Franklin was born Franklin Isreal Moses Jr. but the way he made his I's and his father's were confused at times and therefore they would use the J. Franklin was born in 1838 in Sumter, S.C. to Franklin Isreal Moses Sr. (1804-1877) & Jane Dorcas McLellan (1811-1878).
Photo above was a mugshot taken in March of 1882.
Here is a list of his crimes that we know of there are lots more according to Inspector Thomas Byrnes he wrote in his book Professional Criminals of America.
I found a few records.
New York, Discharges of Convicts, 1882-1915
He was in the Civil War
U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865
Name: Franklin J Moses
Enlistment Date: 1861
Household Members:
Name: Franklin J Moses
Above are records from: Confederate Applications for Presidential Pardons, 1865-1867
1 June 1866-26 Sep 1867 He was the editor of the Sumter News a conservative paper.
1868 On the Republican Ticket he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives as the Speaker, while he was Speaker he organized a statewide militia of over 14,000 men that
were composed mostly of freedmen and headed by white officers. He used them to protect black voters during a period of intimidation and violence by the Ku Klux Klan and other white insurgents leading up to the 1870 elections, and was not above trying to disrupt Democratic Party meetings and voters. In this period, as noted by historian Benjamin Ginsberg, 'election outcomes depended as much upon the balance of armed force as upon the distribution of political popularity..
he expressed his goal to integrate the state university. There was concerted white opposition. Also appointed as trustees that year were Republicans Francis L. Cardozo, who was of mixed race, born free before the war, and who had earned college and seminary degrees from Scotland; and Benjamin A. Bozeman. They were the first men of color appointed to the University Board of Trustees. Moses encouraged admission of black students, and the college established a preparatory school and 5-year, pre-freshman program to help blacks make up for having been closed out of formal education.
1868 His Father Franklin J Moses Sr was elected Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court. (Photo below)
1869 Franklin Jr. became Trustee for the University of South Carolina. He tried to help blacks make up for having been closed out of a formal education.
Franklin was re-elected in 1870 to the House and continued to serve as the speaker. White Democrats accused the legislature of rampant corruption and bribery, but it was also investing in infrastructure, such as railroads, and public welfare institutions, which the pre-war planter-dominated legislature had neglected. The state debt in 1868 stood at $5,407,306, and by 1872 it had risen to $18,350,000, a tripling of the debt in four years. As Marxist historian W.E.B. Du Bois noted in his history, Black Reconstruction (1930), one reason that debt increased in numerous Southern states was that Reconstruction legislatures were "investing" for public purposes; the planter elite had avoided such actions before the war; all education was private, there were few hospitals or other institutions, and the South was behind in investing in railroad construction to improve regional transportation. Du Bois acknowledged there was corruption after the war, but asserted that it was generally within limits of comparable periods and tumultuous social conditions of the postwar societies.
When Moses was nominated by the Republicans as the candidate for governor, opponents within the party organized to block his election. But with overwhelming black Republican support, Moses was elected in 1872 as the 75th governor of South Carolina.
His biographer Ginsberg noted that Moses created new alliances with African-American men during this period; they each had been somewhat on the margins before. Serving with Moses were Francis Cardozo, secretary of state, and Robert De Large, elected as state land commissioner and later as US Representative. Both men were mixed-race sons of enslaved mothers (who were themselves mixed race) and Jewish fathers.[11]
As Governor, Moses became known for extravagant spending of state money. He spent $40,000 to buy the Preston mansion to use as the official governor's residence. During his two years as governor, with a salary of $3,500, he spent $40,000 on living expenses, which included official entertaining. What really rankled many white Democrats was that he officially entertained black colleagues and politicians at the mansion.
In 1874, Governor Moses was indicted by allies of Wade Hampton III for misappropriation of state funds. Democrat Hampton would run for governor in 1876 and finally win the election, amidst evidence of vote fraud by Democrats and preceded by numerous violent attacks against freedmen by paramilitary white groups supporting his candidacy. Moses ordered four companies of the militia in Columbia to prevent his arrest by the Democrats. The court ruled that Moses could not be prosecuted while governor and could be charged only through impeachment by the state legislature. (His father Franklin J. Moses, Sr. had served since 1868 as Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court.) This ruling is generally in keeping with recognition of executive authority.
Historian Benjamin Ginsberg's 21st-century biography notes that Moses should be known also for his substantial achievements in civil rights goals for African Americans. He considers Moses to be a forerunner of what became an African-American and Jewish alliance in the 20th century. He believes that as Moses had been on the margin of planter society, he chose to ally with the newly enfranchised freedmen in trying to create a new society.
