Notable People
The following Biographies are created in order to support the Welsh Curriculum and the Anti Racist Wales Action Plan.
Aaron Albert Mossell
Images of Aaron Albert Mossell, courtesy of the University Archives & Records Centre, PennLibraries, University of Pensylvania.
Aaron Albert Mossell 3rd November 1863 - 6th February 1951, was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, the son of Aaron and Eliza Bowers Mossell.
Aaron’s father, Aaron Mossell, Sr. was a successful brickmaker who created a profitable business making bricks for local buildings. In search of greater opportunities for his family, Aaron moved his family to Lockport, Niagara, where they became a prominent part of Lockport’s History.
As well as a thriving business making bricks, Aaron’s family owned a local hotel and became well known for their championing of Civil rights.
Aaron jnr was one of 6 children, his siblings were:
Mary E (1853-1886), Charles W (1849-1915), Alvaretta (1858)-, James (1853), Nathan Francis (1856-1946).
Aaron Jr attended Lincoln university and in 1888, graduated from Pennsylvania law school, becoming the first African American to do so.
Aaron Mossell practised law in Philadelphia, and was the secretary of the Douglass Memorial Hospital which was founded by his brother Nathan.
Aaron married Mary Louisa Tanner in 1890 at her family home. The ceremony was officiated by her father, Bishop Benjamin Tucker Tanner. Together they had three children, Aaron Albert Mossell (1893-1959), Elizabeth Mossell Anderson (1894-1975), and Sadie Tanner Mossell (1898-1985).
Shortly after Sadie’s birth, Aaron and Mary divorced and Aaron moved to South Africa before coming to Wales, where he trained as a Mining Engineer in South Wales.
Image of Aaron Albert Mossell, taken by Wills, Cardiff, in the grounds of St Fagans Castle in 1909. Aaron gave a speech thanking the Earl of Plymouth who he joked ‘by accident of birth had been rolled in much fat’. Courtesy of the National Library of Wales
Aaron continued in the family tradition of supporting those less fortunate and was an avid campaigner for the rights of the Black Seamen in Cardiff. Aaron gave an address at the 1945 Pan African Congress in Manchester, and was connected to many local organisations. He was the Secretary of the Kru fraternity, an organisation which supported African Seamen and their families (not solely those from the Kru tribe) and was acknowledged within the community to be an important figure.
Aaron lodged with the Jason family in Loudoun Square and later with Jacob Enfield and his family. It was when he was living in Loudoun Square, that he received a visit from Paul Robeson. Aaron and Paul had relatives in common, with Aaron’s brother, Nathan, marrying Paul’s Aunty, Gertrude Emily Hicks Bustill.
Aaron Mossell died in Cardiff on February 6, 1951 and is buried in Cathays Cemetery.
With Thanks to Dr Gaynor Legall, Trevor Godbold, Iwan ap Dafydd, Heidi Ziemer, Melissa Dunlap, The Mossell family, Jim Duffin and Tomothy Horning, Cliff Graubart, and Charles Horner.
Sources:
https://www.hcearchive.org.uk/
https://www.jstor.org/
https://archives.upenn.edu/exhibits/penn-people/biography/aaron-albert-mossell/
https://www.thechristianrecorder.com/our-leadership/history/
http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn83031391/1870-10-24/ed-1/seq-2/