Pocahontas County History Preservation, Digitization, Community

Robert Moore, p. 464, Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County by William T. Price (1901)

Robert Moore was a son of Moses Moore, the distinguished pioneer. He was born May 27, 1772, and was reared on Knapps Creak. His wife w.u Rebecca McCollam, of Brown's Mountain, near Driscol. After living a number of years on the Greenbrier at the Bridger place, he moved to Edray on the Drennon opening. They were the parents of five sons, Isaac, Robert, Andrew, James, William, and one daughter, Jane, who became Mrs Andrew Duffield and lived at the head of Stoney Creek, now owned by the Delaney family who recently moved into our county.

Isaac Moore married Catherine Gillilan and settled at Ed ray where S. B. Moore lives. In their family were three sons and five daughters. Mary Ann became Mrs Amos Barlow, first wife; Rebecca became Mrs David Hannah; Elizabeth is Mrs Bryson Hannah, near Frost; Eveline became Mrs Paul Sharp; Julia is now Mrs William Sharp. Allen Taylor Moore married Mary Catherine Gay, daughter of the late Robert Gay and Mrs Bettie Gay. He lives near Edray. His children are John Kenney, Evansville, Indiana; Robert, in Butte City, Montana; Georgia Miami, who was the late Mrs Isaac Sharp; Alwilda Nebraska, now Mrs John Young; and Lula Elizabeth, now Mrs Davis Barlow.

William Rives Moore married Ruth Gay, and lived near Edray. He was a person greatly respected. His sympathies were with the Union adherents, and he died at Wheeling during the war, after many vicissitudes.

Samuel Bryson Moore married Ann Sharp and lives on the Edray homestead, and is a farmer and merchant. Mrs Effie Barlow and Mrs Flora Gay are his daughters.

Andrew Moore fell from a tree near the sugar camp at the Bridger place in early youth, and was instantly killed.

William Moore, upon attaining his majority, went to Ohio, where he rose to eminence as a physician and became widely known as a preaching elder in the Church of the Disciples.

James R. Moore, upon his marriage with Mrs Jane Funkhouser, of Rockbridge County, lived some years on part of the homestead. He thence moved to Braxton County. His children were Porterfield, Ephraim, and Mary Ellen. The latest information the friends have of his sons they were arranging for a trapping and bunting excursion to the Rocky Mountains. They had previously hunted a great deal in the Williams River wilds and were quite successful. The mantle of their eminent ancestor, Moses Moore, seems to have fallen on them.

Robert Moore, Junior, married Eliza Bruffey, a grand-daughter of Richard Hill, the pioneer. After living on the Edray homestead many years he moved to Iowa. His sons are Franklin, Moses, and George.

Franklin D. Moore married Sallie Young, and resides at Fort Scott, Kansas.

Moses C. Moore married Susan Livermore, and after a brief residence at Edray, moved to Kansas. He is a telegraph operator. Mrs Moore is a teacher.

George P. Moore first married Lizzie Poage, and settled on a section of the Edray homestead. His second marriage was with Mrs Ruth Moore. He is a local elder in the pale of the M. E. Church, a successful merchant and grazier, proficient as a mechanic, Coroner of the county, and has been commissioner of the court,, and President of the Pocahontas Bank.

The property owned by Robert Moore was first opened by Thomas Drinnon, and is one of the earliest settlements in this regions. The Drinnon tract must have included thousands of acres. The quality of the land is of the best, much of it spontaneously sodding in bluegrass when timber is belted. Parties who know are rather reticent as to the precise spot occupied by the Drinnon cabin home, since surveying parties have been so anxious to locate it. It will be remembered that Thomas Drinnon's home was broken up and some of his family killed and carried into captivity by the Indians.

When Robert Moore took possession but a few acres were cleared. He and his sons made extensive improvements of a very substantial character. He erected a commodious two story brick building, the first and only building of its kind in the vicinity. The site is very near William Sharp's residence, and much of the brick was used in the new building. A field just beyond William Sharp's in the direction of Elk is thought to have been one of the first to be cultivated.

It is more than, likely that the first time Robert Moore ever set foot on lands some day to be his own, was when he came from the east with his father and others in pursuit of French surveyors and their Indian guides. An Indian was killed and a Frenchman wounded near where the two prongs of the Indian Draft converge. It has not been so many years since human remains were unearthed near that place. It is. the impression of some, too, that it was the dispersion of this exploring party that originated the legends of hidden treasures in two or three localities of our county, some near Millpoint others near Marlinton.

Robert Moore was the worthy son of a worthy father. Everybody had confidence in "Uncle Bobby," and when he went hence to be no more, genuine tears embalmed the memory of the kind, honest, and brave old settler.