Notes for John Mosser, Sr.

Veteran of the War of 1812.  Settled at Clifton Mills, Preston Co. W.Va. John recieved a land grant
for services performed in the war.  In later years John Musser, Jr.  and Henry Musser signed as
witnesses to a land warrant application  for their father circa 1855. John felt he was eligible for
additional lands based on his services in the War of 1812. He had lost his discharge papers and
"Land Bounty" application papers by that time. ( In his application of 1855, John stated he had lost
the papers when he fell into the Monongahalia River about a mile above Cookstown, Pa.)  It is
possible he was visiting relatives in Fayette Co., Pa. when this occurred. He was awarded an
additional 120 acres in the "Ohio Territory". It is believed he gave or sold this land grant to his
son John,Jr.  who headed towards Illinois about this time.

John was a farmer, owning a farm on "the east side of Big Sandy Creek" in Clifton Mills, W.Va.  In
1863 John sold his farm to 101 acres to his son Daniel and wife Elizabeth Frederick Musser for $1000
with the stipulation that he and his wife Susanna could live there until their deaths.

John is buried at big Sandy Creek Cemetery, Preston Co., W.Va.

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 130-131

DANIEL MOSSER. One favorable characteristic of the
Mosser family represented by the venerable Daniel Mosser,
a retired farmer at Clifton Mills, is strong attachment to
the home environment in which the family have lived for
a century or more. The Mossers have been sterling patriots
in time of war, but in peace have chiefly devoted themselves
to the land, its cultivation, and the duties of good local
citizenship.

Daniel Mosser is living today on the spot where he was
born, September 21, 1837. His grandfather, Nicholas Mos-
ser, was a native of Germany, and came to America in
Colonial times, locating in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania,
where the City of Lancaster now stands. He left there and
moved on west to the vicinity of Selbysport, Maryland,
where he died and was buried on the farm. The children
of Nicholas Mosser were Nicholas, Chris, John. Mrs. Nancy 
Fike, Mrs. Elizabeth Teets and Mrs. Mollie Weimer.

John Mosser, father of Daniel Mosser, was born in 1786,
either in Germany or Pennsylvania. His early education
was in the German language, but he spoke English well. He
was a good business man, a successful farmer, and left
a fair estate at his death. It was John Mosser who entered
the land and made the first improvements on the place where
his son, Daniel Mosser, now lives. John Mosser was a sol-
dier in the War of 1812, and drew a pension from the
Government for that service. He was a democrat and a
member of the Presbyterian Church. His first wife was
Elizabeth Maust. Her two children were Jonas and Cath-
erine, the latter becoming the wife of Samuel Fulk. They
spent their lives at Grantsville and Salisbury, Maryland.
The second wife of John Mosser was Susan Frankhouser.
Her father, Nicholas Frankhouser, was a native of Ger-
many and settled first at Hagerstown, Maryland, and sub-
sequently came to West Virginia, and lived out his life
near Brandonville, where the widow of his grandson, Henry,
now lives. Susan Frankhouser was born on that farm, and
died about 1869. Her children were: Rebecca, who be-
came the wife of Joseph Thomas and died in Fayette
County, Pennsylvania; Ann, who was the wife of Barclay
McCollum and died near Pisgah in Preston County; Henry,
a blacksmith, who died in Fayette County; Joseph, whose
home was at Dawson, Pennsylvania; Sallie, who became the
wife of Augustine Wolfe and spent her life at Harmony
Grove in Preston County; Polly, who was the wife of Isaac
Moyer and died in Fayette County; John and Jacob, who
moved out to Illinois and died in McDonough County;
Susan, who became Mrs. John Summers and spent her life
at Clifton Mills, where she is buried; Elizabeth, who was
married to John Eaton, went to Iowa and is still living in
the vicinity of Chariton; Daniel; and Samuel, who was
killed while a Union soldier. The soldier representatives
of the family were Samuel and Henry, and Henry was a
pensioner.

Daniel Mosser grew up on the home farm, was educated
in the local schools, and for half a century, until the bur-
den of years made him incapable, he continued the culti-
vation and management of the homestead in Clifton Mills.
He was a successful grain and stock farmer, and the Mos-
ser farm of 128 acres lies on the east side of the Big
Sandy. This farm is now the property of his son, L. Harry
Mosser. Daniel Mosser has always voted at election times
and is a member of the Methodist Church.

He married Elizabeth Frances Frederick, a native of
Eastern Virginia, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (Der-
flinger) Frederick. She was born in October, 1838, and
died, August 9, 1885. Her children were: Samuel, of
Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania; Linley Harrison, everywhere
known as Harry Mosser; John, who died unmarried; Mat-
tie, Mrs. J. J. Barnes, living at Morgantown; Lando Walter,
of Vanderbilt, Pennsylvania; Dwight Roscoe, of Star Junc-
tion, Pennsylvania; and Hampton Frederick, who died at
Clifton Mills, leaving three children. The second wife of
Daniel Mosser was Mary Virginia Wheeler, and she died
in May, 1919, leaving no children.

L. Harry Mosser, successor to his father's farming ac-
tivities and to the ownership of the old homestead, which
has been in the Mosser family through three generations,
was born on that farm, February 1, 1865, and has spent
all the fifty-five years of his life in the same locality. He
was educated in the schools of Clifton Mills, and he is one
of the sturdy and successful stock farmers in this section
of Preston County. The residence in which he and his
family reside was erected in 1873.

May 2, 1886, Mr. Mosser married Miss Elizabeth Boger,
daughter of John W. and Clarissa (Smith) Boger. Her
father was born on the Boger farm near Brandonville, son
of Samuel and Elizabeth (Myers) Boger. The Bogers were
of German ancestry, and all of the name have been farm-
ers. John W. Boger was a Union soldier in Captain Clay
Hagans' Company, and died in 1867, at the age of thirty-
three. He was survived by his widow until September, 1918,
her death occurring when she was eighty-five. Mrs. Mos-
ser was born December 16, 1858. Her two sisters are
Mary Gatella, born April 10, 1860, who died as the wife
of W. M. Collier, of Clifton Mills; and Barbara Ellen,
corn January 13, 1862, now Mrs. L. H. Kelley, of Pair-
chance, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Mosser had
two children. Jessie Clara died March 20, 1920, leaving a
daughter Helen Lucile by her marriage to J. M. Silbaugh.
The only son, Harold Bay Mosser, died in 1896, when four
years of age.