Notes: Several historical documents prove that the maiden name of Sarah Moss is in fact "Alexander." These include:

1.) Robert B. Moss (*her son): 1925 Iowa State Census, Minburn, Dallas County - see second folio page: "FATHER'S NAME: Samuel Moss born Virginia, MOTHER'S NAME: Sarah Alexander born Indiana" (See: Ancestry.com: Iowa State Census Collection, 1836-1925.)

2.) George W. Moss (*her son): 1925 Iowa State Census, Washington township, Dallas County - residing in the household of Tom Moss (*her grandson) - see second folio page: "FATHER'S NAME: Samuel Moss - born N.C. - age (blank), MOTHER'S NAME: Sallie Alexandria (sic) - age (blank)"

3.) Mary C. (Moss) Edmundson (*her daughter): 1925 Iowa State Census, Minburn, Dallas County - see second folio page: "FATHER'S NAME: Samuel Moss - born Indiana, MOTHER'S NAME: Alexander - born Indiana"

4.) Edgar S. Edmundson and Mary C. (Moss) Fisher (*her daughter): Return for Marriages in the County of Dallas (Iowa), for the year ending December 15, 1893 - see folio 25-346, fourth entry line - 7 November 1893: BRIDE'S FATHER'S FULL NAME: Sam'l Moss, BRIDE'S MOTHER'S MAIDEN NAME: Sarah Alexander (See: Ancestry.com collection: Iowa Marriage Records, 1880-1940)

5.) William Fleming and Delilah Moss Hewitt (*her daughter), marriage date 11 July 1923, place: Kankakee, Illinois: (Bride:) Delilah Moss Hewitt, FATHER: Samuel Moss, MOTHER: Sarah Alexander (See Ancestry.com collection: Illinois, County Marriages, 1890-1940 (data extraction), Film Number: 002224356, or FamilySearch.org)

6.) Samuel Marion Moss (*her son): Missouri State Death Certificate: Harrison County, Missouri; State file: 36770, died 25 October 1946: FATHER: Samuel Moss, born Indiana; MOTHER: Sarah Alexander, born: Indiana. (See online scanned image at: [State of] Missouri Digital Heritage, Missouri Death Certificates, 1910 - 1966)

Collateral evidence:

7.) Thomas Alexander, his second wife, and children residing in the same household are on listed on the 1850 U.S. Census of Washington Twp, Clay County, Indiana (family 196, pp. 470 & 471, aka: stamped pages 355-second sheet & 336-first sheet.) -- The NEXT PAGE lists Samuel Moss, his wife Sarah (Alexander), and children (family 207, p. 472, aka stamped page 336-second sheet.) This proves a close physical association existed between these two families in Indiana.

8.) According to the 1877 Plat Map of Madison Township, Mercer County, Missouri, Samuel Moss - Sarah's husband - owned 40 acres of land in the NE 1/4, of the NE 1/4 of Section 8, Township 64 North, Range 25 West of the 5th Principal Meridian, of Madison Township, immediately east of the (historical) town of Dinsmore. His neighboring landowners in Section 8 included Mary (Moss) Alexander, his wife's stepmother - widow of Thomas Alexander, her father; and his brothers-in-law George W. Alexander and Henry H. Alexander. This proves very close physical relationships continued to exist 27 years later among these same families in Missouri. (Library source for map: Midwest Genealogy Center, Independence, Missouri.)

9.) Sarah (Alexander) Moss and her husband Samuel Moss are buried at Goshen Cemetery, in Goshen, Missouri, in the Alexander family plot directly opposite her brothers Calvin Alexander and George Alexander and their spouses, and adjacent to other Alexander and Mullins family members. Her father, Thomas Alexander, is buried nearby, a few plots north in the same row as her grave. The close proximity of all of these burials in the same cemetery proves these families remained close, even to their deaths, more than 40 years later.

10.) Sarah's birth year, 1830, also exactly fits the gap between the birth of Thomas Alexander's son John in 1826 from his first marriage, and his son George W. in 1832 from his second marriage.

Other comments:

Note 1.) The Compiled Military Service File for Samuel Moss (died 1887) that is available at the National Archives (NARA), Washington, D.C., contains several records related to his military pension survivors' benefits created after his death. Included among these records is a marriage certificate showing Samuel Moss married his wife Sarah "Moss" in Bowling Green, Clay County, Indiana, on November 11, 1847 (shortly after he returned from war). This certificate is included to support the pension payment claim of his surviving widow. (It is not the original marriage certificate, and was created post mortem.) However, this document shows the last names of both the groom and bride as "Moss." As Sarah was illiterate (signed her name with an "X"), she probably was not aware that her maiden name was desired on this form. Certainly, she had been known only as "Sarah Moss" for the 40 years since her wedding date.

Note 2.) There continues to be controversy related to Sarah's maiden name despite strong factual evidence recorded on three Iowa state censuses of her children, a daughter's Illinois county marriage record, and a son's Missouri state death certificate, which are noted above. However, some researchers insist Sarah's MAIDEN name was "Moss" (the same as her married name), not "Alexander." Their claim is based on the post mortem "duplicate" marriage certificate in the Pension File of Samuel Moss noted above. And, because Sarah's name does not appear in a family Bible that lists of children of Mary "Polly" Moss Alexander, second wife of Thomas Alexander. However, since Sarah is not a daughter of Mary "Polly," but instead is her STEP-daughter, other researchers feel it is not at all surprising that this Bible would not list Sarah's name with Polly's own offspring. (Thomas Alexander's other children by his unknown first wife also are not listed in this Bible.)

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Note: The exact birth place of Sarah and her older siblings may be traced with Bureau of Land Management resources. Thomas Alexander, Sarah's father, received a land patent for a 52.2 acre homestead from the land office in Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Indiana, on 20 September 1827. This land is located at NE1/4, NW1/4, Sec 33, Twp 11-N, Range 2-W, 2nd PM, "Owen County," Indiana, which is technically in Morgan County, although located on the Owen County line. --- (Thomas Alexander's original hand-written land patent twelve years later, in 1839, in Clay County, Indiana, correctly identifies him as "Thomas Alexander of Morgan County.") --- So, although Morgan County is technically more correct, the town of Gosport in Owen County, Indiana, is located only one mile away from the Alexander family's 1827 homestead, and Owen County is the location most genealogists have used in their records. The difference is minor. -- Please see: http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/search/