Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The Moseleys

My last post featured this excerpt from a 1976 article about St. Mark's Church: "Efforts to locate the old rectory led (Mr. Hall's) sister, Catherine Hall Metz to recall that the site opposite the old church, where Conte's fishmarket now stands, was the home of a black family named Moseley who had been slaves before the Civil War. 'Mrs. Moseley,' Mrs. Metz remembered, 'taught piano to the Baldwins and others.'"

Sure enough, I found the Moseleys - or specifically a G. Moseley - living at that location in 1901. The Moseley house was sandwiched between St. Mark's Church and its parsonage, and would have had a lovely view of Kirby Pond before it was drained in 1888. G. Moseley still owned the property in the 1929-31 atlas. At this time it seemed that the house had been expanded, and a corner of the property now belonged to R. Moseley.

New Castle Corners 1901

New Castle Corners 1929-31

Looking into the census, I was able to identify George Moseley, the landowner, and his daughter Ruth Moseley, the piano teacher, in 1940. George's place of birth is given as Delaware, which was indeed a slave state at the time of his birth circa 1850 (that was only 23 years after slavery was abolished in New York State). You can see that each person's level of education was noted in this census. Ruth's was "C-2" (two years of college) while her father's was "0" (meaning no formal education). Viola Brice, age 19, was the Moseleys' maid, a native of Florida.

1940 US Federal Census of New Castle


I was also able to find the Moseleys mentioned a few times in the local paper. In 1932, the Recorder noted: "Miss Ruth Moseley, well known pianist of [the village], was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. William F. Kingsland of 30 Mechanics avenue last Saturday." In the 1930 census, William Kingsland, who was a mailman, his wife Carrie, and their 12-year-old daughter Esther were living at 30 Mechanics Avenue in Tarrytown.

The 1930 census shows that Ruth Moseley was born in New York, while both of her parents were born in Delaware. It also indicates that George was married for the first time at the age of fourteen, and indicates that he could neither read nor write.

1930 US Federal Census of New Castle
In the 1925 New York State Census, a family of Stevenses and one servant, Albertine Appo, were living with George and Ruth. This was the first census (going backward) in which George, then 75, was listed as having an occupation: "general laborer."

1925 New York State Census of New Castle
The 1910 census is the first (going backward) in which George's wife Annie appears. Like George, she and her parents were born in Delaware; also like George, she could neither read nor write. They were recorded having been married for 32 years (circa 1878). Annie was the mother of one child, which one would assume would be Ruth, but this will come into question later on. Eliott McMaster, a Scottish hired man, lived with them.


1910 US Federal Census of New Castle
The 1900 census gives more specific information about George's and Annie's dates of birth: George in March 1855, and Annie in August 1856. Contradicting the 1910 census, George was said to have been born in Maryland and Annie in New York. Though Annie was still listed as the mother of one child, Ruth was not recorded in the census. Instead, David Turpeau, a minister born in Louisiana, was listed as George and Annie's son. They also had one boarder, Sarah Brown.

1900 US Federal Census of New Castle


On May 16, 1890, the local paper reported:


According to a notice from 1887, "Mr. Arctic DeVoe, from Savannah," a "young colored man who has been living in this village for the past three years" who had been "recently employed by Mr. J. H. Crane, the furniture dealer," was now working as a coachman for County Register J. O. Miller. The paper added, "'Art' is quite a nice young fellow, attends to his business, and is thoroughly reliable."

It is interesting to note that George Moseley also worked as a coachman at this time - for none other than Judge William H. Leonard (hero/villain of the Kirby Pond controversy). On February 3, 1888, the Recorder reported that George Moseley "has bought the house and lot known as the Jackson house, east of New Castle Corners, and now occupied by Mr. Benjamin Miller."

A year earlier, in August of 1887, Moseley saved a man from being killed on the railroad tracks (a fate that befell far too many others in the village). The man happened to be Marcus Dean, who is buried in the cemetery. It seems that Dean was not particularly grateful to Moseley, but that may be due to the fact that he was quite old and in poor health at that time (he died two years later at the age of 89). Dean's obituary notes that he was also blind, in addition to being deaf.


In the 1880 census, George and Annie were living by themselves in Bedford.

