Bio of MOORE, Dr. James Edward (b.1852 d.1918), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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Vol II, pg 136-141
JAMES EDWARD MOORE, M. D.
In one of the parks of Chicago stands a great piece of sculpture, representing
life as an heroic figure, firm and stationary, while humankind pass on. But for
them the sculptor's work could not have the great truth that there are those of
the humankind who, passing by, leave a contribution to the world's work that is
as enduring as time itself. Upon the foundation of the yesterday they built a
structure of today and Dr. James Edward Moore is numbered among those who have
laid one of these great foundation stones through his contribution to medical
science. He grasped every opportunity to advance and develop his powers, with
the sole end and aim of making his service of the greatest possible worth to his
fellowmen. There is no citizen of Minneapolis who has ever lived more
unselfishly for the good of others and that his contribution to the world's work
was real and valuable was attested throughout the length and breadth of this
land.
James Edward Moore's span of life covered the years from the 2d of March, 1852,
when he was born in Clarksville, Pennsylvania, to the 2d of November, 1918, when
he passed through the gates of eternity. He was a son of the Rev. George W. and
Margaret (Ziegler) Moore and in his boyhood he attended the public schools of
Pennsylvania, while later he became a student in the Poland Union Seminary at
Poland, Ohio, where his proficiency in his studies would have won him an
appointment, through General Garfield, to West Point, had not his family opposed
a military career for him. He afterward entered the University of Michigan and
that he had early determined upon his life work is indicated in the fact that he
studied medicine in that institution, while he won his degree from the Bellevue
Hospital Medical College in New York in the year 1873. Fort Wayne, Indiana,
became the scene of his initial professional experience and it is said that his
great kindness to the poor and unfortunate is still graciously remembered there.
His desire to advance still further in his profession caused him at the end of a
year to return to New York for work in the hospitals and there he spent about
three years. In 1876 he opened an office in Emlenton, Pennsylvania, where he
practiced as a country physician, making his calls on horseback through a period
of six years.
In 1882 Dr. Moore arrived in Minneapolis, where for three years he enjoyed a
growing and successful practice, when, according to one of his biographers:
"Again his ambition for greater knowledge and a wider sphere asserted itself and
he planned to study in the old world capitals. The next few years found him in
London, Berlin, and Paris, devoted to his studies with the masters of his craft.
It was in London that he became interested in that branch of his profession
known as orthopedics, and it was while he was abroad that he resolved to confine
himself, upon his return, exclusively to surgery. These details are necessary to
show how he attained his position-with what patience and courage and
conscientiousness he toiled for excellence. To the goal he had set himself as a
youth, he remained to the last, 'true as the dial to the sun.' "
Returning from Europe in 1888 Dr. Moore again opened an office in Minneapolis
and announced his intention of confining his practice exclusively to surgery,
becoming the first specialist in surgery west of New York. His skill, power and
ability in his chosen profession soon won him wide recognition and his fame
spread to the bounds of his own country and his name became also known abroad.
In an article prepared for the American Surgical Association the story of his
professional career is told as follows: "Always interested in medical education,
Dr. Moore, upon the organization of the Medical School of the University of
Minnesota, became identified with the faculty of that institution, holding in
succession the positions of professor of orthopedic surgery, professor of
clinical surgery, professor of surgery, and in 1908 he was made chief of the
department of surgery and held this position until the day of his death, on
November 2, 1918. Dr. Moore was a born teacher, having the rare gift of
imparting knowledge, presenting his theme in such a simple, terse, logical
manner as to carry conviction and clinch the facts in the memories of his
auditors; his earnest enthusiasm won the respect and admiration of his
associates and students; gifted with native eloquence, a quiet dignity and a
logical mind, his address carried conviction; he was forceful yet temperate and
restrained in his utterances and actions. Throughout the years successive
generations of students sat at the feet of this master teacher of
surgery-students who now all over the land mourn the loss of professor, comrade
and friend. He was a virile, convincing writer, having presented over two
hundred papers on surgical subjects. He was the author of sections in various
American systems of surgery and in 1898 he published 'Moore's Orthopedic
Surgery.' His writings and discussions won him recognition at home and abroad
and he early became identified with the representative surgical societies,
affiliating with the American Surgical Association and being its vice president
in 1905; with the Western Surgical Association, being president in 1902;
chairman of the surgical section of the American Medical Association in 1903;
member of the Southern Surgical Association; member of the judicial council of
the American Medical Association; fellow of the American College of Surgeons and
member of the board of governors; member of the Societe" Internationale de
Chirurgie; of Sigma Xi of the Minnesota Academy of Medicine, and of the local,
state and county societies."
