USA > Illinois > Schuyler County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2 > Part 83
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On May 16. 1906, Mr. Moore was united in marriage with Mrs. Anna Neeley, daughter of Jolin Greer, one of the pioneers of Littleton Township, and upon his elortion as Sheriff he and his wife took up their residence in Schuyler County's handsome new jail. In his fraternal relations Mr. Moore is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Py- thias. Modern Woodmen of America and Mystic Workers. Mr. and Mrs. Moore are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
MOORE. Reuben Menephe .-- The magie word, success, has hovered over the Moore family ever since its establishment in Schuyler County. IN1., more than seventy years ago. Its intluence was founded in the small beginnings and uncertain outlook of the log-cabin era, and the broader on- portunities which have been unfolded with the passing years have found those bearing the name resourceful. competent and remarkably ambi- tions. Thomas Moore. a Kentucklan, who heard the far off call of the frontier, set up > andards of life and work which have never since fallen into disuse by his successors. He owned a com- paratively small farm, and his sons now pay
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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.
taxes on more than two square miles of farm land. Thomas Moore had eight children when he decided to share the forumes of the Central . West, and with him on that long overland jour- ney came another family, that of Washington Irvin, In the latter family were six children, and the fourteen children and their parents came in a prairie schooner drawn by four horses. tak- ing one month to span the distance between Kentucky and Illinois, The brave wayfarers met with many obstacles on the way, and were re- tarded by muddy roads, storms and swollen streams, and upon arriving at Springfield, which then was a small aggregation of interests, the , horses were hitched at a post near the present State capitol building. The old prairie schooner, travel stained and creaking, presented a sorry spectacle, yet it brought this way men who read the horoscope of Schuyler County, and who worked from morn until night for many years, to make their dream of success come true. Thomas Moore took up land in Buena Vista Township, and there remained until his death, one of its most able and highly honorable men. Not only did he develop his farm to its fullest capacity, surrounding himself and family with the refinements and coniforts known to his time and place, but he took an active interest in edu- cation, religion and politics, and represented in the general tenor of his life the vigorous. honest and indefatigable element which developed the primeval fertility of the Illinois plains, and moved the frontier a little farther towards the Pacific. Ile was a man of profound religious convictions, and organized the first Methodist Episcopal Church to Buena Vista Township. He also provided the money for the first church and school building, and had both erected on his land. At all times strictly temperate in both eating and drinking, he worked hard to make the community a Prohibition one, and it was largely through his zoal that the two distilleries operat- ing in the township were driven out of business.
Of the eight children who came with Thomas Moore from Kentucky to Illinois, Reuben Meno- phe Moore was born near Crab Orchard. Lincoln County. in the former State, October 15, 1835, and was therefore about a year old when brought to Buena Vista Township. lle attended the old cross-roads school house in the winter time, and in summer worked in the harvest fields, or helped to clear the timber and underbrush. His duties comprised the hard ones that tested the fiber of the youth of his time, but they failed to break his spirit or discourage him for the severe struggle of his later years. In 1847 his father sold the original farm and moved to the one now occupied by Renben, and here he has lived continuously for sixty years. At the time of purchase there was an old frame building on the place 16 by 32 feet in dimensions, but the place had been vastly improved when Thomas Moore died there January 22. 1867.
In company with others. Mr. Moore started out with ox teams for the Idaho gold mines, and on arriving at Salt Lake City, he found work.
According to the custom in all new localities in the far West, he was soon christened anew, thereafter being known as Gentle Rube. He re- mained in the city about four months, and then took the southern route for Los Angeles with a freighting outfit, arriving at his destination De- cember 21. Behind him in Illinois the land was locked in ice and farmers were driving over the fences, but near the Pacific the flowers were in bloom, and all nature wore an enchanting smile. While in California he followed general farm- ing and stock raising, and also operated a thresh- ing machine. Pasadena at that time was a sheep ranch. as were also the sites of many other vil- lages and towns which now add to the splendor of the great Pacific State.