Upon leaving office in 1874, Moses was chosen by the General Assembly to a seat on the circuit court, but Republican Governor Chamberlain blocked his appointment. It was opposed by many within the party because of his reputation for corruption while governor.
In 1876, the Democrats regained control of state politics in the legislature and Wade Hampton III was elected as governor. He won by less than a 1200-vote margin statewide, despite widespread fraud. For example, heavily contested Edgefield and Laurens counties each counted more votes for Hampton than the total number of registered voters. With the withdrawal of federal troops from the state and other parts of the South in 1877, in a compromise supporting Hampton, the Reconstruction era was over.
Moses' wife Emma Buford Richardson filed for divorce in 1878, and Moses left the state shortly thereafter. He had a troubled later life. According to a statement he made in court in 1902, he had become addicted to morphine (then available over the counter) and opium while serving in the Reconstruction South. On September 17, 1878, he was arrested in New York City for forging a note of $316. He was delivered to authorities in South Carolina, who allowed him to escape. He was arrested again for fraud in New York City in 1881, and in Chicago in 1884.
Moses settled in Winthrop, Massachusetts, where he became the editor of the local newspaper and served as moderator of the town meetings. In October 1884, he was convicted of swindling $15 from a Rev. E. L. Rexford and sentenced to jail. During his imprisonment, he tried to hang himself in his cell. In 1885 he was sentenced to three years in the Massachusetts State Prison after being convicted several times for committing petty theft and fraud.
Believing Moses did not have long to live, as his drug addictions had ruined his health, Governor Oliver Ames pardoned the attorney in 1887. In 1902, Moses was arrested again, convicted for larceny of an overcoat worth $50, and sentenced by the Boston Municipal Court to four months imprisonment. He appealed to the court for mercy while acknowledging he was responsible, saying that he had become addicted to morphine and opium while serving in the Reconstruction South and was struggling to correct his life. Estranged from his family, Franklin died by asphyxiation from a gas stove on 11 Dec 1906. The police initially did not determine if it was suicide or an accident. He was buried in Winthrop.
Wife
Emma Buford Richardson
1841–1920
Children:
Franklin Israel Moses III
1860–1914
Mary Richardson Geddings
1862–1927
Jeannie McLeallan Moses
1867–1938
Emma Buford Moses
1872–1942
Photo above was a mugshot taken in March of 1882.
Here is a list of his crimes that we know of there are lots more according to Inspector Thomas Byrnes he wrote in his book Professional Criminals of America.
I found a few records.
New York, Discharges of Convicts, 1882-1915
He was in the Civil War
U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865
Name: Franklin J Moses
Enlistment Date: 1861
Household Members:
Name: Franklin J Moses
Above are records from: Confederate Applications for Presidential Pardons, 1865-1867
1 June 1866-26 Sep 1867 He was the editor of the Sumter News a conservative paper.
1868 On the Republican Ticket he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives as the Speaker, while he was Speaker he organized a statewide militia of over 14,000 men that
were composed mostly of freedmen and headed by white officers. He used them to protect black voters during a period of intimidation and violence by the Ku Klux Klan and other white insurgents leading up to the 1870 elections, and was not above trying to disrupt Democratic Party meetings and voters. In this period, as noted by historian Benjamin Ginsberg, 'election outcomes depended as much upon the balance of armed force as upon the distribution of political popularity..
he expressed his goal to integrate the state university. There was concerted white opposition. Also appointed as trustees that year were Republicans Francis L. Cardozo, who was of mixed race, born free before the war, and who had earned college and seminary degrees from Scotland; and Benjamin A. Bozeman. They were the first men of color appointed to the University Board of Trustees. Moses encouraged admission of black students, and the college established a preparatory school and 5-year, pre-freshman program to help blacks make up for having been closed out of formal education.
1868 His Father Franklin J Moses Sr was elected Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court. (Photo below)
1869 Franklin Jr. became Trustee for the University of South Carolina. He tried to help blacks make up for having been closed out of a formal education.
Franklin was re-elected in 1870 to the House and continued to serve as the speaker. White Democrats accused the legislature of rampant corruption and bribery, but it was also investing in infrastructure, such as railroads, and public welfare institutions, which the pre-war planter-dominated legislature had neglected. The state debt in 1868 stood at $5,407,306, and by 1872 it had risen to $18,350,000, a tripling of the debt in four years. As Marxist historian W.E.B. Du Bois noted in his history, Black Reconstruction (1930), one reason that debt increased in numerous Southern states was that Reconstruction legislatures were "investing" for public purposes; the planter elite had avoided such actions before the war; all education was private, there were few hospitals or other institutions, and the South was behind in investing in railroad construction to improve regional transportation. Du Bois acknowledged there was corruption after the war, but asserted that it was generally within limits of comparable periods and tumultuous social conditions of the postwar societies.
