Portland, Oregon: Its History and Builders/Volume 2/Gustavus C. Moser
GUSTAVUS C. MOSER.
Gustavus C. Moser, a practitioner at the Portland bar since the 1st of June, 1894, was born in Alma, Wisconsin, on the 15th of November, 1870, a son of Fred and Anna Moser, both of whom were natives of Switzerland. Following their marriage they took up their abode in the city of Berne but after a short period crossed the Atlantic to the new world, becoming residents of Wisconsin. The father is still living at Alma where for a long period he engaged in the dairy business, retiring, however, a few years ago. Plis wife died when their son Gustavus was but sixteen years of age.
In the pursuit of his education Gustavus C. Moser completed the work in successive grades and the high school of Mondovi, Wisconsin, and later continued his studies in the Northern Indiana Normal College at Valparaiso. In the interim between his high school course and his college course he engaged in teaching in the district school for three winters in Wisconsin, and during the summer time accepted an agency position. In this way he earned the money that enabled him to enter college. He did not graduate at Valparaiso, however, because illness depleted his funds. Attracted toward a professional career, he studied for and was admitted to the bar in Oregon on the 1st of June, 1894. He had become a resident of this state in 1891 and has since been closely identified with the interests and the upbuilding of the northwest. Following his admission to the bar, he at once opened a law office in Portland and in the intervening period of sixteen years has made substantial progress in his profession. With a nature that cannot be content with mediocrity, he has closely applied himself to the mastery of legal principles, often intricate and involved, and his clear and cogent reasoning and forceful presentation of his cases indicate his careful and thorough preparation. On the 1st of July, 1904, he became chief deputy district attorney for the fourth judicial district of Oregon and continued to fill the position until the 1st of January, 1908, when he resigned.
On the 20th of July. 1898, Mr. Moser was married to Miss Sara Meta Keats, a daughter of Thomas Keats. She was born in Toronto, Canada, and engaged in teaching there before coming to Portland. She also taught in the public schools of this city for several years before her marriage. She is a distant relative of the poet Keats.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Moser hold membership in the First Christian church and he is identified with several fraternal and social organizations. He is prominent in the Knights of Pythias, in which order he was grand chancellor for Oregon from June, 1908, until June, 1909. He is also a past exalted ruler of Portland Lodge, No. 142, B. P. O. E., having served from April 1909 until April 1910. He is a life member of the Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club, the Commercial Club and several other organizations of like character. He served for three years in the Oregon National Guard as a noncommissioned officer. He has always been a stalwart republican, interested in the success of the party and doing all that he can to further its success. His ambition, however, is not in the line of office seeking. He has some real-estate and mining investments which are paying good returns, but his time and attention are chiefly given to his law practice and in a profession demanding keen intellectuality and individual merit he is making continuous progress.