Charles Andrew Moore of Topeka, general agent of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, with offices located in Topeka, was born on a farm near Brownville, Neb., June 3, 1871, a son of William Thomas Moore and wife, who was Miss Amanda Hoke Jones. The parents are now residents of Seattle, Wash., where the father is engaged in the steamship business. He was born near Jacksonville, Ill., Aug. 25, 1846, a son of Ira and Elizabeth (Abrams) Moore, both natives of Kentucky, the former's birthplace being Lexington. On his paternal side Mr. Moore traces his ancestry back to his great-great-grandparents. His great-great-grandfather Moore, who was of Irish and Welsh descent, was a sea-faring man, master of a vessel which had made the port of Mobile, Ala., where he settled his family. One of his sons, Mr. Moore's great-grandfather, migrated north and settled in Kentucky, where he took up the pursuit of agriculture. Mr. Moore's great-great-grandfather Abrams was a native of Ireland, of Jewish descent and could trace his lineage back to the days of Constantine. He was an educator and was employed as tutor during the latter part of the Eighteenth century by Sir Thomas Boyle, owner of Boyle Castle, and of the landed estate at Boyle, Ireland. While employed in this capacity he became deeply attached to Miss Boyle, the only daughter in the Boyle family. As soon as Sir Thomas Boyle discovered that the attachment was mutual, the tutor was summarily dismissed. This dismissal was followed by an elopement, and final reconciliation, the young people returning to the Castle, where they lived for a few years. After the birth of their son, they came to America and settled at Trenton, N. J.

During the great Civil war Ira Moore and his family resided on a farm near Jacksonville, Ill., and being a strong anti-slavery man he made his home one of the stations on the famous "underground railway" that aided many a slave in escaping from his master. The grandparents of Mr. Moore, on the maternal side, were David and Margaret (Keith) Jones, both natives of North Carolina, and both born near Wilmington, the former of whom was of Welsh, and the latter of Scotch descent.

Charles A. Moore was reared and educated in Nebraska. When he was six years old his parents removed from the farm to Brownville, where his youth was spent. He completed a course in the Brownville High School, and at the age of seventeen, he went to Hendley, Neb., where he clerked in a general store for five years; then he became a traveling salesman for a Chicago wholesale hat house, and was thus engaged for ten years, his field being confined to the State of Kansas. In the spring of 1903 he resigned his position as commercial traveler and embarked in a manufacturing business in Topeka. In the fall of 1906 he accepted a general agency for the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, with offices in Topeka, his territory embracing about two-thirds of the State of Kansas. Mr. Moore is still representing the Equitable.

He was married April 30, 1901, to Miss Maud Stewart Eames of Abilene, Kan., who was born in Staunton, Ill., June 6, 1872. Their two children, Marion Minne and Charles William Beverly, are aged nine and five, respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Moore are members of the Episcopal church. Mr. Moore is also a member of and an active worker in the Topeka Commercial Club. Fraternally he ranks high in Masonry, having attained the Thirty-third degree. He is also a Knight Templar, a Noble of the Mystic Shrine and a Knight of the Red Cross of Constantine. He is a past master of Unity Chapter of Rose Croix, No. 1; past master of Kadosh, Topeka Consistory, No. 1, and preceptor of Godfrey de St. Omar Council of Knights of Kadosh, No. 2. He is also a member of the Topeka Club, the Elks' Lodge of Topeka, belongs to the Knights of Pythias, and is one of the organizers and grand officers of the Ancient Accepted Toltec Rite. He was one of the organizers and is an ex-secretary of the Kansas Association of Life Underwriters, and a member of the executive committee of the National Association of Life Underwriters. He is president of the High Tariff Mining Company of Joplin, and is the secretary and treasurer and a member of the board of directors of the Weldarine Manufacturing Company of Topeka, which manufactures a composition for brazing cast iron, the products of which factory are shipped to every civilized country in the world.