After his return from the West, Mr. Moore took charge of the old place in Buena Vista Township, and on July 27, IST, was united in marriage to Eliza A. Ellis, a native of Kentucky, born September 1, 1811. Mrs. Moore is a daugh- ter of James Ellis, who came to Sebusler County in 1814, and who, with his wife, is now de- ceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Moore have been born four sons and four daughters: Elle D., born Inte 25. 1868, died October 16, IS71: Uriah G .. born January 20, 1870, married Ella Straus- laugh, and has nine children- - Ruth, Ruby. Loa ( deceased). Glen. Floyd. Harriet, Nina, Mary, and Robert: Margaret Eve, born January 10. 1572, wife of Joseph MeFeeters, a farmer of Buena Vista Township, and mother of Ilildreth and Ray MeFeeters; Mary J. born February 19. 1871. wife of Luther Greer, and mother of Gladys, Helen and Susan Greer; James Ray, horn December 29, 1877, died November 22, IST8; Noah R .. born May 16. 1879; Thomas E., born December 16. 1584. died April 15, ISS6; and Lela, born March 15. ISSO, died June 1. 1595, at the age of twelve years. Mr. and Mrs. Moore have thirteen grandchildren, all of whom are devoted to their kind and indulgent grandpar- ents. All of the children have been born in the old home upon which their father settled at the age of thirteen with his parents, and here all have received the best advantages permitted by the prosperity of the family. Mr. Moore pur- chased his brother Sam's interest in the 210 Heres, and to his first 120 acres has added until he now owns 440. No more productive property is to be found in this part of the State. and no better farmer has followed the light shed upon agriculture by science than this honored, old time settler.
Except as a School Director and Road Commis- sioner. Mr. Moore has steadfastly refused to ac- cept official recognition, although he has been a stanch supporter of the Republican party. 1s was that of his father hefore bim, his name stands for all that is honorable and worth while in country life and work, and he is one of the few left of the pathfinders whose story consti- tutes one of the most interesting chapters in American history.
MOORE. Samuel T. - The men, who during the 'thirties left comfortaide homes in the East to
William quan
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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.
ally their fortunes with the thinly settled and Lot altogether promising region in Illinois, share named Schuyler County, possessed an intensit .. of purpose and determination but partially com- prebended by the wage Parners of to lay. The deprivation and isolation they endured, never- theless, were factors in mohling character and stimulating industry and largeness ot sympathy, and these traits have been handed down to the succeeding generation, among whom is Samuel T. Moore, a prominent farmer of Buena Vista Township, where he was born August 22, 1811.
Thomas Moore, father of Samuel, was born in Kentucky, and was reared to farming as fol- lowed in the Southern States. In 1986, .mbi- tious of growing up with a more progress Ve community. he moved to Illinois with his wife, formerly Mary Elmore, also a native of the Blue Grass State. Taking up Government land in Buena Vista Township, Schuyler County, he was engaged in general farming and stock-raising un- til his death in 15G7. Thirty-seven years of this experience enabled him to lay by a competence, and the faithful companion of his toils, who sur- vived him until 1Ss1, and to whom his success was largely due, spent her last days in the most comfortable of surroundings. She was a daugh- ter of John Elmore, also of Kentucky, Mr. Moore himself was a son of David Moore, who moved from his native state of North Carolina to Kentucky while still a young and unmarried man.
Samuel Moore has known no other occupation than that afforded on his own and his father's farm. He has 485 acres of land under a high state of cultivation, and raises general crops and high grade stocks. In 1973, in the township of Rushville, he was united in mar- riage to Mary Barkman, who was born in Ohio, and whose parents, natives of Maryland and Ohio, respectively, came to Oakland Township, Schuyler County, in 1865, locating some years later in Littleton Township. To Mr. and Mrs. Moore have been born five children, namely : Mary Olive, Fannie Florence, Luther, Jesse and Kenneth. Mary Olive is the wife of William Kordsiemon, a resident of Berwyn, a suburb of Chicago; Fannie F. is the wife of George Sloan. of Belle Plain, Kan .: and Luther, a farmer in Buena Vista Township. married Stella Sher- man. Mr. Moore has thoroughly educated his children, and provided liberally for those who have left the old home. No family has done more for the agricultural advancement of Sommy- ler County, and the promotion of its various pub- lie enterprise than have the descendants of Thomas Moore. the sturdy pioneer of 1936.
In polities, Mr. Moore is a Republican. Ile and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
MOORE. Wheeler W .-- Fortunate, indeed. Is the man who is sustained by an inspiring con- seiousness that he has made the best use of whatever talents and abilities have been vouch- safed to him; that he has ignored no call of
duty; thit he has wasted no precious opportuni- ties; that he has faithfully discharged his obli- glous to the publi , and that he has estab- ashed an unbagno bed mpatat. m among those whose good oftinou and pom wishes are of it- esimnale value, and was itute a source of per- jetu. I errouregement. Such is the fire record moide 16 Wheekr W. Moore, an outerprising and progressive father of Bien Vista Township, Schuyler County. 11., and a leading chiath of that locality.
