Samuel Matthew Boss was born on April 3, 1797, probably in York, Pennsylvania, to Peter Boss and Ann Mary Benedict. He was living in Leesburg, Virginia, by 1810, and he married Elizabeth Fox there on July 29, 1819. They had at least eight children: Mary, born around 1821; Margaret, born around 1824; Lydia, born around 1829; Sally, born around 1831; Jane, born around 1834; Virginia, born around 1838; Julia, born around 1840; and James, born around 1843.

 

Boss worked as a merchant in Leesburg, and he owned at least eight enslaved laborers. By 1850, he owned $2,100 of real estate, and a decade later, he owned $6,650 of personal property. His son James served in the 8^th Virginia Infantry during the Civil War and was fatally injured in the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. Boss travelled to the battlefield to recover his son’s body, informing one of his daughters that he was “in a state of mind I hardly know what to rite.” Boss remained in Leesburg after the war, and in 1870, he owned $3,500 of personal property. He died there on August 24, 1872.

 

Image: Samuel Matthew Boss (An Inquiry Concerning the Boss Family and Boss Name)

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