Luke Pryor Moore
Luke Pryor Moore was 17 years old when his father, Joseph A. Moore, died. He attended Pettusville High School along with his brothers. Not much is known about Luke’s life as a young man. According to Marian Moore Goodrum:
"…. After Luke's mother Susan Elizabeth Bailes died, Joseph Addison (Moore) married again, and my father (Dr. Lawrence Moore, Luke’s oldest son) stated in his autobiography that the stepmother didn't care much for Luke and the others. Luke lived with first one relative then another till finally he went to work for one of the richer Yarbroughs who had a big spread down below Athens, Alabama. The Yarbrough's had land, mills, and ex-slaves. Across the road from this spread lived James Archie Yarbrough and a house full of kids. Luke would go over there and play games with the boys. He later married the older girl, Laura Briggs Yarbrough. My dad romantically recalls this story of another "Rachael" from the Bible, in which Jacob worked for her father for seven years.”
Luke’s inheritance - There is a disbursement sheet(s) in the 1890's probate records of Limestone County, Alabama listing all the known heirs of Anthony Phillips who died in Limestone Co., AL on February 12, 1840. Why the estate was settled so long after his death is not known, probably because he had died intestate, leaving no will (a good example of importance of proper estate planning) which required the Court to track down all living relatives, and because the Civil War broke out in 1860 and that with the resulting turmoil relating to Reconstruction, the estate may not have been able to be properly proportioned and allocated until after Reconstruction. Anthony was born ca 1754 in Lunenburg Co., Va., was the son of John Phillips and Mary Unknown. He married Lillian Buford in 1779 in Lunenburg Co., Va. He was probably Luke’s great grandfather, the father of Luke’s grandmother, Mary Easly Phillips Moore. More than 100 individuals were named in Anthony Phillips estate settlement. There is also a separate document in the estate file listing the amount each person received and often times a township for those heirs who did not live in Limestone Co., listed were "Emmett Moore, Lizzie Boles Moore, Lucy Moore, Luke Moore, Stith Moore, Walter Pettus Moore. Also listed was Ben Hyde, Dr. Lem H. Hyde, Lucinda Hyde, George Malone, H. B. Malone, Bill Bale, Martha Tucker Bales, William Bales, Margaret Tucker Yarbrough, John T. Yarbrough, Margaret M. Yarbrough”...along with many Phillips.
With Luke being the recipient of an inheritance at this time in his life, may have given him the financial resources and the status as an owner of property or other assets to qualify as a suitor for a bride. Many young men of that era worked for years in order to accumulate a suitable dowry. Luke was just less than 21 years old when he married Laura Briggs Yarbrough. She was also from Limestone County and was about the same age as Luke. They may have known each other in school or they may have met as described in Dr. Lawrence Moore’s autobiography above. After they married, they lived there in the area and started a family. Lawrence Henry Moore, born: November 03, 1891, Thomas Yarbrough, born: July 07, 1894 and Joseph Addison Moore II (named after Luke’s father), born: February 06, 1898.
Sometime around 1900 Luke, Laura and their three young sons moved to Franklin County, Texas. According to Marjorie Moore Shaefer: As to how Luke and Laura got to Franklin County, granddad (Dr. Lawrence H. Moore, the oldest son of Luke and Laura) once told me that they came in a boxcar on an "immigrant train". He said the whole family, all their belongings were at one end of the boxcar, and the livestock at the other. He said, "They even brought the chickens!"
Lawrence would have undoubtedly remembered the trip, as he would have been at least 8 to 10 years of age or even older. Luke must have had some financial resources since he was in a position to acquire land sometime after they arrived in Texas. Land deed and abstract records show that Luke bought 120 acres in north Franklin County which today is known as the Moore Family Homeplace and is still in the family, primarily owned and operated by Dewey Malone Moore.
Laura’s sister Mattie Yarbrough had married Raymond McAdams and Lizzie Yarbrough married a Johnston who had a son Wayne Johnson. (Dewey knew Wayne as a classmate at Mt.Vernon High School.) They and (need help here…with the Yarbrough’s who moved to Texas, etc…..) had moved to Texas several years earlier and undoubtedly had written to Luke and Laura to tell them about the blackland prairie and rich bottom land along the Sulphur River. (More to come….. raising a family of their own…. establishment of the Moore Homeplace, etc….)
After settling in Franklin County, Texas, Luke and Laura had three more children; John Hoffman Moore, born: October 15, 1904 in Laws, Franklin Co., Texas; Elizabeth Moore, born: December 03, 1906 Franklin Co., Texas; and Emmett Malone Moore, who was the last child born to them on October 27, 1909 in Franklin Co., Texas.
(More to come……..)
Acknowledgements to:
The late Marian Moore Goodrum
Melinda Moore Kaufman
Marjorie Moore Shaefer
And others unnamed.
Thank you for the research and compilation of this valuable information on the Moore Family. “If not now, when?….” If we do not make a record now, the memory of our family, our vision and our values may be lost forever.”
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