William M Moore
WILLIAM M. MOORE, of New Bethlehem, Pa., has been engaged as a painter throughout his active years, and since 1902 has also been in the mercantile business, dealing in groceries, paints and wall-paper. Mr. Moore was born Sept. 20, 1835, in Plum Creek township, Armstrong county, son of Nathan and Margaret (Jamison) Moore.
William Moore, the grandfather, was born in 1779 in County Derry, Ireland, and coming to the United States in 1820 settled in what was then Armstrong (now Clarion) county, Pa., between Greenville and Clarion, at what was then known as the "Riley Settlement". Purchasing land in the wilderness, he cleared and improved a farm, to the cultivation of which he devoted his active years. His death occurred Dec. 5, 1867, at Corsica, Jefferson Co., Pa., when he was eighty-eight years old. He married Mary Downs, like himself a native of County Derry, Ireland, and they were the parents of six children: Nathan; John; James; Jennie, who married William McMillen; Nancy, who married Robert McMillen; and Elizabeth. All of this family are now deceased.
Nathan Moore, father of William M. Moore, was born Feb. 9, 1805, in County Derry, Ireland, and came to Armstrong county with his parents in 1820. In early manhood he settled in Plum Creek township, this county, and engaged in farming. In 1837 he moved to Porter township, Clarion Co., Pa., where he leased a small farm, and there he lived for thirteen years, farming and shoemaking in 1850 moving to New Bethlehem. In 1858 he located at Oakland, in Mahoning township, Armstrong county, where he passed the remainder of his long life, dying Nov. 17, 1886, at the age of eighty-one years. He was twice married. His first wife, Margaret, daughter of Archibald and Jane (Lower) Jamison, was born in what was then Armstrong (now Clarion) county, Pa.; her parents were pioneers of Armstrong county, and her father was a soldier in the war of 1812. Five children were born to this union: William M.; Eliza J., who married Samuel Reese; James; John, and Robert - all deceased but William M. And John. The mother of these died in April, 1844, and Mr. Moore subsequently married Francis Rarick, by whom he had the following children: Henry W., deceased; Margaret, deceased, who was the wife of Martin Cramer; David P., deceased; Joseph B., deceased; Lavina M., who married J. C. Moore; and Sarah, who married G. B. Cline.
William M. Moore passed his youth in Armstrong and Clarion counties, and obtained his education in the common schools of Porter township and New Bethlehem. He learned the trade of painter, which he was following when the Civil war broke out, at that time being in Monmouth, Warren Co., Ill. On March 27, 1862, he entered the service, becoming a member of Company G, 1st Illinois Cavalry, with which he was connected until honorably discharged at St. Louis, Mo., as corporal, July 14, 1862. He reenlisted Oct. 7, 1862, in Company L, 14th Illinois Cavalry, becoming first sergeant when he joined that command, and was promoted to second lieutenant July 22, 1864, to rank from Nov. 14, 1863. He took part in the battles of Knoxville, (Tenn.), Kenesaw Mountain, Chattahoochee River, Decatur, Atlanta, Duck River, Franklin, Columbia, Nashville, and a number of minor engagements and received his discharge at Pulaski, Tenn., July 31, 1865.
On his return from the war Mr. Moore settled at New Bethlehem, Pa., where he has since resided. In 1866 he engaged in the painting business, in which he has established a lucrative trade, having the highest reputation for thorough workmanship and keeping abreast of the advances made in his line. In 1902 he entered the mercantile business, carrying a large stock of groceries, and a comprehensive line of paints, wall-papers and other commodities of the kind. His enterprise and good management have brought him into the ranks of the most successful men of his town, where he is highly esteemed for his ability and integrity.
On Jan. 22, 1867, Mr. Moore was married to Lucetta Conger, daughter of Joseph and Susanna (Hetrick) Conger, of New Bethlehem, and they had a family of six children: Laura C., now the wife of William Gathers; Eliza, married to Ezra Judson Grinder; Emma, married to George Wagner; Horace A., who married Gertrude Hosey; Ralph, who married Sybilla Lawson (he served ten months in the Spanish-American war as a member of Company A, 14th Pennsylvania Volunteers); and John B., who died Dec. 29, 1912. Mrs. Moore died Aug. 4, 1911, after a happy married life of forty-four years.
Mr. Moore is an Odd Fellow, belonging to New Bethlehem Lodge, No. 725, and a Mason, in the latter connection holding membership in New Bethlehem Lodge, No. 522, F. & A. M., of which he has been secretary for more than a quarter of a century; he is also a past master. By virtue of his army service he belongs to the G. A. R., Col. William Lemon Post, No. 260. He is a Republican in politices and a Baptist in religion, being a member of the church at New Bethlehem, of which he has been a deacon since 1869.
Source: Pages 732-733 Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed October 1998 by Joyce Sherry for the Armstrong County Beers Project
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