Biography of John M. Moore, White County, Arkansas

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Submitted by: Bonnie Palmer <bpalmer@bihs.net>
        Date: Jun 1997
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ar/white/white.html
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From "A Centennial History of Arkansas", edited by Dallas T. Herndon, the Director of the Dept.
of Archives & History, published by The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago-Little Rock, 1922.

JOHN M. MOORE

Fifty years have been added to the cycle of the centuries since John M. MOORE became a member of the
Little Rock bar and throughout that period he has held to highest professional standards, his course
reflecting credit and honor upon the history one of the Arkansas bar. Moreover, he is a native of
Pulaski county and a representative of one the honored pioneer families of the state.  In the
paternal lines line his ancestry is traced back to Tomas LLOYD, who came from Montgomeryshire,
Wales, to America and settled in Pennsylvania. He was president of the legislative council and
deputy governor of the Colony in 1684, after William Penn returned to England. A daughter of Tomas
LLOYD became a wife of Samuel PRESTON, and their daughter married Dr. Richard MOORE of Maryland,
from whom John M. MOORE is a descendant in the fifth generation. Israel M. MOORE, the father of John
M. MOORE, was born in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, December 3, 1814, and came to the southwest when a
young man of twenty-two years. He was one of the promoters of the Cairo & Fulton RR, which was
organized under acts of legislatures of Missouri & Ark. for the purpose of building a railroad from
Cairo, Ill., to the southern part of the state. He served on the board of directors & was largely
instrumental in securing land grants from congress to the company until it passed into the hands of
Thomas ALLEN of St. Louis & was reorganized as a part of the system of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain
& Southern RR Co. On the maternal side, his great-grandfather came from the north of Ireland to
America, and served as a member of the patriot army in the Revolutionary War.  John M. MOORE was
reared in Searcy, Ark., and although but a schoolboy at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War,
he joined the Third Ark. Calvary & was on active duty under Gen. Forest & Wheeler. He enlisted as a
private but was promoted to lieutenancy & was in command of his company at the close of hostilities.
With his return home Mr. MOORE resumed his studies under the direction of private tutors, and a year
later began preparation for the bar, being admitted to practice of law in Searcy. In 1870 he opened
a law office in Augusta, Woodruff Co., and the following year removed to Little Rock, where for half
a century he has engaged in practice. He served for 6 years as reporter of the supreme court.  In
1873 Mr. MOORE wedded Miss Annie C. TURNER, a daughter of Blakely D. TURNER, who was one of the
pioneer members of the Ark. bar. Mrs. MOORE departed this life Jan. 31, 1901. Their family numbered
4 children: J. MERRICK, assoc. with his father in practice of law, married Miss Rebecca READ of Fort
Smith; Janie, now deceased, was the wife of A. C. MILLER of Little Rock; Charlotte is the wife of M.
K. KASSONY of New York city; and Blake TURNER died in 1909. In his political views Mr. MOORE has
always been a supporter of democratic principles, and for 8 years he was chairman of the state
central committee, contributing much to the success & growth of the party during that time. He never
sought nor held a political office. His ambition seems to have been centered in his profession. His
high professional standing is indicated in the fact that he was honored with the presidency of the
State Bar Assoc. A contemporary biographer has said of him: "There are those-and they are legion-who
put at the head of the legal profession in Ark. the name of John M. MOORE. It is quite certain that
no one qualified to form an opinion on the subject but regards him as one among the very few who are
the head & front of the profession. He is one of those truly great lawyers of whom it is in no sense
flattery to say that he is deeply learned in the law. Indeed, he is, intellectually, more than a
learned lawyer; he is a man of broad scholarship. Few men have read more widely. His private
library, of works selected from time to time through a period of many years, is one of the largest &
best in the state. The quality & scope of the collection, in which are missing few, if any, of the
outstanding contributions to knowledge of nearly every practical sort during the last half a
century, afford significant evidence of an intellectually of ripe & varied culture. He is, Moreover,
a shrewd & wise observer of practical affairs. His personality is one of dignity & reserve. He has
won success in his profession by dint of sheer ability.