MOTCH JEWELERS
vices in Northern Kentucky (see Catholic Charities), the social ser vices delivery arm of the Diocese of Covington (see Roman Catholics). She worked tirelessly helping people and families in need, and over the course of her employment arranged for more than 300 children to be placed in adoptive homes. In 1980 Moser was honored for her years of effort by being chosen the national social worker of the year at a convention in Rochester, N.Y. At age 90 she continued to visit “her old people” in nursing homes in the region. Mary Moser died in 1987 at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Covington and was buried at St. Mary Cemetery in Fort Mitchell. “Dedication Marked Mary C. Macke Moser,” KP, December 30, 1987, 1. Ott, James. A Brief History of the Diocese of Covington. Strasbourg, France: Editions du Signe, 2002. Tenkotte, Paul A., Thomas S. Ward, and David E. Schroeder. To Be Catholic and American in Northern, Central, and Appalachian Kentucky: The Diocese of Covington, 1853–2003. Forthcoming.
Anne Moser Flannery
MOSGROVE, GEORGE DALLAS (b. August 18, 1844, Lousiville, Ky.; d. February 21, 1907, Carroll Co., Ky.). Writer George Dallas Mosgrove was the son of William and Elizabeth Mosgrove. Where he was educated is not known, but it is obvious from the style of his famous work Kentucky Cavaliers in Dixie that he learned how to write well. He enlisted in the 4th Kentucky Cavalry Regiment CSA (Confederate States of America) on September 2, 1862, at New Liberty in Owen Co. and remained a private throughout his time of ser vice. He was assigned as a clerk to the regimental, and later the brigade, headquarters, where he was a copyist and a messenger. He had the opportunity to meet and work with many famous participants in the Civil War, such as John C. Breckinridge, John Hunt Morgan, Humphrey Marshall, Basil Duke, and Jubal Early. As the events of the war transpired, he had the presence of mind to record them, and it resulted in his book Kentucky Cavaliers in Dixie (1895). This work presents short biographies of many of the members of the 4th Kentucky Cavalry Regiment. It is far more than the standard regimental histories that were published after the Civil War. When the war ended, Mosgrove moved to Carroll Co., where he taught in a one-room school at Locust Grove near Carrollton. He wrote many articles for various local and national publications. One morning in 1907, he was found dead along the road from Carrollton to Locust Grove, having apparently died of heart failure. His gravestone at the International Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery in Carrollton notes his allegiance to the South. His famous work continues to be reprinted because of its value as a primary historical source.
Mosher, a Confederate activist and a wood carver, was the daughter of Thornton and Julia A. Keene Perry. She became deaf at age 20, having contracted meningitis after attending a ball at the Newport Barracks. Shortly after her marriage to William Webster Mosher, whose family owned the Latonia Springs Hotel in Latonia, she moved to Covington. William Mosher died in 1897. Kate Mosher was a Southern sympathizer during the Civil War. She was known to render aid to Southerners who passed through Covington. She also helped some 50 prisoners escape from the Rock Island Arsenal, a prison in Illinois near the Mississippi River for captured Southern soldiers. She entered the prison allegedly to visit a prisoner and later used information gathered during her visit to effect the Confederate prisoners’ escape. After the fighting ended, she assisted homeless persons in Northern Kentucky who were victims of the war. As a clubwoman, Mosher was a charter member of the Covington Art Club. She organized the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Kentucky and started the organization’s Henrietta Hunt Morgan chapter in Newport and its Basil Duke chapter in Fort Thomas. As an artist, she was a student of famed Cincinnati wood carver Benn Pitman. Mosher’s carved furniture was exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876 and at the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893. A member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Covington, she oversaw and contributed to the wood carving done on its altar and in the chapel during the 1890s. Mosher died in 1926 at the home of a relative on Madison Ave. in Covington and was buried in the Mosher family lot at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati. Kentucky Death Certificate No. 10669, for the year 1926. “Mrs. Kate Mosher Called by Death,” KP, April 6, 1926, 1.
Mosgrove, George Dallas. Kentucky Cavaliers in Dixie. Ed. Bell Irvin Wiley. 1895. Reprint, Wilmington, N.C.: Bradford, 1987.
MOSHER, KATE E. P. (b. July 11, 1836, Warsaw, Ky.; d. April 5, 1926, Covington, Ky.). Kate E. Perry
Motch Jewelers, ca. 1905.
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Roth, George F., Jr. The Story of Trinity Episcopal Church in Covington. Covington, Ky.: Trinity Episcopal Church, 1991. Spring Grove Cemetery Records, Cincinnati.
MOTCH JEWELERS. In 1857 Michael C. Motch, a watchmaker and jeweler from Cincinnati, opened the Motch Jewelry Store in Covington (see Covington, Downtown). The store advertised its expertise in watch and jewelry repair as well as the best prices and selection available for clocks, new jewelry, and fancy articles. Motch’s watch, jewelry repair, and restoration business thrives today, and complete appraisal ser vices have been added. The enterprise continues to be family owned and operated. It is the oldest jewelry store in the Midwest, having been at its current location, 613 Madison Ave., since 1871. The original display cases are in the store, as is a 10-foot-tall George Jones regulator clock. A street clock from Boston’s E. Howard & Company stands on the sidewalk in front of the store and is a Covington landmark. Motch’s displays watches, eyeglasses, and letter openers that were samples 100 years ago. The first store was located at 512 Madison Ave. Success enabled Motch to retain Cincinnati architect James W. McLaughlin to design a new jewelry store building. In September 1871, the business moved across the street into the new structure. Advertisements for the Grand Opening acclaimed the building as a work of art and encouraged citizens to visit just to see the “adornments.” Upon his death in 1900, Motch was said to be one of Covington’s wealthiest residents. Covington City Directory, 1869. “Dropped Dead,” CE, January 2, 1900, 5. Kenton Co. Death Records, for the year 1900, Kenton Co. Public Library, Covington, Ky. “M. C. Motchs New Store Opened,” CJ, September 23, 1871, 3. “Motch Jewelers.” www.motchjewelers.com/ (accessed August 17, 2007).