My Genealogy Hound

Ex-Judge Franklin M. Moser. Foremost among the enterprising and successful farmers and stock raisers of Spring Creek Township stands the name of Judge Moser, who was born in Independence County, Ark., in 1838, and is the son of Eli and Maria (Bowen) Moser, natives of North Carolina and Arkansas, respectively. When a young man Mr. Moser went to Arkansas, where he married Miss Bowen. He was married twice, and had seven children by his first marriage and six by the last. He was a well-to-do farmer, and an enterprising citizen. The mother died in 1848, and the father in 1860. Both were members of the Methodist Church. John Moser, grandfather of subject, was a native of Germany, and he and wife came to the United States soon after the war, settling in North Carolina, but spent the last part of their days in Arkansas. Ex-Judge Franklin M. Moser was educated in the common country schools of Arkansas, and was obliged to walk two or three miles in order to attend the same. At the age of twenty-one he began for himself by farming, and at the breaking out of the late unpleasantness between the North and South, he enlisted in Company I, Eleventh Arkansas Volunteer Infantry, Confederate Army, and was in service until the close of the war. He was at the battles of Corinth, Iuka, siege of Vicksburg and Baker’s Creek. After the fall of Vicksburg he served in the transportation department; was in the battle of Jenkins’ Ferry and many skirmishes. He surrendered at Shreveport, La., in May, 1865. He was wounded in the thigh at Corinth, was captured, and held prisoner for about six months on parole, and afterward was exchanged, and rejoined his regiment at Vicksburg, where he was again captured and paroled. He then started for home, but in about two months was exchanged, and rejoined his command near Camden, Ark. After the war he returned home. Previous to the war, in 1858, he married Miss Sarah A., daughter of Daniel and Margaret (Suminett) Moser. She was born in Tennessee, as were also her parents, and afterward moved to Arkansas, where her father died in 1857, and the mother in 1874. To Mr. Moser and wife were born seven children, four sons and three daughters, all living in Dent County. Mr. Moser lived in Arkansas until 1869, and then moved to Dent County, Mo., on Dry Fork Creek, ten miles north of Salem, where he resided until 1883, and then moved on his present farm, three miles northeast of Salem. He has an excellent farm of 230 acres, 110 under cultivation, with good buildings and orchard, and nearly all his property is the result of his own labor. He improved a farm on Dry Fork and one in Arkansas. He is a natural mechanic, and has worked at the trade of blacksmith, carpenter and mason. In 1880 he was elected associate judge from the Second District; was re-elected in 1882, and again in 1884, serving six years, and increasing his majority each time. He is a Democrat politically, and his first presidential vote was for J. C. Breckinridge in 1860. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Salem Lodge No. 225, and has held offices as high as Senior Warden. He and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; two of the children are members of the same church, and one of the children is a member of the Baptist Church.