Author: Guest, Moses
Biography:
Guest, Moses (1755-1828: ancestry.com)
The account of his travels published with the Poems provides some glimpses into his life story. He was a native of New Brunswick NJ, a veteran (with the rank of captain) of the Revolutionary army, and after the war a merchant who sometimes travelled with his ships. His journal gives detailed accounts of three trips: one from 1784 to 1788 that took him to Cuba and back along the eastern coast of the US, one in 1796 that took him to Montreal and Quebec City, and the final adventure in 1817 when he emigrated by wagon with most of his family to Cincinnati. He married Lydia Dumont in 1792; they had six children, four of whom made the trip out west with them. Friends in Cincinnati encouraged him to publish the book. According to the proud author's preface to the second edition, the first edition of 1250 copies sold out in five months. He died in Cincinnati and was buried in the Presbyterian burying ground there. (Guest, Poems [1824]; ancestry.com 15 Jan. 2019)