1880 US Federal Census of Bedford


A letter from Ruth Moseley to The Crisis (official newspaper of the NAACP) dated December 27, 1929, is held in the W.E.B. DuBois Collection at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Library. The letter requests information regarding "the John Wananabe Jr. Contest for musicians" and is signed Ruth A. Moseley.

That same year, the New York Age reported that Ruth Moseley and her students gathered books and toys to send to sick children at Harlem Hospital.

The book Breaking Barriers: An African-American Family and the Methodist Story elucidates David Turpeau's relationship to the Moseleys - apparently, George and Annie served as "surrogate parents" to David when he moved from Louisiana to New York. David, whose full name was David DeWitt Turpeau, married Ila Marshall and raised eight children in Ohio, where David served four terms in the State House of Representatives. In 1920, David and Ila christened their second youngest child Leontine Ruth after Ruth Moseley. In 1984, Leontine Ruth Turpeau Kelly became the first black (and second female) Methodist Bishop. She died on June 28, 2012.

4 comments:

  1. Very interesting family history, combined with history of MK!

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  2. Angella Current FelderMarch 11, 2014 at 5:46 PM

    In Up From the Cane-Brakes, an Autobiography by David DeWitt Turpeau, Sr., the following information regarding the Mosley's( his spelling) when he met them in August,1893 is noted: "Mr. and Mrs. George L. Mosley lived on the Bedford Road, beyond New Castle Corner, about two miles from the village of Mr. Kisco. I had seen them at church (Methodist Church, Rev. Mr. Chadwick, pastor) but had not contacted them until my accident and Mr. Mosley came to the Dakins where I lived. In the course of a few weeks they came to the Dakins and asked that I come to live with them for they had no children; they would be glad to take care of me. ..The Mosleys had to promise by all that was humanly possible to take the very best care of me and that I would be permitted to come to visit them(the Dakins) as often as possible".. Turpeau also talks about The Leonards. "It was the last day of September,1896 when I went to the Edward's farm where Pap (George) Mosley was plowing. He worked for the Leonards. Colonel R.W. Leonard, the son of Judge Leonard, of the New York State Court of Appeals, and the owner of a large farm, had very fine horses and Pap Mosley had the care of them. Mam Mosley did the laundry and any special cooking; "Our house was at the foot of the hill, hard by the road which led from the Leonard's farm to the village. In fact the house was sold to Pap Mosley by old Judge Leonard. The Edwards farm was adjoining to the Leonard's farm. Mrs. Edwards was Colonel Leonard's sister." According to Turpeau, Mam Mosley passed away in 1912 and laid to rest in the Mosley's plot in Mt. Kisco Cemetery and beside her was left a place for Pap Mosley and one for me. "Pap Mosely lived a grand old man of eighty-six summers. He passed away December 11,1941".
    Angella Current-Felder, granddaughter of David DeWitt Turpeau, Sr. and daughter of Bishop Leontine Turpeau Current Kelly; author of Breaking Barriers: An African American Family and the Methodist Story, Abingdon Press, 2001

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  3. Dear Angella,

    Thank you so much for your response! It's very rare that I have been able to recover such intimate and interesting details about the people I have researched for this blog. It has really enriched my understanding of the Moseleys, the Leonards, and the community to which they belonged.

    I hadn't known the connection between the Rev. Turpeau and the Dakins, who were friends of my great-grandparents. I also didn't know where the Moseleys were buried. The Mt. Kisco Cemetery is probably the Oakwood Cemetery. I will have to go look for them there.

    I ordered the Rev. Turpeau's autobiography through inter-library loan but it hasn't come yet, and am not sure it will as it is only on microfilm in the repositories I saw on WorldCat. How did you happen to access it?

    Thanks again,

    Madeline

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  4. According to the NY Age (8/7/1920) Ruth A. Moseley (ca. 1893-????) was one of four African-American women who were hired by the New York Public Library to start the process of integrating the professional staff of the NYPL branch system. One of them—Catherine B. Allen (later Latimer)—was given a full-time appointment but Moseley was not. Moseley had studied at the New York Training School for Teachers. An article in the Amsterdam News (12/20/1941) about the funeral of George Mosely [sic] said that Ruth was his adopted daughter, and she was the director of the Foundation School of Music in Mount Kisco.

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