Mr. Moore was born in Buena Vista Town- ship. August 26. 150G. Ihis father, John D. Moore, a) . tarthier be ce off. Bon, was a Ken- tuckian by birth, while his mother, Mary A. (Turner) Moore, was born in Buena Vista Town- ship. Further details of the family history are cof tained in a biograph ai record of Jomm D. Moore, appearing eFewlore in this connection.
In boyhood Mr. Moore attended the publie shows in his vicinity, completing his Hierary education in the Rushville Normal School and the Chaddork College at Quincy, 1!1., and subse- quentiy pursuing a coninercial course in the Metropolitan Business College, in Chicago. Hle passed his early youth on the parental farm, and after finishing his studies, was employed for 14 months as mailing clerk for the Troy Laundry Machinery Co., of Chicago. Ile next spent 13 months with the Metropolitan Insur- auce Co .. at Peoria, Ill., after which he applied himself to f:riding, in which pursuit be bas bad his full share of sheenss. Ilis farming op- erations cover 500 acres of land, situated in Section 14. Buena Vista Township. Besides general farming, he is an extensive feeder. ship- ping about ten carloads of cattle and hugs per year. He holds the office of Grand Master of Buena Vista Grange.
On March 23. 1904. in Rushville Township. Schuyler County. Mr. Moore was united in mar- riage with carrie Boyd, a daughter of James and Eliza ( Ritchey ) Boyd, who was born in Oak- land Township, Schuyler County, Ill. in 1577. Her parents are natives of Ireland, and on coming to the United States, first located in Pitts- burg. Pa., whence they moved to Schuyler County. 11., at the outset making their home in Oakland Township. They now live in Rush- ville Township, where Mr. Boyd is successfully engaged in farming. Mrs. Moore received ber education in Oakland and Rushville townships. She and her husband are the parents of one child, James Francis.
Mr. Moore is active in political affairs, and renders an earnest and steadfast support to the Republican party. For two terms he has served in the capacity of Township Central Committee- man, and in April, 1907. was elected Super- visor from Buena Vista Township, which is normally Democratic, receiving 49 majority, and overcoming a contrary majority of 30. In fraternal circles, he is affiliated with the 1. O. O. F., having been for 18 years a member of Friendship Lodge. No. 24, of Rushville. He is also a member of Rushville Lodge, No. 9. A. F.
893
HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.
ally their fortunes with the thinly settled and not altogether promising region in Illinois, since named Schuyler County, possessed an intensity of purpose and determination but partially com- prehended by the wage Parners of today. The deprivation and jsolation they endured, never- theless, were factors in molding character and stimulating industry and largeness of sympathy, and these traits have been handed down to the succeeding generation, among whom is Samuel T. Moore, a prominent farmer of Buena Vista Township, where he was born August 22, 18-11.
Thomas Moore, father of Samuel, was born in Kentucky, and was reared to farming as fol- lowed in the Southern States. In 1836, ambi- tions of growing up with a more progressive community. he moved to Ilinois with his wife, formerly Mary Elmore, also a native of the Blue Grass State. Taking up Government land in Buena Vista Township, Schuyler County, he was engaged in general farming and stock-raising un- til his death in IS67. Thirty-seven years of this experience enabled him to lay by a competence, and the faithful companion of his toils, who sur- vived him until 1881, and to whom his success was largely due, spent her last days in the most comfortable of surroundings. She was a daugh- ter of John Elmore, also of Kentucky. Mr. Moore himself was a son of David Moore, who moved from his native state of North Carolina to Kentucky while still a young and unmarried
Samuel Moore has known no other occupation than that afforded on his own and his father's farm. He has 455 acres of land under a high state of enltivation, and raises general crops and high grade stocks. In 1873, in the township of Rushville, he was united in mar- riage to Mary Barkman, who was born in Ohio, and whose parents, natives of Maryland and Ohio, respectively, came to Oakland Township, Schuyler County, in 1865, locating some years later in Littleton Township. To Mr. and Mrs. Moore have been born five children, namely : Mary Olive, Fannie Florence, Luther, Jesse and Kenneth. Mary Olive is the wife of William Kordsiemon, a resident of Berwyn, a suburb of Chicago; Fannie F. is the wife of George Sloan, of Belle Plain. Kan .; and Luther. a farmer in Buena Vista Township. married Stella Sher- man. Mr.' Moore has thoroughly educated his children, and provided liberally for those who have left the old home. No family has done more for the agricultural advancement of Schuy- ler County, and the promotion of its various pub- lic enterprises than have the descendants of Thomas Moore. the sturdy pioneer of 1836.
