Israel Moore

ISRAEL MOORE has been a resident of Kansas more than forty years, is a veteran Union soldier, and since 1885 has steadily practiced law. Since 1900 his home has been in St. John, where he has conducted a general practice.

Mr. Moore was born in Alexander County, Illinois, January 29, 1848. His paternal ancestors came from Ireland. His grandfather, John Moore, was born in Ireland, settled in Pennsylvania, and died in Huntingdon County, that state. Joseph Moore, father of Israel, was born in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, in 1810. He grew up there, and when a young man went to Dresden, Ohio, where he followed the trade of carpenter and builder. Then followed a brief residence in Alexander County in Southern Illinois, after which he resided in Ohio again for a short time, and in 1856 he settled permanently in Hancock County, Illinois, and lived there until his death in 1862. He was a democrat in politics. Joseph Moore was three times married. By his first wife he had two children: Samuel, a carpenter in Hancock County, Illinois, and James, who went to Kansas in 1872, was a farmer and died in Republic County of this state in 1908. By his second marriage there was one son, William, who enlisted in 1862 in the Ninety-First Illinois Infantry, was assigned to duty as a railroad guard, was captured by General John Morgan at Bacon Creek, Kentucky, and while being transported as a prisoner of war was drowned. The third wife of Joseph Moore was Mrs. Elizabeth (Coates) Lanaham. She was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1820 and died in Hancock County, Illinois, in 1863. Her children were five in number: Mary Jane, living in Hancock County, Illinois, widow of Charles Butler, who was a farmer; Israel, second in age; John, a farmer in Hancock County, Illinois; Mrs. Sarah Duncan, wife of a farmer in Hancock County; and Elijah, who for many years has been a farmer in Republic County, Kansas.

Israel Moore was fourteen or fifteen years of age when his parents died. He received all his education in the rural schools of Hancock County, Illinois, and after the death of his parents worked as a farm hand. In February, 1864, when sixteen years old, he enlisted in the Sixteenth Illinois Infantry. Though enlisting in the war late he saw much hard and active service, was with Sherman's army in the siege of Atlanta, and also on the march to the sea. Of the real battles in the Atlanta campaign his chief one was that at Jonesboro. His last fight was at Bentonville, North Carolina, and he faithfully performed all his duties as a soldier. After the war Mr. Moore resided in Hancock County, Illinois, and farmed until 1876, when he homesteaded a quarter section in Osborne County, Kansas, and lived on his claim for eight or nine years. In the meantime he industriously read law, and in 1885 moved into Osborne City and was admitted to the bar. He practiced there steadily until 1900, when he moved to St. John. He owns the Moore Building on Main Street in which he has his offices, also has a farm of 160 acres in Grant County, and his modern home on Main Street which he built in 1901.

Mr. Moore served on the school board while in Osborne County, and was for one term a councilman of St. John. He is a republican, is affiliated with C. F. Smith Post No. 103, Grand Army of the Republic, at St. John, and is a member of the Sons and Daughters of Justice.

In 1866, in Hancock County, Illinois, Mr. Moore married Miss Elizabeth McCord, daughter of John W. and Nancy E. (Manifold) McCord. Mrs. Moare died February 9, 1911, mother of five children: William N., an attorney at Phillipsburg, Kansas; George E., a real estate broker at Kinsley, Kansas; Hadie, wife of J. B. Mack, a lumberman at Lawrence, Kansas; Carl W., now, secretary of the Kansas Utilities Commission at Topeka; and Pearl M., wife of A. V. Gardner, who lives on Mr. Moore's farm in Grant County. September 18, 1916, at Hutchinson, Kansas, Mr. Moore married Mrs. Margaret (Swartz) Ahern, daughter of S. A. and Amelia (Hardesty) Swartz. Her parents are both deceased, her father having been a farmer near St. John.

Page 2414.