When Moses was nominated by the Republicans as the candidate for governor, opponents within the party organized to block his election. But with overwhelming black Republican support, Moses was elected in 1872 as the 75th governor of South Carolina.
His biographer Ginsberg noted that Moses created new alliances with African-American men during this period; they each had been somewhat on the margins before. Serving with Moses were Francis Cardozo, secretary of state, and Robert De Large, elected as state land commissioner and later as US Representative. Both men were mixed-race sons of enslaved mothers (who were themselves mixed race) and Jewish fathers.[11]
As Governor, Moses became known for extravagant spending of state money. He spent $40,000 to buy the Preston mansion to use as the official governor's residence. During his two years as governor, with a salary of $3,500, he spent $40,000 on living expenses, which included official entertaining. What really rankled many white Democrats was that he officially entertained black colleagues and politicians at the mansion.
In 1874, Governor Moses was indicted by allies of Wade Hampton III for misappropriation of state funds. Democrat Hampton would run for governor in 1876 and finally win the election, amidst evidence of vote fraud by Democrats and preceded by numerous violent attacks against freedmen by paramilitary white groups supporting his candidacy. Moses ordered four companies of the militia in Columbia to prevent his arrest by the Democrats. The court ruled that Moses could not be prosecuted while governor and could be charged only through impeachment by the state legislature. (His father Franklin J. Moses, Sr. had served since 1868 as Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court.) This ruling is generally in keeping with recognition of executive authority.
Historian Benjamin Ginsberg's 21st-century biography notes that Moses should be known also for his substantial achievements in civil rights goals for African Americans. He considers Moses to be a forerunner of what became an African-American and Jewish alliance in the 20th century. He believes that as Moses had been on the margin of planter society, he chose to ally with the newly enfranchised freedmen in trying to create a new society.
Upon leaving office in 1874, Moses was chosen by the General Assembly to a seat on the circuit court, but Republican Governor Chamberlain blocked his appointment. It was opposed by many within the party because of his reputation for corruption while governor.
In 1876, the Democrats regained control of state politics in the legislature and Wade Hampton III was elected as governor. He won by less than a 1200-vote margin statewide, despite widespread fraud. For example, heavily contested Edgefield and Laurens counties each counted more votes for Hampton than the total number of registered voters. With the withdrawal of federal troops from the state and other parts of the South in 1877, in a compromise supporting Hampton, the Reconstruction era was over.
Moses' wife Emma Buford Richardson filed for divorce in 1878, and Moses left the state shortly thereafter. He had a troubled later life. According to a statement he made in court in 1902, he had become addicted to morphine (then available over the counter) and opium while serving in the Reconstruction South. On September 17, 1878, he was arrested in New York City for forging a note of $316. He was delivered to authorities in South Carolina, who allowed him to escape. He was arrested again for fraud in New York City in 1881, and in Chicago in 1884.
Moses settled in Winthrop, Massachusetts, where he became the editor of the local newspaper and served as moderator of the town meetings. In October 1884, he was convicted of swindling $15 from a Rev. E. L. Rexford and sentenced to jail. During his imprisonment, he tried to hang himself in his cell. In 1885 he was sentenced to three years in the Massachusetts State Prison after being convicted several times for committing petty theft and fraud.
Believing Moses did not have long to live, as his drug addictions had ruined his health, Governor Oliver Ames pardoned the attorney in 1887. In 1902, Moses was arrested again, convicted for larceny of an overcoat worth $50, and sentenced by the Boston Municipal Court to four months imprisonment. He appealed to the court for mercy while acknowledging he was responsible, saying that he had become addicted to morphine and opium while serving in the Reconstruction South and was struggling to correct his life. Estranged from his family, Franklin died by asphyxiation from a gas stove on 11 Dec 1906. The police initially did not determine if it was suicide or an accident. He was buried in Winthrop.
Wife
Emma Buford Richardson
1841–1920
Children:
Franklin Israel Moses III
1860–1914
Mary Richardson Geddings
1862–1927
Jeannie McLeallan Moses
1867–1938
Emma Buford Moses
1872–1942
1902 was his last charge I found, he was arrested in Boston, MA for Larceny, he stole someone's coat and was sent to the House Of Corrections in Deer Island for 4 months. He had became a morphine addict.
I found this newspaper clipping, very interesting, they made a timeline of his life:
Newspaper of his death:
Such a sad story, he changed so many people lives and ended his in such an awful way.
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