A pioneer with two names

Josephine McCosker didn't know her name for many years. When she was born in St. Louis in 1853, she was named Josephine McCosker, but that name was lost to her for a long time. Here is her story:

When she was about 2 years old, her family lost all their property in a fire, and the loss was so great that it "paralyzed her father's mind," leaving him incapable of doing business. That left little Josie's mother, Catherine Jane Dunn McCosker, to care for their three children with "feeble health and but little means" to support them.

When Josie's grandmother became critically ill in Pittsburg, Ohio, Mrs. McCosker was called to her mother's sickbed, leaving two daughters at school and Josie in the care of a dentist from Illinois who was a friend of the family. Dr. Patrick's wife had not been able to have any children, and the dentist wanted to adopt Josie. He thought she was so smart and cute.

Josie's mother thought the dentist and his wife would love her little girl and raise her to become a lady in good circumstances, so she allowed the dentist to legally adopt her. However, a short time later, Mrs. McCosker received a letter stating that "the doctor's wife was not satisfied to keep her" and he would like Mrs. McCosker to take Josephine back.

Josie's mother had missed her terribly, and she was happy to get her little Josie back. She left the sickbed of her mother, whom she never saw again, to journey to St. Louis to claim her child. However, when she arrived, she discovered the dentist was "traveling through the country" and had left Josie in the care of another woman. After great difficulty, Mrs. McCosker located the whereabouts of her child, but the woman would not give her up and claimed the dentist owed her for the child's board.

Not wanting "to do anything dishonest," Josie's mother returned to her home in St. Genevieve to make arrangements for a friend to continue caring for Josie's sisters until the dentist could return. Unfortunately, Mrs. McCosker was taken sick "from the fatigue of traveling" and worrying about her child, and it was three weeks before she could return to St. Louis.

When she arrived, she found that the woman caring for Josie had disappeared, taking Josie with her. Mrs. McCosker hired a lawyer to search for her child, but "he spent all the money (she) could get ahold of" and didn't find any information. Josie's sister wrote her many years later that the dentist's wife didn't like children and was jealous of her husband's love for Josie, so when he left to attend a dental convention, she hired the woman to take Josie to Utah.