 1864 - 1951 (87 years)
-
| Name |
POSS Anthony |
| Birth |
30 Sep 1864 |
Carrolltown, PA  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
12 Nov 1951 |
Franklin, Renville Co., MN |
- Burial: November 14, 1951 in St. Patrick's Old Birch Cooley, Renville
Co., MN.
|
| Notes |
- On the eastern edge of the Allegheny Plateau, near the Appalachian
Highlands in the State of Pennsylvania is the County of Cambria.
Fifteen miles due north of the County seat, Ebensburg, is the village
of Carrolltown, center of a farming community. On a farm, about a
mile and a half from town lived Charles and Regina Abt Poss. Here, on
September 30, 1864, was born a son, Anthony. There were other
children in the family, four girls and a boy. From what we can
gather, they were all older than Anthony. His brother's name was
Charles, and his sisters were, Lizzie (Mrs. Fred Hufnagel), Mary
(Mrs. Len Farnbaugh), Catherine (Mrs. Fred Farnbaugh) and Lena, who
never married. Charles and Regina, Anthony's parents, were
Pennsylvania Dutch and they lived on the farm with their children
until 1870, when they moved into Carrolltown, where Charles plied his
trade as a stonecutter. Some two years after leaving the farm, when
Anthony was eight years old, his father died. The year before, 1871,
Lizzie and Mary had left the family home and moved to Beaver Falls,
Minnesota. Not long after Charles' death, Anthony's mother, Regina,
married a man by the name of Hiller. In 1873, the other two girls,
Catherine and Lena, followed Lizzie and Mary to Beaver Falls. Anthony
and Charles continued to live with their mother and stepfather until
1874, when they and their parents left Carolltown to join the girls
in Beaver Falls.
As Anthony was nearly ten years old when the family left
Pennsylvania, he had already started to school. He continued his
education in Beaver Falls and also attended school in Bird Island for
two years. After leaving school, Anthony began working in the
hardware store of Conklin and Clark in Bird Island, remaining there
until he was twenty years old. He then moved on to Long Prairie to
work for Richard Handy in his hardware and tin shop. After four
years, when he was twenty-four, he decided to go to St. Paul to take
a short business course and work in the manufacture of tin. He
remained in St. Paul for almost a year, and in 1888 moved to Morton
and began working for Keefe, Heing and McClure. Anthony was an
ambitious young man who had saved his money, and so in September of
the following year, 1889, he bought out the hardware store of J. M.
Johnson in Franklin, and changed the store's name to Poss Hardware.
In 1895 he took his brother-in-law, Charles Freeman in as a partner,
and this parnership lasted until 1915 when it was dissolved by mutual
consent. Poss Hardware is now owned and operated by Anthony's oldest
son, Harold, and it is one of the oldest active businesses in
Franklin.
While Anthony, or as he was affectionately known to his many friends,
Tony, worked in Morton during the year 1888, he met a young lady,
Mary Ann Brown, who was waiting table at the Railroad Hotel. Mary Ann
wanted to open a millinery Store, and no doubt it was Anthony, who
persuaded her to come to Franklin and open a store in the rear room
of Poss Hardware. Just when Mary Ann came to Franklin is not know,
but it is a fact that Anthony and Mary Ann were married in 1894.
Mary Ann Brown was born on July 5, 1865 in Tinwich (or as it is also
spelled, Tingwick) Province of Quebec, Canada. Tingwick is about
seventy-five miles south and west of the city of Quebec and eighty
miles north and east of Montreal. Arthabaska County in which Tingwick
is situated was the center of an area devoted almost exclusively to
farming. From the Prologue, we know that Mary Ann was the eldest
daughter and the second child of James Brown and Mary Anne Goggin,
and that the family migrated from Canada and finally settled on a
farm near Birch Cooley in Norfolk Township, Minnesota.
Anthony and mary Ann spent their entire lives in Franklin and the
following children were born to them; Irene, Harold, Edward,
Genevieve, Mary, John and Dorothy. All the children are still living
except Edward who was called to his reward on September 15, 1958.
After a long and happy life, Anthony died on november 12, 1951 at the
age of eighty-seven, and eight years later at the age of ninety-four,
his wife, Mary Ann joined him.
Written by Thomas J. Shay February, 1963
In 1909 the firm of Poss and Freeman rented out their vacuum cleaner
by the day - the easy way to clean the house without taking up the
carpets.
The firm of Poss and Freeman, one of the oldest firms in Franklin,
dissolved partnership in January 1915. Poss took over the hardware
and farm implement business and Freeman took the furniture and lumber
part of the business. The men were in partnership for 19 years.
In 1916 Anthony Poss installed a gas pump in front of his store.
In March 1917, A.J. Olin, Anthony Poss and A.S. Erickson went to
Washington D.C. to witness the inauguration of President Woodrow
Wilson.
Poss Hardware celebrated forty years of business in Franklin in 1931.
They held gigantic sales of merchandise, and the entire town joined
in the celebration held in the village hall.
|
| Person ID |
I6627 |
Freeman-Smith |
| Last Modified |
10 Apr 2024 |
| Family |
BROWN Mary Ann "Moll", b. 05 Jul 1865, Tingwick, Arthabasha County, Quebec, Canada d. 03 Mar 1959, Franklin, Renville Co., MN (Age 93 years) |
| Marriage |
10 Sep 1894 |
Henryville Twp, Renville Co., MN |
| Children |
| | 1. POSS Gertrude Irene, b. 17 Jun 1895, Franklin, Renville Co., MN d. 12 Jun 1979 (Age 83 years) [Father: natural] [Mother: natural] |
| | 2. POSS Harold James, b. 29 Jul 1896, Franklin, Renville Co., MN d. 21 Jan 1978, Redwood Falls, Redwood County Co., MN (Age 81 years) [Father: natural] [Mother: natural] |
| | 3. POSS Edward Lloyd, b. 31 Jan 1898, Franklin, Renville Co., MN d. 15 Sep 1958, Evantston, IL (Age 60 years) [Father: natural] [Mother: natural] |
| | 4. POSS Genevieve Veronica, b. 13 Jan 1901, Franklin, Renville Co., MN d. 24 Dec 1990 (Age 89 years) [Father: natural] [Mother: natural] |
| | 5. POSS Mary Colleen, b. 03 Oct 1904, Franklin, Renville Co., MN [Father: natural] [Mother: natural] |
| | 6. POSS John Anthony, b. 22 Jan 1906, Franklin, Renville Co., MN d. 06 Jun 1997 (Age 91 years) [Father: natural] [Mother: natural] |
| | 7. POSS Dorothy Mae, b. 23 May 1907, Franklin, Renville Co., MN [Father: natural] [Mother: natural] |
|
| Family ID |
F6627 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
10 Apr 2024 |
-
-
| Sources |
- [S986] Ruby Deming, The History of Franklin Minnesota, 113, 122, 123, 124, 141.
pg 113: The firm of Freeman and Poss rent a vacuum
pg 122: The firm of Freeman and Poss break up
pg 123: 1916 population of business directory
pg 124: Anothony Poss installs gas pump
pg 124: Poss goes to Washington
pg 141: Poss Hardware celebrates 40 years
|
|
|
