuel O. Mosher, born April 28, 1847, came with his parents to Iowa at the age of six. He was married to Lidorana D. White of Iron Hill, Iowa, September 29, 1870.

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36059380/ruth-mosher
2. ↑ http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=36059178

• History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume II, Biographical, 1911, page 302 L. O. MOSHER Family History http://iagenweb.org/muscatine/biographies1911/mosher.htm
• Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36059380/ruth-mosher