Jeff Moore (pioneer)

Jeff Moore (pioneer)

Jeff Moore (22 March 1780 – 22 September 1835) was an American pioneer and founder of the town of Russell, Ky. While his pioneering was relatively late in the settlement of the Ohio River Valley area his life exploits make him a memorable if not particularly well known character in the history of the region.

Youth and Early Life

Aside from his birthdate of March 22, 1780 little else is known for fact about his birth and early life. He probably grew up somewhere in the central Pennsylvania farm lands. Known to have been a lifelong illiterate Moore claimed to have heard "wild tales" about the lands to the west he bought a Kentucky Long Rifle and left for what he called his "adventures" sometime in the late 1790's. [The Annals of Northern Kentucky 1800-1850: A Concise Yet Incomplete History 105]

Founding of Russell

After fighting for over a decade in the still ongoing Indian Wars where he claimed to have killed "at least Three Hundred Red-Skins" later retorting "and I counted women as a half, kids only a third and hell-babies was just sport.". [The Annals of Northern Kentucky 1800-1850: A Concise Yet Incomplete History 106] Moore decided to settle down. Finding the Northern Kentucky area to his liking he tried various towns and over a period of five years was run out of nearly fifteen communities over incidents attributed to his hard drinking and extreme, even for the time, Racism. [ [http://history.ky.gov/sub.php?pageid=113&sectionid=3#NA Welcome to the Kentucky Historical Society Web Site ] ]

In early 1823 while traveling through the area that is now Russell, Moore decided upon seeing the area's unique hilly features, that a town built here could be easily fortified and defended against what was his near constant and lifelong fear; "Injun Attack". [ [http://kentuckyhighlands.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=1 Fast Cars ] ] Over the next few months Moore built a large cabin on the highest hill in the area and declared this to be the center of his new town which he subsequently christened Russell-to honor a man he once mistakingly killed in a dispute over "Shine". [The Annals of Northern Kentucky 1800-1850: A Concise Yet Incomplete History 106] After these preparations Moore returned East and gathered what family he could find to return with him and convinced all others possible to join through what was referred to later as a series of "lies, subterfuge and just plain untruths" [The Annals of Northern Kentucky 1800-1850: A Concise Yet Incomplete History 107] about his new community.

Moore eventually returned to his new community in late Spring of 1824 with a group of nearly seventy settlers who with their hard work built Russell into the thriving community it is today. Moore remained in Russell for the rest of his life where he became a valued member of and leader to the town he founded. [ [http://history.ky.gov/sub.php?pageid=113&sectionid=3#NA Welcome to the Kentucky Historical Society Web Site ] ]

Death

Moore died September 22, 1835 after spending five days drifting between a delirious and near comatose state resulting from a severe head injury received September 17th. The most widely accepted explanation of his receiving this injury comes from "The Annals of Northern Kentucky 1800-1850: A Concise Yet Incomplete History"

Concerning the events that lead to the death of Russell town founder Jeff Moore local resident Biddy Harper reported the following that on or around the midnite hour of September 17th she was awakened by what she described as "A ruckus a-coming from around the back of the house" upon going to investigate she reported seeing the following scene "I first saw two men I didn't recognize yelling and carrying on with each other who I surmised from the slur of their speech and seeming little control of their movement were heavily intoxicated. I tried to yell some sense into the two but they were too heavily into the drink to notice me. I gathered from what little speech I could make out the two were fighting over a woman they both wanted to marry. Eventually one man knocked the other to the ground, then he pulled a knife and slashed the man rather deep on the arm yelling "She's mine and don't you forget" then turned to leave seeming satisfied with himself. The other man with his still good arm grabbed a loose fence post and ran up on the other beating him rather severely about the head and then running off into the night"

The "Annals" go onto report that Ms. Harper immediately summoned the town doctor who discovering the victim's identity did all he could to "remedy" the town founder. Eventually the other man was found and identified from his injured arm, he was revealed to be one Thomas Lorry a cousin of Moore and the identity of the woman in dispute was reported as fourteen year old Virginia Godfrey a cousin to both. [The Annals of Northern Kentucky 1800-1850: A Concise Yet Incomplete History 108-109]

Notes

References

*Gooding, Johnathan. "The Annals of Northern Kentucky 1800-1850: A Concise Yet Incomplete History". Originally published 1875
*http://history.ky.gov/sub.php?pageid=113&sectionid=3#NA
*http://kentuckyhighlands.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=1


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