Who Was Catherine Joss?
Both the Joss and the Cranz families are associated and related to the Frederick family in this way:
Daniel Cranz, the pastor of the Zion Lutheran Church in Winesburg had a daughter, Maria Louisa Cranz.
Nicholas (Fritz) Joss married Maria Cranz. They had a daughter, Emilie Joss.
August Frederick married Emilie Joss.
So Augus't father-in-law was Fritz Joss and Fritz Joss' father-in law was Daniel Cranz. Got it?
Both Daniel Cranz and Fritz Joss were important men in Winesburg.
Catherine Schmidt married John Joss, brother of Fritz Joss (Fritz being Augustus' father-in-law). As important and successful as Fritz was, John was an alcoholic and failed to provide for his family or offer them stability. The Catherine Joss story is about an under educated but very intelligent woman who possessed a huge amount of courage and determination. Her story is both inspiring and humbling.
This book is available at https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en.
Price is $20 with shipping.
The cover of the book gives her birth year as 1829. The correct year is 1820.
The Autobiography of Catherine Joss
The book description and recommendation (below) was written by Rev. Arthur Smith.
Click on text below for PDF file.