David Moore Biogrpahy


	This biography appears on pages 1426-1427 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	DAVID MOORE, one of the sterling citizens of Stanley county, and 
who was prominently concerned in the organization of the county and also 
of the present county seat, the city of Fort Pierre, is a native of the 
state of Indiana, having been born on a farm in Washington township, 
Clay county, on the 18th of September, 1838, and being a son of Levi and 
Indiann (Slaver) Moore, the former of whom was born in Kentucky and the 
latter in Indiana, while both were descended from staunch old Irish 
stock. Mrs. Moore was the first white child born in the old fort at 
Terre Haute, Indiana, during the war of 1812. The Moore family was early 
established in America, and the records show that the paternal 
grandparents and great-grandfather of the subject were born in 
Pennsylvania, while the great-grandfather, the grandfather and two 
brothers of the former were valiant soldiers in the Continental line 
during the war of the Revolution, serving during the greater portion of 
the time under General Washington. The maternal great-grandparents of 
the Judge were born in Ireland, and the maternal grandfather was a 
soldier in the war of 1812. Levi and Indiann Moore continued to reside 
in Indiana until about 1855, when they removed to Tazewell county, 
Illinois, where they passed the remainder of their long and useful 
lives, having become the parents of nine children, of whom five are now 
living, the subject having been the third in order of birth. Levi Moore 
devoted the greater portion of his life to agricultural pursuits, and 
was a man of strong individuality and sterling integrity of character. 
He died in 1886 and his wife in 1865. 

	David Moore was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm, and 
received his early educational training in the common schools of Indiana 
and Illinois, having been seventeen years of age at the time of his 
parents' removal to the latter state. After his school days he continued 
to be identified with farming until there came the call to higher duty, 
as the integrity of the nation was menaced by armed rebellion. On the 
1st of August, 1862, at Bloomington, Illinois, he enlisted as a private 
in Company H, Ninety-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, being appointed 
fourth sergeant of his company at the time of its organization, while on 
the 1st of January, 1863, he was promoted second lieutenant, which 
office he held until January 5, 1864, when he was made captain of his 
company, serving as such until the regiment was mustered out, at 
Galveston, Texas, in July, 1865, while he received his honorable 
discharge at Galveston, in July, 1865. His command was assigned to the 
Army of the Frontier in 1863 and was assigned to the Department of the 
Gulf and was in that department until the end of the war, participating 
in many important engagements, among the more notable of which may be 
mentioned the following: Siege of Vicksburg, Yazoo City, siege and 
capture of Fort Morgan, Alabama, Spanish Fort, Alabama, and other severe 
battles. 

	After the close of his long and faithful military service Judge 
Moore returned to McLain county, Illinois, where he resumed his active 
identification with the great basic industry of agriculture, to which, 
it may be said, he continued to devote his attention until 1890. He 
first located in Hand county in 1883, and in 1884 located in Hyde 
county, where he took up a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of 
government land and engaged in farming. In April, 1887, he was appointed 
postmaster at Highmore, that county, and remained incumbent of this 
position until April, 1889, in the meanwhile continuing to supervise his 
farming interests. He resigned the office at the time noted and removed 
to Fort Pierre, where he aided in organizing Stanley county, in 1889, 
and the city of which he was a resident, in the spring of 1890, being 
elected its first police justice. It should be stated that he had held 
various minor offices while a resident of McLain county, and the 
appreciation of his ability in a popular way has led to his being called 
to office at all times, as he has never been an active seeker of the 
same. In the general election of November, 1892, he was elected county 
judge of Stanley county, serving two years, and in 1896 he served as 
state's attorney of the county, making an excellent record as a public 
prosecutor. In November, 1902, he was again elected to the county bench, 
for a term of two years, so that he is in tenure of this responsible 
position at the time of this writing. 

	Judge Moore has ever been a staunch adherent of the Democratic 
party, in whose cause he has taken a lively interest at all times. He 
cast his first presidential vote for Stephen A. Douglas, in 1860, and 
has voted for every Democratic presidential candidate since that time 
with the exception, of General George B. McClellan, in 1864, having been 
denied the franchise at that time by reason of being absent from home as 
a soldier. Fraternally he is affiliated with John A. Dix Post, No. 30, 
Grand Army of the Republic, at Highmore, this state, and retains an 
abiding interest in his old comrades in arms. 

	On the 11th of October, 1867, Judge Moore was united in marriage 
to Miss Elizabeth Lowery, who was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, on the 
3d of February, 1840, being a daughter of William and Martha Ann (McCoy) 
Lowery, and the names of the children of Judge and Mrs. Moore are as 
follows: Levi A., Laura A., John W., Ethel M., Albert L., Alice B. and 
David L. Laura Ann is the wife of J. F. Comstock, sub-agent at the White 
Horse Indian camp. Mrs. Comstock is field matron of the Cheyenne Indian 
agency and is also past grand chief of the Degree of Honor of South 
Dakota. Ethel May is the wife of F. W. Hurigate, who is engaged in the 
real-estate business. Alice Belle is the wife of F. J. McGraw, a 
stockman of Ft. Pierre, South Dakota.