In politics, Mr. Moore is a Republican. Ile and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
MOORE. Wheeler W .- Fortunate, indeed, Is the man who is sustained by an inspiring con- sciousness that he has made the best use of whatever talents and abilities have been vouch- safed to him; that he has ignored no call of
duty ; that he has wasted no precious opportuni- ties; that he has faithfully discharged his obli- Tations to the public, and that he has estab- fished an unblemished reputation among those whose good opinion and good wishes are of in- estimable value, and compiute a source of per- petual encouragement. Such is the the record made 13 Wheeler W. Moore, an enterprising and progressive farmer of Buena Vista Township, Schuyler County. Ill., and a leading citizen of that locality.
Mr. Moore was born in Buena Vista Town- ship. August 26. 1966. This father, John D. Moore, aby a farmer by o . grition, was a Ken- tuckian by birth, while his mother, lary A. (Turner) Moore, was born in Buena Vista Town- ship. Further details of the family history are contained in a biographical record of Jomm D. Moore, appearing elsewhere in this connection.
In boyhood Mr. Moore attended the public schools in bis vicinity, completing his Fierary education in the Rushville Normal School and the Chaddock College at Quincy, Ill., and subse- quently pursuing a commercial course in the Metropolitan Business College, in Chicago. He passed his early youth on the parental farm, and after finishing his studies, was employed for 14 months as mailing clerk for the Troy Laundry Machinery Co., of Chicago. He next spent 15 months with the Metropolitan Insur- ance Co., at Peoria, Il., after which he applied himself to farming, in which pursuit he bas bad his full share of success. Ilis farming op- erations cover 500 acres of land, situated in Section 14. Buona Vista Township. Besides general farming, he is an extensive feeder. ship- ping about ten carloads of rattle and hogs per year. Ile holds the office of Grand Master of Buena Vista Grange.
On March 23. 1904. in Rushville Township. Schuyler County. Mr. Moore was united in mar- ringe with Carrie Boyd, a daughter of James and Eliza ( Ritchey ) Boyd, who was born in Oak- land Township. Schuyler County, Ill., in 1877. Her parents are natives of Ireland, and on coming to the United States, first located in Pitts- burg. Pa., whence they moved to Schuyler County, IL .. at the outset making their home in Oakland Township. They now live in Rush- ville Township, where Mr. Boyd is successfully engaged in farming. Mrs. Moore received her education in Oakland and Rushville townships. She and her husband are the parents of one child, James Francis.
Mr. Moore is active in political affairs, and renders an earnest and steadfast support to the Republican party. For two terms he has served in the capacity of Township Central Committee- man, and in April, 1907. was elected Super- visor from Buena Vista Township, which is normally Democratic, receiving 49 majority, and overcoming a contrary majority of 30. In fraternal circles, he is affiliated with the I. O. O. F., having been for 18 years a member of Friendship Lodge, No. 24. of Rushville. Ile is also a member of Rushville Lodge, No. 9. A. F.
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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.
& A. M .; of Rushville Chapter No. 194, R. A. Masons; and of Rushville Compandery No. 56, Knights Templar. Religiously, Mr. Moore is a consistent member of the Methodist Church. lle is a maan of sterling characteristics. and one of the most favorably known residents of his township.
MORGAN, Edward T .- One of the most pro- duetive and up-to-date farms in Sebuyler County is that owned and occupied by Mr. Morgan, on Section 1. Camden Township, where he has 225 acres, and in Brooklyn Township he also owns eighty acres, making in all 205 acres un- der his care and management. The records show that the Morgan family is of eastern origin. The grandfather. David Morgan, was born on May 25, 1775. When the how flourishing city of Cincinnati was a mere trading post and boasted only thirty houses. David Morgan cast in his lot with the early settlers, purchasing consid- erable property there, and it is believed that his death occurred there. Among his seven chil- dren was Roswell Morgan, born in Vermont. Upon reaching years of maturity he married Calista C. Davis, a native of New York State. Some time after his marriage and the birth of a number of his children, Roswell Morgan, in company with Ward David and his family of eleven children, came to Schuyler County and settled in Camden Township. All but three of the Davis children were married when they came to Selmuyler County, and their descendants have become very numerous in Buena Vista and Brooklyn townships, the records showing ninety- three grandchildren of Ward Davis in Schuyler County at one time. During the War of 1512 Ward Davis was drafted into the army, but was not called upon to serve. Isaac Davis, his young- est son, who served as a Lieutenant in one of of the Illinois regiments, loft Schuyler County about 1570. locating in Cloud County, Kans .. where the name became almost if not quite as well known as it was in Schuyler County. A number of his kinsmen also located there, and at one time it was estimated that there were 117 descendants of Ward Davis in Cloud County alone. Of the large family of children born to Ward Davis and his wife, only three are now living, Isaac. the youngest, being eighty years of age.
