Margaret McBride Hoss (1890-1962)

Poet, Lyricist, Author, Librarian
Born November 8, 1890, Nevada, Missouri
Died September 29, 1962, Lake Worth Beach, Florida

Margaret McBride Hoss was born on November 8, 1930, in Nevada, Missouri. That's pronounced Ne-VAY-da for non-natives of the Show Me State. She was the daughter of Judge Granville Snell Hoss (1850-1918) and Julia (McBride) Hoss (1856-1949) and a very distant relative of Daniel Boone. Her brother was also a teller of weird tales. His name was Granville S. Hoss [Junior] (1885-1950), and he wrote five stories published in "The Unique Magazine." They are:

• "The Man Who Thought He Was Dead" (May/June/July 1924)
• "Dr. Jerbot's Last Experiment" (Mar. 1926)
• "The Mist-Monster" (Feb. 1928)
• "The Frog" (June 1930)
• "Out of the Sun" (Dec. 1936)

I have access to various newspaper articles mentioning Hoss, published in Ellington, Missouri, a place I called home for a year in my life.

Margaret McBride Hoss had just one story in Weird Tales, "The Weird Green Eyes of Sari," from March 1925, one hundred years ago this month. Her story is about a fish-woman. "Shadow Over Innsmouth" by H.P. Lovecraft has some similarities to "The Weird Green Eyes of Sari." In Margaret McBride Hoss' story, the man retreats to Kansas, far from any ocean.

Margaret M. Hoss also wrote slogans, song lyrics, poems, and short stories published in American newspapers and magazines from 1924 onward. Following are some of her credits:

• "Over the Hills with Sally" in Motor Life (article, Nov. 1924)
• "Noses" (poem, 1924)
• "Ode to Man" (poem, 1924)
• "That School Girl Complexion" (poem, 1924)
• "What Every Feller Oughter Have" (poem, 1931)
• "Gypsy Woman" (short story, 1936)

Margaret McBride Hoss graduated as valedictorian in a class of twenty ladies from William Woods' College (now William Woods University) in Fulton, Missouri. Her degree was an A.B. and her field was a literary course of study. In 1920, she moved from her home in Cherryvale, Kansas, to Lake Worth, Florida. Cherryvale, by the way, was the birthplace of movie actress Louise Brooks (1906-1985), who was a generation younger than the Hoss children. Margaret M. Hoss married Don Eastin on May 19, 1930, in Florida, and worked as a librarian at Lake Worth City Library until her retirement in 1959. Margaret McBride Hoss Eastin died on September 29, 1962, in Lake Worth Beach, Florida, at age seventy-one.

Margaret McBride Hoss' Story in Weird Tales
"The Weird Green Eyes" of Sari" (Mar. 1925)

Further Reading
Various newspaper articles, poems, and short stories published during her lifetime.

Original text copyright 2025 Terence E. Hanley