Speaking of Dr. Moore's professional career and his signal service Dr. Marion D.
Shutter said: "Upon his return from Europe in 1888, he came to Minneapolis
again. Here his home was set up, his friendships were formed, and the real work
of his life was begun. Here his career was wrought out and his success was
achieved. It is said that he was the first specialist in surgery west of New
York. His fame as a thorough diagnostician, a skillful operator, and an
authority on surgery, grew till it was wide as the nation and even reached
across the sea. His books and other writings are still consulted. He was one of
the first successful experimenters-first with antiseptic and later with aseptic
surgery. His achievements won him membership and recognition in all of the great
medical societies at home and in some of them abroad. He was conservative in his
methods, anxious to be right, and not trusting to guesses and theories. He knew
that nothing short of the utmost thoroughness would meet the demands of science.
To his knowledge and skill his associates bear glad and willing testimony. He
held their respect and their goodwill; and he, in turn, was open to their
opinions and suggestions. He was intolerant only of incompetence and
carelessness. He had no patience with less than the best in any member of his
profession or any aspirant to it. But he also had, in marked degree, those
elements of kindness and sympathy with people which count so much in his sphere.
For his was a form of ministry that brings one into such close and intimate
contact with the lives of men and women-their troubles, their infirmities, their
handicaps-that real human interest and sympathy are indispensable to the highest
and best results. Dr. Moore had all this-so that
'.......... I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellowmen.'
the poem which I read shaped itself into his creed and expressed his religion:
And thus his name was written high in the lilied light, on the page of gold, a
of those 'whom love of God had blessed.' "
Dr. Moore's career was, indeed, a notable one. Not only was he the first
declared and exclusive specialist in surgery west of New York but he was also
the first medical man in the Northwest to call attention to osteomyelitis of the
neck of the femur, not correctly diagnosticated before. He was characterized by
the Medical School and Mayo Foundation of the University of Minnesota as "one of
the four or five best teachers of surgery in the United States." Transplanted
from the east to the west after his thirtieth year, he gained remarkable
success, quickly and surely. We are told that "he held the respect and goodwill
of his associates and students in an unusual degree." Judicial in his methods,
he was a real surgeon, not merely an operator.
In the year 1887 Dr. Moore was united in marriage to Miss Louise C. Irving. Dr.
Moore had a daughter by a former marriage, Bessie Marguerite, who married P. H.
Forssell. She became the mother of a son, Barnard H. Mrs. Forssell died in
California in 1919, shortly after the death of her father. To those who were at
all familiar with the kindly spirit of Dr. Moore it is needless to say that the
home life was largely ideal. As he neared the end of life's journey, recognizing
his condition, he said that he had no regret at the thought of death, save that
he must leave his dear ones. For six months Dr. Moore suffered from pernicious
anemia and then the end came. Of him it was written: "Dr. "Moore was as much a
victim of the great war as though he had gone 'over the top' and paid the
supreme sacrifice 'over there.' High sense of duty unquestionably shortened his
life. When in 1918 the great war drained the Medical School of many of its
teachers, it threw an added burden upon those who were left-a burden which was
doubly difficult to bear when laid upon the shoulders of a man delicate and
along in years. Uncomplainingly he did the work of his 'boys' overseas, doing
his 'bit' and that of the absent ones. The strain, anxiety and overwork hastened
a breakdown made inevitable by his insidious disease. To the many who were
permitted to know Dr. Moore well and to the few who were privileged to be his
intimates, the charm of his personality, his simple manly creed, his love of
justice and fair play, his intolerance of incompetence and sham, his charity for
human weakness and frailty, his keen appraisement of character, his fearless
championship of right, and above all his great human sympathy for those in
trouble or distress-one and all were traits which appealed, and bred love,
respect and deference. For thirty-six years this Nestor of the profession left
his imprint on the medical life of the Northwest; his influence, example and
skill during these years ever helped to blaze the trail, to mould and stimulate
toward the best and highest type of surgery. As a teacher, surgeon, friend, he
was a constant inspiration, his example and life a model to shape the destinies
of his students and inspire the emulation of his fellows."
We are permitted to quote from a personal letter which Dr. Moore wrote to Dr. A.
