My Genealogy Hound

Moses M. Risk was born in Scott County, Ky., November 25, 1804. His father, John Risk, or Risque, as the name was spelled in Scotland, was a native of Virginia, a soldier in the Revolution, a surveyor of land, who immigrated to Kentucky, settling among the Indians, and whose life was full of adventure and peril. Moses M., the youngest son of a large family, was brought up to the tailor’s trade, and spent his early life as a merchant tailor in La Grange, Ky. After marriage he and his brother, William, bought a mill on Elkhorn, selling their flour in Frankfort. Finally he bought a farm near Versailles, Ky., and cultivated it until he immigrated to Lewis County, Mo., in May, 1842, settling near Antioch Church, where he secured a farm of 600 acres, and raised grain and stock for thirty-three years. Mr. Risk was a deacon in the Christian Church at Antioch, a good neighbor and useful citizen. In politics he was a Whig; was greatly annoyed during the war, and after it voted with the Democratic party. He was a Freemason, a member of the grange, and hospitable and social to a fault. He was fleshy, had dark hair, which became quite gray, and was a well favored gentleman. In his seventy-first year, January 13, 1875, he went alone to a stream near his home, in his usual health, to out the ice for his stock to drink. His family had gone on that day to visit a married daughter. When they returned in the evening he was not to be found. His wife and daughter gave the alarm to the neighbors, when he was found, about 10 o’clock at night, dead, lying partly on the frozen stream, with his hat under his head. He probably had dizziness of the head, occasioned by a heart trouble. His children are John C., William H., James T., Ferdinand G., Robert C., Henry C., Mary F., Annie E., now living, and Charles Edwin, deceased. His widow, Mrs. Fannie Risk, is a daughter of John and Nancy Crosby, natives of Fauquier County, Va., who removed at an early day to Shelby County, Ky., where she was born January 31, 1813, and married, October 1, 1829, in the seventeenth year of her age. She is a woman of remarkable industry, and a consistent member of the Christian Church at Antioch. She governed her family with wonderful ability, and now, in her seventy-fifth year, slender in form yet in good health, resides on the old farm, a noble, hospitable mother in Israel, beloved of her kindred, brethren and neighbors. James T. and Miss Mary F. Eisk, who authorize this publication, reside with their mother at the old home, are members of Antioch Church and of the grange, and are highly respected and honored in the community. James spent several years in the gold mines of Montana, but returned, at the death of his brother, Edwin, and took charge of the farm. He has occupied responsible positions in the grange and in the county. This is one of the sweet homes of Lewis County, honored of God and respected of men.