Moss, John Allan

Submitted by Karen Reaves Moss, 948 Vintage, Kenner, LA

Ancestors of John Alan Moss

By: Karen Reaves Moss

My husband, John Alan Moss, is the direct descendant of John Moss of Goochland, Virginia. John Moss has thousands of descendants from hundreds of branches of his tree.

One such branch, the direct line from which my husband descends, is followed in this narrative from John Moss (b. 1707) to John Moss (b. 1966) concentrates on the descendants of Thomas Anderson Moss.

John Moss was born in Goochland, Virginia in 1707. There are many different arguments about who his parents were, however, I feel this may never be settled. John married Elizabeth Massie in about 1725. John and Elizabeth were the parents of nine children. Their ninth and youngest child was Nathaniel.

Nathaniel was born 1751 in Goochland, Virginia; he married Joanna Johnson in December of 1780. Nathaniel and Joanna had ten children, the second of these was George.

George was born in September 1782 in Virginia. After his birth, Nathaniel and Joanna moved their family to Georgia and then on to Mississippi. It was here that George met and married Lucretia Glass. George and Lucretia settled in Wilkinson, Mississippi and had seven children. Their oldest child, Joseph Johnson, was born in 1812. At the age of 24, Joseph married Martha Coates.

Joseph's six brothers and sisters migrated into Louisiana upon reaching adulthood. Most of his siblings settled in the Lake Charles area, with a few settling in Lafayette and New Orleans. Joseph and Martha chose to go north and homesteaded in Caldwell Parish. Once here, they raised a family of thirteen.

The eleventh of these children was Thomas Anderson Moss. Thomas and two of his brothers attended college at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and acquired degrees. Thomas was in the first graduating class of the newly built campus in Baton Rouge in 1868. He had been expelled from LSU in Pineville, LA for refusing to swear loyalty to the Union at the conclusion of the Civil War. Shortly thereafter, the campus at Pineville burned to the ground; it is believed that this was done by students angry about the expellations. When the school was re-opened in Baton Rouge in 1866, Thomas enrolled in their program.

In 1870, Thomas married Everallin Elizabeth Meredith. The daughter of a very prominent family in Caldwell Parish. Thomas and Eva settled in Grayson on the land that had been homesteaded by his parents. He and Eva named their home "Hard Scrabble Farm".

Thomas practiced medicine in Caldwell Parish, and Eva took care of their home and their 12 children. Only five of these children lived to see adulthood. Sadly, Thomas and Eva were returning from the burial of Pearl, when a messenger came to tell them of the death of their oldest child Eula.

The five children who survived were Casimir, Alan (pronounced A-lan), William, John, and Rubie. Here is a short synopsis of the lives of these five children:

Casimir was an attorney who was elected District Judge in Winn Parish. His son, Casimir Dale Moss and his grandson, Casmir Boone Moss followed in his footsteps and also became attorneys. All three of them graduated from LSU-Baton Rouge.

William Herbert, who was known as "Herbert", was born in 1884. He married a woman named Emma, whose surname is unknown to me. Herbert managed a sawmill in Joyce, LA. This sawmill was owned by the Joyce family, hence the name of the town. He then moved to Shreveport, LA and worked as a Lumber Jobber, buying timber from the logging companies and selling it to wholesale companies. Herbert and Emma had one son, William Herbert, Jr.

John Joseph was born in 1889 in Trenton, LA in Caldwell, Parish. Trenton has long since been absorbed by surrounding communities. John Joseph, who was known by both of his names, was a private in the 165th Infantry, 42nd Division in World War I. He also served in the Rainbow Division which was headed by General MacArthur.

John Joseph married Lula English and had one son, Robert. Robert and his son, Perry, are currently living in Shreveport.

Rubie Moss was a very active woman, even into her nineties. She married J.B. McCook, who was from Robeline, Louisiana. The had one daughter, Elizabeth "Bashie". J.B. passed away from tuberculosis when Bashie was just a year old. Rubie then married Cooper Hanks. While Bashie was attending LSU-BR, Rubie also enrolled as a graduate student, later receiving her M.A. degree. She worked in the Winn Parish Library for many years. Bashie passed away on Christmas Day in 1942 also from tuberculosis. Rubie passed away in September of 1992, just two months short of her one hundredth birthday.

Alan Moss married Annie Banks in 1913. They had two children: Annie Mae, born in 1919 and Thomas Alan, born in 1933. As you can see, Tom was a surprise late in life. Alan was 57 and Annie was 39 when he was born. When Alan was in his twenties in the 1890's when he was working for Wells-Fargo driving a wagon and delivering newspaper rolls. During one of these trips, he found himself being shot at by brigands who probably assumed he was carrying money. Alan got in the center of the wagon, protected by the huge rolls of paper, and continued to drive. He outran the outlaws, and lived to tell the story. He had another scary time when he was chased by members of the West-Kimbrel clan. He had been riding his horse outside the walls of Winnfield, when two of the clan took up chase. Alan outran them, and calling to the sentries around the wall, jumped over the wall as they shot down the brigands. Despite these occurrences, he lived into his seventies, passing away in 1955.

Thomas Alan attended Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, LA and received Bachelor Degree. He then attended Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge and received his Masters Degree in Science Thomas then married Rabie Elizabeth Reid, July 1957, in Winnfield. Thomas and Beth have three children: Elizabeth Ann, b.1959, Reid, b. 1963 and John (my husband) b. 1966. After the birth of their first child, Tom went back to LSU-BR and received his Doctorate of Science. Thomas and Beth are currently living in Winnfield, Louisiana enjoying retirement.