A. Law, then a major in command of Base Hospital, No. 26, A. E. F., in France.
This indicates so plainly his patriotic feelings in regard to the war and in the
latter part of the letter shows so clearly his feelings for the university with
which he was connected for so many years, and his understanding of his own
conditions, that it is here given. He wrote: "I cannot tell you how delighted I
was to receive your gracious letter. I am also delighted to know that you are
right in the midst of things and enabled to do that for which you joined the
service, so that I am sure you will never regret having joined. I hear your name
mentioned on every hand, both by laymen and medical men, and always with the
greatest pride and enthusiasm. You will be quite a marked man when you return. I
hope you may be preserved and come back to take your place in the university and
in Minneapolis. The university opens October 2d. Every student is in the
military service, and our time is cut to 9:30 in the morning until 4:30 in the
afternoon, with an hour out for mess. Concerning myself I have little to tell
you that is new. After spending five weeks in the hospital, having had three
transfusions, I got enough better to go away; so I made a trip of the Great
Lakes and stopped at Mackinac Island for about a month, having little Margie for
my nurse. Since my return, some five or six weeks ago, I have been at home,
out-of-doors all day long, either on the front porch or in the back yard. Many
friends have taken me out for automobile rides, but I am no longer able to run
my own car. I have been dictating letters and planning the university work for
the next semester, but this is all I can do; I am absolutely unable to do any
teaching whatever. It is a great undertaking to get to the university building;
I have been there very little all summer. I think I am suffering from pernicious
anemia, although there is still a chance for doubt. My blood picture is not
perfect, but my hemoglobin is now about thirty-five, and I am so weak that it is
all I can do to walk from the front porch to the back yard, and getting upstairs
to bed at night is a great undertaking, after which I am thoroughly exhausted. I
fear very much that this is my last call and that I shall not be here to welcome
you on your return. Even if I have P. A. they promise me that I am due to have a
recession and be temporarily very much better. I am waiting for that recession,
but if it does not come very soon it won't find me here, because I .have lost
strength very decidedly during the past month. I suffer no pain, but this awful
weakness is very, very distressing to one who has always been in the habit of
moving off quickly. I am not unhappy; the thought of death gives me no concern
whatever. My regret is that I must leave the dear ones here and that I shall not
be able to welcome you all home again." In reply came the answer: "If, as you
say, the grim old reaper swings his scythe and the sands in your hourglass are
run 'ere I return-if I do return-you will leave behind a happy memory which I
will cherish while I live; the memory that you have been a guiding star, a
beacon light through all the years of my professional life. Your never-failing
courtesy, and your constant understanding, and the omnipresent shoulder upon
which I could lean, have grown into my life and become precious things. Should I
go first, we will say a mental requiem and sound the soldier's call to
slumber-taps! * * * I believe that at some time, some day in happier clime, you
and I will foregather with our loved ones, and do the things we so love to do
together." Dr. Shutter in his funeral oration commented upon this correspondence
as follows: "Such a tribute from one of his 'boys,' as he was wont to call them,
is the most precious memorial we can lay among the flowers upon his casket. And
it was his willingness to part with these boys for the sake of God and humanity
and country, that laid upon his own shoulders heavier burdens than his failing
strength could bear, and hastened the end-making him also a martyr to the cause
of freedom and righteousness and justice! He watched with keen interest the
departure of the soldiers for the struggle beyond the Atlantic; and as he lay
waiting for death, his work done, before 'the weary wheels of life at last stood
still,' he wished that he might linger to see them coming back, bearing the flag
he loved, in triumph. But it was not to be. He had his part and lot in the great
struggle- the men he trained are using his methods in rebuilding the shattered
heroes. They are doing what he would gladly have done, and we may well believe
that, from some higher ground of vantage, he will see the consummation and be
satisfied!"
Dr. Moore's keen interest to the very last was in his profession and in work
done in connection therewith and especially in the Medical School of the State
University. According to the terms of his will the school is made the recipient
of the residue of his estate, following the demise of his wife, and was also to
be given the fine oil painting of the doctor, which was most gladly received by
the school and now hangs in the faculty room in Millard Hall. One of the
greatest of American surgeons wrote of him: "Dr. Moore was a dear friend; a
whole-hearted man- honest, upright and true; a loyal friend, free from petty
jealousies. His memory will be with me during life and his example an
inspiration." And thus, referring to the simile used in the opening paragraph,
Dr. Moore passed on beyond the great heroic figure of time, with the unending
procession of mortals "into the infinite meadows of heaven," leaving behind a
great work accomplished for the good of the world, while his memory is like the
encircling fragrance of the modest woodland flower, loved and cherished if
unseen.