JOHN MOORE.
To write the personal record of men who have raised themselves from humble circumstances to positions of responsibility and trust in a community is no ordinary pleasure. Self-made men, men who have achieved success by reason of their personal qualities and who have left the impression of their individuality on the business growth of their township, affect for good such institutions as are embraced in the sphere of their usefulness, and unwittingly, perhaps, build monuments more enduring than marble obelisk or granite shaft. To this class belongs John Moore, a well-known farmer of Hamlin township, this county.
John Moore was born in Queens county, Ireland, on November 5, 1859, the son of John and Ann (Fitzpatrick) Moore, both natives of the same county, as were their parents. John Moore's father, John Moore, Sr., was the son of John Moore, whose wife was a Dempsey. John Moore, the subject of this sketch, was descended on his maternal side from James Fitzpatrick, who married a Brophy. Mr. Moore's mother's uncle, Dan Fitzpatrick, was one of the earliest settlers in Cedar county, Iowa. In June, 1861, John and Anna (Fitzpatrick) Moore came to the United States, their son, John, being then but two years old. They landed at New York, where they lived a short time, and then moved to Philadelphia, where the father went to work as a carpenter for the United States government. He worked in the arsenal at Frankfort, near Philadelphia, where he was employed until the close of the Civil War. In November, 1865, the family came west to Iowa City, where the father helped to build a wing on the State University building, hanging all the doors and all the windows in the building. In March, 1883, the family came to Audubon county, where they located on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in section 24 of Hamlin township, which the father had purchased in the fall of 1882, giving fifteen dollars an acre for it, and there the father and mother spent the rest of their lives, his death occurring on March 25, 1905, and hers on August 11, 1909. They were the parents of six children, five daughters and one son, that lived to maturitv. Of these children Mary married Gerald Dempsey. Kate, now deceased, taught school in Audubon county for about six years. Bridget died in Johnson county, Iowa. Elizabeth, who married Michael Dwyer, also is now deceased. She also was for some vears a school teacher in Audubon countv. Marguerite married Richard Barry, to which union nine children were born. Their son, John Barry, rents Mr. Moore's farm and operates it quite successfully, making his home with Mr. Moore. John Moore and his parents and all the Moore family are members of the Catholic church. None of the family has been active in politics and none of them has held pnblic office.
In 1912 John Moore showed a registered Belgian mare at the state fair at Des Moines and took second premium. He has also taken four first prizes at the local county fairs, and took the sweepstakes at the fair in 1912. Two of his mares are imported Belgians. The raising of thoroughbred horses has proved a very lucrative vocation in this section of the state and no man has made a greater success of the business than John Moore, of Hamlin township. Mr. Moore is highly respected in his community and is well known throughout the county generally, all who know him holding him in the highest esteem.
|
Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 600-601.
|
|
