The Mosby Family: Alfred Daniel Mosby and Virginia McLaurine Mosby Col. Mosby's parents and wife Virginia Jackson McLaurine Mosby was born in 1815 at Edgemont, in Powhatan County (where her son would be born 18 years later). Jackson was not a family name -- rather she was named after Andrew Jackson, hero of the battle of New Orleans and later president. Alfred Daniel Mosby was also born in Powhatan County, in 1809 and the two families were closely connected. By the time John Singleton Mosby was born, his parents were living in Nelson County and returned there shortly after he was born. A few years later they moved to Albemarle County to a large Greek revival plantation house that is still standing. Although the Albemarle County houes is quite grand, the family was not considered rich, but rather were respectable small planters who were comfortably well off. By the time Col. Mosby had entered the Army, his parents had moved to Amherst County. Col. Mosby's mother was a strong and intelligent woman, and a strong influence on her eldest son, giving him a sense of inner strength and self-confidence that enabled him to rise above being taunted as a small, weak and sickly boy. A young mother, she was only 18 when John was born and they were quite close. Alfred Daniel Mosby was an understanding and kindly father, affectionately dubbed "Pa" by his son. Both of his parents were a source of strength to him. They had lobbied strenuously on his behalf when he had been jailed for shooting a fellow student and finally secured a gubernatorial pardon. Throughout the war, he kept his spare horses at his father's. Whenever Colonel Mosby was wounded, it was to his father's house that he would be taken to be nursed back to health -- and it was to his parents that he encourged his wife Pauline to take the family when war threatened to come to Bristol. Alfred Daniel Mosby died on February 19, 1879 in Amherst County. His wife lived a further 18 years, moving to Albemarle County after her husband's death, and died there in January of 1897. The family of John Singleton Mosby: Grandparents and Ancestors Siblings Wife Children   Links to other sites relevant to this section: Virginia Jackson McLaurine Mosby, Col. Mosby's mother, was a friend and correspondent of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte. These letters are now in the possession of the Maryland Historical Society.

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