Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
In 1917, Thomas G Moses wrote, “Mama and I went to Sterling June 13th for a few days. Details of this trip will be found in ‘Back to the Old Town.’” Moses is referring to his travelogues. Unfortunately none of these records have survived. Only those tales he published as newspaper or art journals articles remain.
However, on Dec. 28, 1917, “The Pantagraph” (Bloomington, Illinois), published a lovely article that pairs well with his entry. It makes me think of how Sterling initially perceived Moses’ early departure from his hometown:
“Thinks They’ll Come Back.
Editor of Pantagraph: I am informed that a large number of people are intending to leave the vicinity this coming spring. There must have been a tremendous influence brought to bear on the minds of the people to lure so many to decide to leave Old Town, for it has always been known that Old Town was a perfect paradise on earth. Some say it is the original Garden of Eden, and I believe it, for the old apple tree still stands and often bears fruit. Over a dozen of our best neighbors and friends have at some time or another been persuaded to shake the dust of Paradise from their feet and seek homes in the sunny south. We would grieve our eyes out over the loss of so many of our loved ones, if we did not know that they would soon return. Never has anyone left Old Town who did not come back. Those who could not come back pined their lives away and died. Their last sad requests were for their friends to carry them back to Old Town and bury them. We will wait with great anxiety for our friends to return, and when they do return we will received them with cheerful hearts, a loving embrace and a sweet kiss.
A. Bellville, Holder, Ill., Dec. 26.”
In 2019 I visited Moses’ hometown of Sterling, Illinois, driving past on my return from a League of Historic American Theatres conference. He and his wife both grew up there, attending the same one room school house. While passing thru town, I tracked down many of the sites that Moses mentioned in his memoirs, including an early house that the young couple lived in when they briefly returned home for year.
I imagine that friends and family thought the couple had returned for good, yet Sterling was not a town of solely happy memories for Moses. Even his father eventually left the area, deciding to live near Moses in Chicago. Moses’ father, Lucius Moses, initially gave up the life of a sea captain, traveling inland to Illinois after one child died at sea. His children, however, remained a family of wanderers. In some ways this was conducive to the life of a scenic artist, venturing from one town to another and coming home between projects.
Moses’ memoirs do not reflect a happy childhood. As a young boy in Sterling, he lamented over the loss of his mother at an early age and dreamed of escaping the stench of the tannery. I don’t think that Moses was ever able to really fit in with Sterling social life.
It would be the young town of Chicago that welcomed this hopeful artist, providing friends, a new family and lots of opportunities. Moses was able to remake himself as a successful and respected businessman, not the son of a tanner. His return to Sterling in 1917 may have been difficult, especially for those who still believed that he had traded Paradise for success.
To be continued…
