U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Moore, Edwin W. S. (b. 1845) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Prominent Men of West Virginia Author: Geo. W. Atkinson, LL.D. & Alvaro F. Gibbens, A.M. Published by W.L. Callin, Wheeling, W.Va 1890 Pages 827-828, Edwin W. S. Moore (born 1845) EDWIN W. S. MOORE is a tall, portly man, with a broad, high forehead, heavy mustache, large, intelligent eyes, fluent in speech, a well rounded body, and withal a genial, intelligent, energetic, agreeable gentleman. He was born at Fairmont, Virginia, September 17, 1845. His parents were John J. and Eglantine Moore, of Fairfax county, Virginia. They were among the earliest settlers of Middletown, afterwards named Fairmont, Marion county. Edwin attended the schools of East Virginia and of his native town for a number of years, and had special training under the direction of Professor W. R. White, D. D., a teacher of rare attainments, who subsequently served six years as State Superintendent of Public Schools of West Virginia. At the age of seventeen he left school, and learned the trade of printer, which he followed with great earnestness for several years. Before he reached his majority he began the study of law with the Hon. E. B. Hall, who was at that time Attorney General of the State. He went to Wheeling and continued his legal studies in the office of the distinguished attorneys, Stanton & Allison, and was admitted to practice, December 18, 1867. Mr. Moore possesses superior clerical and business qualifications, which, with his splendid penmanship, attracted the attention of business men, while he was a very young man, and was the means of securing him ready employment. During the latter part of the civil war he was Deputy Clerk of the Circuit and Deputy Recorder of Marion county, which positions he filled with great acceptability. After his admission to the Bar, in October, 1868, he was, as a Republican, elected Prosecuting Attorney of his native county, — defeating the Hon. A. Brooks Fleming by a handsome majority; in which office he served the statutory term of two years. He proved himself to be an energetic and successful prosecutor. In 1866 he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the State Senate, and was reappointed to the same position in 1867 and '68. In the extra session of 1868, Mr. Moore was elected Secretary of the State Senate to fill the unexpired term of Hon. Ellery R. Hall, deceased, and was reelected in 1869, '70 and '71, and until the Democrats came into power in the Government of the State. During all this time Mr. Moore was engaged in the active practice of his profession, except when the Legislature was in session. In May, 1878, he was appointed an Examiner of Patents in the Patent Office at Washington, and in April, 1870, he became an Examiner of Pensions in the Pension Office. He remained in this position until January, 1881, when he was made Private Secretary for General Nathan Goff, Secretary of the Navy, and subsequently filled the same position under Secretary Hunt. In January, 1882, he resigned his position in the Navy Department, and accepted the responsible place of Private Secretary of the President of the West Virginia Central Railroad Company, with headquarters at Washington. In April, 1883, he was appointed General Manager of the Coal Department of the company, with headquarters at Baltimore, which position he still holds. November 19, 1884, he was elected Secretary of the company, and November 8, 1886, he was made its Treasurer, and has since held both offices, which he has filled with entire satisfaction to the stockholders and officers of the company. February 23, 1885, Mr. Moore was united in marriage with Miss Katharine W., daughter of Mrs. Mary E. Lee, widow of Captain Wellington S. Lee, who was killed in Tennessee, while serving in an Illinois regiment, during the late war. One child Eglantine Lee Moore, was born to them June 13, 1888. During the early part ot the late war, Mr. Moore, like most of the patriotic boys at that time, felt called upon to volunteer in the army of the United States. Accordingly he ran away from home, and was examined for the service. Being quite young, and in delicate health, his father objected to his enlistment, and caused him to return home. His only military service therefore during the war was as Orderly Sergeant of the Fairmont company of State Militia in the "Jones Raid" in that portion of the State during the early period of the rebellion. Soon after the raid referred to, he was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Militia. In 1876 he was elected and served as Captain of the Davis Light Guards, a well drilled and thoroughly equipped company of State troops. Although required to reside in Baltimore, in the discharge of his duties as Secretary and Treasurer of the West Virginia Central Railroad Company, Captain Moore loves the hills and vales of his native State, West Virginia, and is deeply interested in her prosperity. ---------------------------------------------------------------------