Moorew
Transcribed from "History of North Washington, an illustrated history
of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties", published by Western
Historical Publishing Co., 1904.
WILLIAM B. MOORE settled in Chelan
some two years since and has devoted himself to prospecting and mining,
being one of the leading men in this line in the lake district. He
was born in Cecil county, Maryland, on January 31, 1845, the son of Walter
and Eliza A. (White) Moore, natives of Pennsylvania. The father was
a prominent physician, being surgeon of the B. & 0 railroad.
On account of his abolitionist principles he was forced to flee from West
Virginia, and the railroad company sent a train and rescued his family.
He was a strong Republican and died in 1900. The mother died in Smithfield,
Ohio, in 1874. Her ancestors had dwelt in Pennsylvania for many generations.
Our subject was reared in Virginia until he was sixteen and then went with
the family to Ohio, where he enlisted in the Seventeenth Ohio Infantry,
serving from September, 1861, to July, 1865. He participated in the
battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Perrysville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary
Ridge, Siege of Atlanta, and was with Sherman to the sea. Following
the war he engaged as sutler for the Twenty-fourth United States Infantry
at Vicksburg and Galveston, until the spring of 1868. Then he sold
out and invested in cattle, taking them to Idaho. Disposing of them,
he went to Colorado and mined. Since then he has devoted himself
to mining and has operated in Arizona, Nevada, and in 1882, with a party
of ten, went to Alaska and located the first claim on the Forty Mile creek.
During the summer he event down the river and took steamer to San Francisco.
Later he came to Stevens county, of this state, and in 1901, came thence
to Chelan, where he has been residing since. Mr. Moore has one brother,
James W., mining superintendent in Leadville.
On December 25, 1877, Mr. Moore married Miss
Mary G., daughter of William and Pauline (Roland) Phillips, natives of
England and Illinois, respectively. The father crossed the plains
to California in 1849, later located at Salem, Oregon, as a tinsmith and
finally went into the hardware business there. In 1860 he went to
Walla Walla and engaged in business and when he died in 1873, he left a
fortune of two hundred thousand dollars. The mother is now dwelling
in Douglas county. Mrs. Moore has the following brothers and sisters,
Charles, Frank, Ned, Esther, Alice Goldman. To Mr. and Mrs. Moore
one child has been born, Virginia, aged twelve. Mr. Moore is a member
of the G. A. R. in Chelan. He and his wife are estimable people and
he is to be credited with excellent effort in developing and improving
the country.