Part 557: Home for the Holidays, 1906
Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Pitt, Stella and Baby Eleanor arrived home for Christmas.”
During the summer of 1906, “The Oak Park Leaves” reported, “Mr. and Mrs. W. Pitt Moses of Trenton, N.J., are the proud parents of a baby girl, who arrived Sunday, July 29. The father is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas G. Moses of 233 South Euclid avenue” (4 August 1906, page 10).
Tom and Ella had four children: William “Pitt” Moses (1879), Mary “Mamie” Titcomb Moses (1881), Lillian Ella Moses (1886), Thomas “Rupert” Moses (1889). Moses recorded that Pitt and Mamie were the mischievous pair of the four when they were young, keeping his wife Ella on watch every minute.
As the first child to become an adult, Pitt followed in his uncle Frank Moses’ footsteps. In 1900, he moved to Trenton and worked at the gas plant in New Jersey. Three years later, he married Stella Martin of Trenton. Moses’ youngest son, Rupert, entered the theatre manufacturing business with his father. The girls were married and became homemakers. Lillian married George Salzman in 1910. Mamie married William Hanover in 1911. Last, but not least, Rupert married Ula McNeill of Ames, Iowa in 1914.
By 1917, Moses wrote, “Pitt came out for a short visit and for the first time in twenty years, we had only the four children at home for a dinner. They were not allowed to mention their families. We sat each in their accustomed place. We all enjoyed it immensely. It carried us back many years when we were all much younger. I wish we could do it every year.” That same year, Moses wrote, “Stella and the girls arrived on December 22nd. Pitt came out on the 24th. We certainly had some family this Christmas – 17 at the table and two in the kitchen, and we had a fine dinner. I had Eugene Hall come to the house and pose us and he got one good negative. Had to use a flash as the light was very poor. I have wanted this for a good many years, and I am pleased to get it, even if it is not as good as a gallery picture.” I would love to find this picture.
Because Rupert and his father worked together, the two families would occasionally share the same home, sharing everything from food to scarlet fever over the years. Although his eldest son Pitt lived far away in Trenton, New Jersey, Moses passed along fatherly advice across the miles in the form of letters.
In 1931, Moses wrote to his eldest son,
“My dear Pitt.
Many thanks for your letter of congratulations and expression of your love. I am very thankful to know and receive both of them. As the 75 years bear down on me I often wonder if my life has been worthwhile to myself and others. While I have been partly successful in many ways. I have failed to reach the goal I set for myself fifty odd years ago. But the domestic side of my life has been a very happy one in choosing a wonderful mate, and who has not only been a good mother to our four healthy children, but a good help in sifting out many financial difficulties that are bound to come in our lives.”
Fortunately for us, John H. Rothgeb (University of Texas) corresponded with many of Moses’ descendants, by gathering copies of letters written by Moses near the end of his life. At the time, Rothgeb was researching the life of Moses, as well as the history of the Sosman & Landis studio. This was during the 1970s and early 1980s. He left an enormous wealth of information in the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas. Rothgeb was the second generation to identify the significance of Masonic scenery. The first generation was James “Jim” Maronek, a Chicago scenic artist who collected many Sosman & Landis artifacts during the 1960s. He even held the first exhibit placing Masonic scenery within the context of theatre history; this was during the early 1960s.
The third generation of scenic artists to study Moses and Masonic scenery was Lance Brockman at the University of Minnesota, hence how I became the fourth generation. Early in my undergraduate career I created an index for Moses’ typed memoirs and scrapbook for Brockman as a class project. I was also the assistant to the curator (Brockman) for the Theatre of the Fraternity exhibit in 1996. This was when I wrote letters to all known descendants of Thomas G. Moses.
During this same time, I came in contact with another student and friend of Maronek, one who became the paint charge at Chicago’s Lyric Opera. Like me, Brian Traynor became fascinated with Moses and his contemporaries. He actively collected materials and other information pertaining to historical scenic art. I have remained in contact with Traynor over the years and we have become friends. He is an amazing source of information and artifacts relating to the Chicago scenic art scene, while remaining a professional scenic artist. Traynor was also the one who contacted me about the Scottish Rite collection in Peoria, Illinois, when the Valley was getting rid of it. We worked together in search of a new home, but when no university or museum was willing to receive the donation, I rented a truck and took it home.
Without my predecessors, Maronek, Rothgeb, Brockman and Traynor, I would not be able to successfully tell the story of Thomas G. Moses.
To be continued…
