My Genealogy Hound

JONATHAN MOORE. Among the old soldiers and prominent railroad men of Northampton County stands Jonathan Moore, an honest, upright man, courteous in his intercourse with his fellow-men, and possessed of more than average intelligence. Like many of the representative citizens of the county, he claims New York as his native state, his birth occurring in Orange County, on the 27th of April, 1825. His parents, Stephen and Eleanor (Owens) Moore, were also natives of the Empire State.

The members of the Moore family are of English origin, and trace their ancestry back to the Pilgrim Fathers. Both of Mr. Moore’s grandfathers were soldiers in the Revolutionary War, and received pensions for their service in that great struggle for liberty. A maternal uncle, William Owens, served in the War of 1812. Our subject was reared to manhood on a farm in Orange County, N. Y. He received a common-school education in his native county, and at the age of twenty-one became a teacher. For eighteen years he taught in both public and private schools, in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and for twelve years he was Principal of a select school at Mt. Bethel.

During the Civil War Mr. Moore enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and Fifty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers. He enlisted as a private, but was soon promoted to the office of First Lieutenant, and later on had offers of further promotion but declined, although he acted as Captain the greater part of the time while in the service. He participated in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. His regiment was also a part of the corps which Stonewall Jackson surprised in his memorable attack after making the circuit and flanking the federal corps. He was a gallant and brave soldier, and saw a great deal of hard and active service during the ten months he was in the army. He was honorably discharged July 11, 1863. After his return to Pennsylvania he engaged in the railroad business, and for over a quarter of a century had entire charge of the business of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad at Portland. He faithfully performed his duty in that line, and became widely and favorably known throughout the state as a man of superior business ability and integrity.

September 3, 1849, Mr. Moore was united in the holy bonds of matrimony with Miss Helen Troxel, a native of Northampton County. She is a daughter of John and Catherine Troxel, who are well known and highly respected citizens of the county. Politically Mr. Moore is a stalwart Republican, and has labored unweariedly in the interests of his party, supporting its candidates and principles with unwavering fidelity. In July, 1894, he was nominated for Assemblyman from Northampton County on the Republican ticket, and came within seventy-eight votes of being elected in a county three hundred and fifty thousand Democratic. In his religious connections he is identified with the Presbyterian Church, and for a number of years has occupied the position of Elder in that denomination. He is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and is connected with Armstrong Post No. 368 at Portland, of which he is the present Chaplain.

Mr. Moore has a large and influential circle of friends, and commands the esteem of his fellow-citizens, with whom he is identified in every public enterprise of importance. A self-made man, having through his individual efforts won his way upward, he has made a record in his private life and public service of which his family and descendants may well be proud. Though he has no children of his own, he takes great interest in the training of the young, having been a worker in the Sunday-schools for forty-five years and Superintendent of the same for forty years.