My Genealogy Hound

Col. E. B. Moore, president of the Famous Life Association of Little Rock, Ark., and one of the best-known citizens of that place, is a native of Tennessee, and was born on January 23, 1842. He is of Scotch-Irish descent, his maternal great grandfather coming from Ireland, and his paternal grandfather from Scotland. William Ward Moore, his father, a native of Halifax County, N. C., was a tailor by trade, afterward a prominent merchant and justice of the peace in White County, Tenn. He was married in the latter place to Miss Isabella Bryan, daughter of Maj. William Bryan, one of the leading farmers of that county. In 1858 Mr. Moore went to Fayetteville, Ark., where he was engaged in merchandising and operated a saw-mill. During the war he went to Clarksville, Tex., where he dealt in cotton and traded on a considerable scale with Mexico, but later on he returned to Fayetteville, where he opened up and kept a first-class hotel. His death occurred in that city, while his wife died in Eureka Springs, on May 5, 1880, at the age of sixty-five years. Both parents were members of the Methodist Church. Nine children were born to their marriage, of whom Col. E. B. Moore, the principal of this sketch, is the third. E. B. Moore was educated at the excellent private schools of Sparta, Tenn., where he was also reared, but obtained the most of his literary knowledge at the “cases’’ in the printing office of the Arkansan, at Fayetteville, which paper was edited by Pettigrew & Bondinot. He entered that office in the spring of 1859, and the following year was appointed postmaster of Fayetteville by President Buchanan, being reappointed to the same office by the Confederate Government, when the Civil War commenced. In March, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the first company raised for the war in Washington County (Capt. Bells), being a part of the Third Arkansas State Regiment under Col. Gratiot. On the organization of the company he was appointed second sergeant, and shortly afterward was made orderly-sergeant. On the organization of the regiment, in 1861, he was made regimental commissary with the rank of captain, holding this rank until the disbandment of the State troops four months later, and their enlistment in the regular Confederate service, where Mr. Moore’s gallant actions in the field won him rapid promotion still further in the ranks. During his army career he took part in the battle of Oak Hill, on August 10,1861, where he was so severely wounded by a minie-ball entering the right thigh and coming out through the right hip, that he was confined to his bed for nine months, and was forced to walk on crutches for four months more. After partially recovering from his wound, he left home once more and became a member of Capt. Palmer’s company of Confederate scouts, and operated for about ten months in Northwest Arkansas, taking part in the battle at Fayetteville, and a number of others. The exposure connected with this service caused his wound to break out fresh, and at one time he was at the point of death, forcing him to rejoin his father’s family, who had refugeed to South Arkansas. From there they went to Clarksville, Tex., where Col. Moore remained four months, and against the earnest persuasion of his family, once more entered the ranks in Cabell’s brigade, where he remained until the final surrender, taking part in the battle of Mark’s Mill, and a number of hard skirmishes. Col. Moore was reared by an old line Whig, his father, but in politics he has always been a stanch Democrat. In 1874, 1876, 1878 and 1880 he served as a delegate to the Democratic State Convention, and in 1878 was elected as a representative from Washington County to the State legislature, being re-elected in 1880 and 1882, and is the only man who was ever elected three consecutive times from that county to the State legislature. In 1868 he purchased and commenced the publication of the Fayetteville Democrat, successfully continuing as the editor of that paper until 1884, when he was nominated by his party and elected as secretary of State. He served four years in this office, but before his time had expired he was elected to his present position in the insurance association, and on July 1, 1889, was made president of the Arkansas Collecting, Detective and General Intelligence Association of this city. Col. Moore is also a prominent stock holder in the Gazette Publishing Company. In secret societies he is a member in high standing of the Odd Fellows, and in 1879 was unanimously elected Grand Master of the State Grand Lodge. He is also prominently connected with the Knights of Honor and Knights of Pythias fraternities. Col. Moore was married at Fayetteville, on February 9, 1869, to Emma J., a daughter of Col. George W. North, of Harper’s Ferry, Va. Mrs. Moore is a descendant of Lord North, King George III’s prime minister, who was so intimately connected with the Revolutionary history of this country. She is a woman of intellectual and Christian character, endowed with a pleasing manner and great social attainments. But in spite of her large circle of friends by whom she is loved, and the attractions necessarily a part of her life as a leader of Little Rock society, she is a devoted wife and mother and makes her home one of the brightest in that city. Col. and Mrs. Moore have four children: Fred. W., Cora E., George W. and Sallie Bell.