Eight children were born of the marriage of Roswell and Calista C. (Davis) Morgan, named in order of birth as follows: George W., deceased, who during the war served in an Illi- nois regiment, and is buried in Prairie City, Me- Donough County: Eliza A., the wife of Lewis Craveroft, living near Wichita, Kans. ; Francis R. and Charles V .. both deceased: Edward T .; Thomas Jefferson, who died in infancy; Martha J., widow of W. C. Avery, who is now making her home with her brother Edward T .; and Helen M .. wife of William Park. an extensive farmer near Flagler, Colorado. The father of these children died October 3, 1863, and the wife and
mother followed him twenty years later, dying in 1853.
The fifth child in the parental family, Edward T. Morgan, was born in Franklin County, Ind., September 20, 1511, and was a child of about eight years when the family located in Illinois. Ile distinctly recalls the long. lonesome walks to and from the district school, which was three miles from his home, through the dense timber. He has lived to see this supplanted by waving fields of grain. and he himself has been no small factor in bringing about this transformation. In this wilderness his father entered 160 acres of land from the Government in 1951, and the original dred to it, signed by Franklin Pierce, is now in the possession of Edward Morgan. To his orig- inal traet of 160 acres Roswell Morgan added by purchase forty acies of adjoining land, owing in all 200 aeres, upon which he built a log cabin, This in time gave place to a more modern house, in which the doors and window sash were made by hand, and the front part of this same struc- ture. which has stood the elements for fifty years, is now occupied by his son Edward T.
When about twenty-one years of age Edward T. Morgan responded to his country's call for volunteers, enlisting in Company A, Seventy- eighth Winois Volunteer hMantry. for three years With his regiment he saw service in many of the hard-fought battles of the war, among them the battles of Chickamauga and Konesaw Moun- tain. and was with Sherman in his March to the Spa. After the surrender of General Lee he took part in the Grand Review at Washington. in which city he was mustered ont, and after re- ceiving pay for his services af Chicago, returned to the old home farm in Camden Township. Soon afterward, July 22, 1866, he was un'ted in marriage with Adelaide E. Bennett, a native of Selmisier County, horn April 3. 1850, the daugh- ter of John K. and Eliza A. ( Madison) Bennett. a nicer of President Madison. After their mar- riage the young people settled on Mr. Bennett's farm, later purchasing it, but in 1877 they sold it and moved onto the old home farm of his father. having purchased the Interests of the others in the property.
Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, as follows: Frederick L .. born in Schuyler County. April 23, 1867, married Mo- netta Busby, and they make their home on a farm in Camden Township; Bertha G., was born August 13. 1869, and became the wife of Charles Applegate, a farmer in Littleton Township. by whom she has become the mother of two chil- dren. Guy and Ruth ; Luther T. was born March 11. 1872: Gilbert, February 10, 1874: Myrtle. August 10., 1876: Cora E .. was born April 3, 1879: and died June 17, 1903: Winnie G. was born August 4. 1881. and became the wife of John Crane; the youngest child. Rudolph B., was born February 20. 1\$4, and is now a teacher in the distri t school at Bushnell. Ill .; by his marriage with Inez MeFall he has one child. Winona L. Mrs. Eliza A. Morgan passed to her reward August 31, 1SS5. mourned by her hus-
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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.
hand and children as a Christian wife and mother. Not only her family miss her kind min- istrations, but many friends and acquaintances who had been drawn to her by her sweet per- sonality and by the many kindnessess shown them in time of need. Being deprived of a good education in his own boyhood, Mr. Morgan made every effort to give his children good educational facilities and fit them for the responsibilities of life. In turn they have appreciated the efforts made in their behali, and in growing to man- hood and womanhood have been a credit and a comfort to their parents. At one time Mr. Morgan was enumerator of Camden Township and School Treasurer of Bainbridge Township. where he made his home for a number of years. Politically, he is a Republican.
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