Thomas H. Moore Biography


	This biography appears on pages 946-949 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				THOMAS H. MOORE. 

	Thomas H. Moore is engaged in the collection business and has 
proved very successful in collecting outstanding accounts that but for 
his efforts would have remained unpaid. He is also United States 
commissioner and county commissioner of Lawrence county, dividing his 
time between his business affairs and his official duties and finding 
that he has but little leisure. As industry has characterized him 
through life, he finds pleasure in doing well the task at hand. 

	Mr. Moore was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on the 4th of April, 
1848, a son of James G. and Mary Ewing (Hiter) Moore. The father was 
born in Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, and the mother in Franklin, 
Williamson county, Tennessee. The former came to the United States when 
nineteen years of age and for a number of years resided in Pennsylvania 
but subsequently removed to Nashville. In 1846 he became a naturalized 
citizen of the United States. He was a manufacturer of harness and 
saddlery and supplied the Confederate troops with a portion of their 
equipment. In 1877 he passed away, having survived his wife for many 
years. The latter's family were well known and her grandfather, Colonel 
Thomas McCrory, served in the Revolutionary war. He was born in Ireland 
but emigrated to North Carolina in colonial days. Members of the family 
participated in all the subsequent wars and were prominent in public 
affairs. 

	Thomas H. Moore was reared in Nashville and received his early 
education there. From 1863 to 1865 he attended Notre Dame University at 
Notre Dame, Indiana, after which he returned to Nashville and became a 
clerk in a hardware store when sixteen years of age. He continued with 
that concern until 1879, in which year he removed to Lead and had 
charge of the hardware department of the Thomas James store, now the 
Hearst Mercantile Company, until 1881. In the last named year he 
removed to Terraville, near Lead, and acted in tile capacity of 
timekeeper for the Deadwood Terra Mining Company until 1883. He then 
became manager of the George Hearst store and so continued until the 
spring of 1886. The following year he removed to Sundance, Wyoming, and 
engaged in the grocery business there until 1892. In the intervening 
years he was chief chairman of the board of county commissioners of 
Crook county, for two years was county treasurer and for the same 
period of time deputy county treasurer. 

	In 1897 Mr. Moore returned to Lead and engaged in the furniture 
business for two years. At the expiration of that period he entered the 
employ of the Homestake Mining Company and was connected with that 
concern for five years. In 1904 he became associated with the Lead-
Deadwood Gas Light & Fuel Company and for a year had charge of their 
Deadwood office, after which he was manager of the Lead office for two 
years. In 1907 he was elected police judge of Lead and served until 
1910, holding the office during the serious labor troubles that 
occurred at that time. In 1911 he established his present business, 
that of a collection agency, in which he has proven very successful. He 
is persistent and uses excellent judgment in his dealings with people, 
adapting his methods of procedure to conditions of the case in hand. In 
1908 he was appointed United States commissioner for South Dakota and 
is still serving in that capacity. In the fall of 1913 he was appointed 
county commissioner of Lawrence county to fill a vacancy and was later 
elected to that position. 

	On the 19th of September, 1873, Mr. Moore was united in marriage 
to Miss Elizabeth R. Driver, also a native of Nashville, Tennessee, and 
a daughter of Captain Driver, who named the American flag Old Glory. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Moore were born three children: Sadie M., the wife of Dr. 
John H. Graham, of Lincoln, Nebraska; Van Dyk, who was accidentally 
killed in Colorado in 1910 when thirty years of age; and Elizabeth D., 
who married Lee B. Dougan, of Terraville, South Dakota, where he is 
superintendent of the cyanide plant of the Mogul Mining Company. 

	Mr. Moore is a republican and has always been active in politics. 
In 1890, during his residence in Wyoming, he was a member of the 
constitutional convention held at Cheyenne. He is a member of the board 
of education of Lead, representing independent district No. 6. 
Fraternally he is a member of Golden Star Lodge, No. 9, A. F. & A. M., 
of Lead, of which he is secretary; Golden Belt Chapter, No. 35, R. A. 
M.; Black Hills Council, No. 3, R. & S. M.; Lead Commandery, No. 18, K. 
T., in which he is recorder; and Naja Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of 
Deadwood; and he also belongs to the South Dakota Masonic Veterans 
Association. Mr. Moore has gained financial independence and is known 
as one of the representative business men of his city, being also held 
in high esteem for his many admirable traits of character