D'Alva began to work for his father, Daniel H.T. Mosse (1816-1891), who was a San Francisco bookseller and merchant of stationery and imported goods. Even after he married Nancy, D'Alva continued to be part of his father's retailing concern. 
As D'Alva and Nancy's family grew, he went out on his own with a toy store. Their first-born girl, named for D'Alva's mom Mildred, unfortunately died before her first birthday. The couple had two more daughters, Elfie and Alice.
Being part of the downtown San Francisco business community, D'Alva made the acquaintance of Nathan Joseph, who made and sold badges worn by firefighters, police officers, and other groups. (Nathan's place of business was within walking distance of D'Alva's store.) Nathan had a colorful career, involving fractional gold pieces, jewelry, badges, and curios of all types. Read more about him here. Ad above, from 1885, shows Nathan offering his badges for sale in Nevada.
In August of 1871, Nathan Joseph filed a patent for a new design for a flag badge, shown at top, and D'Alva Mosse was one of two witnesses to this patent. Whether Mosse ever purchased such badges from Joseph for sale in his store, I don't know, but it was interesting to see their names together on this patent page.
D'Alva's story has a sad ending. On June 5, 1874, he was home alone, having been quite ill for several weeks. His wife Nancy was tending to the store in his absence. Unfortunately, D'Alva somehow got hold of a pistol and fatally shot himself, leaving behind a grieving widow and two young daughters.
I'm remembering D'Alva Mosse, former Gold Rush miner, businessman, son, husband, and father, on the 150th anniversary of his death.
Sad ending to his life, for sure. He lived during an exciting time in history, though.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that patents could have witnesses attest to the information therein. Learn something new every day. Very sad that he killed himself; maybe he thought he would never recover. I hope that the girls were at school and not at home.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun and interesting find. Where did you find this bit of info, patent office, newspaper, both? Great way to remember him on his 150th death anniversary. I wonder why he shot himself...maybe his illness was too much to bear? Do you happen to know what he was ill with? Wow, you go deep into the lives of very distant and remote ancestors, kudos. ;)
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