My Genealogy Hound

Robert Voss, proprietor of the Bazaar Store of Washington, Mo., is the son of Samuel and Marie (Knecht) Voss, and was born in the province of Rhein, Prussia, Germany, in 1838. The parents were natives of the same province as their son, born in 1803 and 1804, respectively. The father was a blacksmith by trade, and in 1849 immigrated to the United States, and settled in New York, where he resided nine months, after which he moved to Washington, Mo., and in 1853 returned to New York, where he passed the remainder of his days. He died in 1871, and his wife in 1880. She was the mother of seven children, Robert being the fifth. He was eleven years old when his parents moved to America, and therefore received most of his education in the schools of New York City and Washington, Mo. At the age of fifteen he began learning wood carving and ornamental wood work, and was a skillful workman. He served an apprenticeship of two years and three months, and for eight years was foreman in a large factory in New York City. During the war he was a strong Union man, was in the Pennsylvania militia, enlisted in Company D, Fifth Regiment, in 1860, and served but sixty days. He was in service during the battle of Gettysburg. In 1863 Mr. Voss established a cabinet shop and wood carving department in the City of New York, and in March, 1866, was married to Miss Louisa Haury, a native of Switzerland, born in 1842, and who came to the United States when but nine years of age. Her parents died while coming across the ocean. To Mr. Voss and wife were born four children: Ida, Oscar, Willie, Otto and Annie, the latter being an adopted child. Mr. Voss sold out his goods in New York City at the end of 1865, and came to Washington, where he established a general store, which has, for the last eleven years, been the Bazaar Store of Washington. He carries a first-class stock of goods, and is doing a successful business. He is a stanch Republican in his political views, and cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, in 1860. He is a member of the G. A. R. and of the Masonic fraternity, and has been a member of the school board several years.