Thomas Oscar Moore (1842 - 1910)

Born 11 Apr 1842 in Alexander, Tallapoosa County, Alabama

Husband of Sarah Adeline (Thomas) Moore — married 3 Jan 1867 in Sempronius, Austin County, Texas

Descendants

Died 15 Jul 1910 at age 68 in Comanche, Comanche County, Texas

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Biography

Thomas Oscar Moore and Sarah Adaline Thomas married at Peachland Farm, near Sempronius, Austin County, Texas. They spent most of their lives in Comanche, Comanche County, Texas. They and their son Stanley are buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Comanche.

Thomas Oscar Moore was born in Alexander, Alabama. His father was a prominent physician and planter. Born in Oxford, Massachusetts, John Moore moved in 1835 to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he was interested in iron mining, and finally, in 1855, to southern Texas. John's parents were Marvin Moore and Senath Hartwell, members of two old Puritan families. John married Marian Lucy Crutchfield, whose family had migrated from Fincastle County, Virginia, to Chattanooga. Two of Lucy's brothers were colonels in the Civil War, one Unionist, the other Confederate.

Thomas' sister was a well-known poet, novelist, and playwright of the late nineteenth century. Born April 12, 1852, and educated by tutors at her father's plantation, "La Rose Blanche," Mary Evelyn Moore wrote under the pen name M. E. M. Davis. A precocious child, a number of her fervent war poems were published by Southern newspapers from 1861 to 1865. Her first collection of poems, Minding the Gap, was published in Houston in 1867. She was the wife of Thomas Edward Davis, the editor-in-chief of the New Orleans Daily Picayune from 1879 to 1914. According to the Dictionary of American Biography, Mary and

Thomas took up residence in the old French quarter in a house once occupied by Edward Livingston and visited by Andrew Jackson. In this house Mrs. Davis developed and maintained for many years a gathering place for those about her who prized subtlety of talk and thought. She was gentle, humorous, and wise, and many competent witnesses bore testimony to the spell of her presence. This presence and the just scale of values which by direction and indirection she helped to establish constitute her chief claim upon enduring memory. She was among the first to exploit negro dialect for literary purposes. (volume five, pages 137-138).

Thomas was a member of Company F, Seventh Texas Volunteer Infantry (Confederate). A few of his Civil War recollections appeared in 1895 in Reminiscences of the Boys in Gray, 1861-1865, edited by Mamie Yeary. He was captured by Federal soldiers on February 20, 1862, and later escaped. He "was not wounded during the war. The company numbered near 100 men, and at this writing only one comrade and myself are living. My Second Captain was killed by my side at the battle of Lovejoy Station, Ga.; [I] was offered the position of Lieutenant, but owing to bad health declined. [I] was in the battles of Port Hudson, Shiloh; Atlanta, Ga.; Lovejoy, Ga.; Jonesboro, and a number of small engagements" (page 536).

Thomas and Sarah met in Galveston while she was visiting relatives there. She was reared at Peachland Farm, the Austin County, Texas, estate of her aunt Adaline Landes. An orphan, Sarah's mother died in 1853; her father died in 1858 while she was visiting her aunt. Sarah and Thomas met while he was a clerk at Wallis, Landes, and Company, which was co-owned by Adaline's son Henry.

Sarah and Thomas exchanged a number of love letters between Peachland Farm and Galveston during their engagement. The following is from a letter Thomas wrote to Sarah on December 13, 1866, three weeks before their marriage:

You never can know how much I love you when I see how much you are willing to sacrifice for me. I ought to be happy to possess the love of one so noble as your Self, and I am. Since my engagement with you there has a complete change come over me. I don't care for any thing or any one but you. You are never out of my mind and thoughts. I never knew before what it was to possess the love and confidence of woman as I do now, and it is a pleasure beyond description. And there is but one time in a man's life when he is happier, and that is when he can claim the object of his affections as his own. What I feel for you for the confidence you place in me is beyond my power to express. I love you with a pure and Holy love such as Angels have for one and other and their God. And it grows stronger every day.

Thomas O. Moore's death was reported in the following obituary from the July 15, 1910, issue of the Dallas News:

Col. T. O. Moore, a pioneer and a foremost citizen of Comanche, fell dead at the Old Settlers' reunion here tonight just as he was opening the evening program.

He was president of the association and yesterday had responded to the address of welcome. Col. Moore was a Confederate veteran, having served in Company C., Seventh Texas, Granbury's Brigade. After the war he located in Galveston, removing from there to Comanche thirty-six years ago and has since resided here. He has for several years been president of the Comanche and Erath Counties ex-Confederate Association and was commander of Comanche Camp, United Confederate Veterans.

For a number of years past he has been City Tax Assessor and Collector of the city of Comanche and has been prominent in all affairs. Col. Moore was 68 years old. He was a brother of the late Mrs. Mollie E. Moore Davis of New Orleans. He is survived by a widow and eight sons and daughters, all of whom reside in Comanche except Tom Moore of Forth Worth and Henry Moore of Alabama. Col. Moore was a Master Mason and will be buried here Sunday. The Masons will conduct the services. The Confederate camp will also assist. ^[1]

Interment

Thomas is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Comanche, Comanche County, Texas. ^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ Thompson, Barney, (1995) The Thompson Family of Prince Edward County, Virginia, Butler and Trigg Counties, Kentucky, and the Florida Parishes of Louisiana: The Descendants of Thomas Thompson, 1740-1810.
2. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #19706629