| Born in Culpeper
Co., Virginia, Joshua moved with his family to
Lexington, Kentucky in 1793. While there, he was
apprenticed to his sister Margaret's husband
Hiram Shaw who ran a hatter's shop situated on
the corner of Main and Broadway. There he learned
the hatter's trade, but after his father's death
in 1810, Joshua went to Nashville where he stayed
three years and became affiliated with the
merchant John Lowry. While his brothers engaged in the
war of 1812, Joshua went to St. Louis where he
went into the mercantile business with N.S.
Anderson, and after his death, Colonel Thomas
Riddick. With this knowlege Joshua joined up with
the Missouri Fur Company which engaged in fur
trade in the upper Missouri River area. After the
death of its president, Manuel Lisa, Joshua took
over the company which became bankrupt about five
years later.
Joshua then
received appointments as agent and sub-agent to
the Indians, and after the death of General
William Clark in 1838, Joshua was appointed by
President Van Buren to succeed him in the office
of Superintendent of Indian Affairs in St. Louis.
Joshua died on 05 Jun 1843 in St. Louis. Almost
fifty years later, a handful of interesting
articles appeared in two St. Louis newspapers
concerning him and a casket that had been found.
|
