Samuel T. Moore papers

Table of Contents

Summary Information

Background note

Scope and content note

Administrative Information

Controlled Access Headings

Collection Inventory

Summary Information

Repository

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Creator

Moore, Samuel T., 1855-

Title

Samuel T. Moore papers

ID

3564

Date

1866-1948

Extent

0.8 Linear feet

Author

Finding aid prepared by Annie Halliday.

Sponsor

Processing made possible by a generous donation from the Young Friends of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Language

English

Abstract

Samuel Thomas Moore was born September 29, 1855, to Mariah Jane Wilson (1811-1886) and Johnston Moore (1807-1870) near Williamsburg, Blair County, Pennsylvania. Early in his life, Moore worked as a store clerk, carpenter, and he would join his father and two of his brothers who were surveyors. He then worked as a railroad car builder, train agent, a rubber stamp salesman, and a stenographer, before becoming a draftsman and surveyor from the 1890s to 1932. On November 18, 1885 he married Anna [Annie] Margaret Swartzell (1858-1935), of Milroy, Pennsylvania. Their two surviving children were Irma Howard Moore (1888-1965) and Mary Theodosia Moore (1890-1979). Moore was a major advocate for the preservation of Greenwood Furnace in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. His name was included in the historical marker on the furnace’s stack number two. Samuel Thomas Moore died on March 31, 1940, in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, at the age of 84. His papers include three boxes with a typed narrative of his life, family photographs, a family tree and history, letters, and a history of Greenwood Furnace. There is also one letterpress volume and a framed cabinet card of Moore from the 1880s.

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Background note

Samuel Thomas Moore was born September 29, 1855, to Mariah Jane Wilson (1811-1886) and Johnston Moore (1807-1870) near Williamsburg, Blair County, Pennsylvania. He then moved with his family to Altoona, Pennsylvania in 1858. Early in his life, Moore worked as a store clerk, carpenter, and he would join his father and two of his brothers who were surveyors. In 1874 he moved to Elmira, New York, with his sister Theodosia and her husband Thomas B. Delo. That year he started work as a railroad car builder for the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Northern Central Railway before working as a train agent for the same line. He lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while working on the mail train that ran between New York City and Pittsburgh until a train accident in 1876, after which he resigned and returned to Elmira. In 1877 he began working as a rubber stamp salesman and then a stenographer. Moore also joined the 26th Separate Company Guards where he eventually became captain. In 1879 he met Anna Margaret Swartzell before moving to Rochester, New York, to work again as a stenographer. On November 18, 1885 he married Anna [Annie] Margaret Swartzell (1858-1935), of Milroy, Pennsylvania, and moved to her home town. Together they had four children but two died in infancy. Their two surviving children were Irma Howard Moore (1888-1965) and Mary Theodosia Moore (1890-1979). In 1890 Moore began working as; justice of the peace, and then in 1894 he was appointed surveyor of Lewiston, Pennsylvania. In 1895 he was elected to county surveyor in Mifflin County. In 1898 he began working for Logan Iron and Steel Company and moved his family near Greenwood Furnace in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. The Moore family then moved back to Milroy in 1901. Moore worked as the chief draftsman in the Pennsylvania State Department of Forests and Waters from 1906 until his retirement in 1932. In 1908 they moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, before settling down in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, in 1914. Moore was a major advocate for the preservation of Greenwood Furnace in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. He attended the dedication ceremony for the furnace on August 8, 1936. His name was included in the historical marker on the furnace’s stack number two. Samuel Thomas Moore died on March 31, 1940, in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, at the age of 84.

Greenwood Furnace was constructed by Francis Rawle, James Hall, William Norris, and Samuel Patton in 1832 in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. These four men also owned Freedom Iron Works, which they sold, along with the furnace, in 1835. After years of changing hands, in 1856 the furnace was run by Freedom Iron Company which then evolved into Logan Steel and Iron Company. The furnace closed in 1904 under the supervision of Samuel Thomas Moore. In 1905 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania acquired Greenwood Furnace. Soon after the state established a tree nursery to aid reforesting land that had been cleared to fuel the iron furnaces or for lumber companies. Greenwood Furnace State Park was established in the 1930s and operates as a state park today.

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Scope and content note

This collection of Samuel T. Moore’s papers include three boxes with a typed narrative of his life, family photographs, a family tree and history, letters, and a history of Greenwood Furnace. His family history and narrative goes back a few generations into the early 1800s. He also includes letters, printed matter, and other ephemera. There is one volume in the collection, a 1905-1906 letterpress book detailing Moore's survey work. The pages are numbered and the volume is only a fourth full. There is also one framed cabinet card photograph of Samuel T. Moore from 1881.

The first box contains personal reminiscences from Samuel Moore. It consists mostly of a typed narrative by Moore of his life, part of a family tree, and some family history. He also broke down his life year-by-year including births, deaths, professional achievements, personal details, and world events. Interspersed throughout are family photographs, portraits, an 1890 sepia photograph of Milroy Opera house, and tintypes. The photographs are usually annotated by Moore with information about who is in the photograph and when the photograph was taken. He also included many photographs of different homes where family members lived over the years in Altoona, Pennsylvania; Milroy, Pennsylvania; and New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. Many of the later photographs were taken by his son in law George W. Davis (1877-1965). He also includes his 1878 stenographer business card, newspaper clippings, and his Department of Forestry chief draftsman card. There are a handful of letters are from his family members including two 1869 letters from father and one of his sisters, Cassandra [Kate] Moore before she passed away in 1918.

The second box is comprised of Samuel T. Moore’s photographs and a typed history of Greenwood Furnace. Moore illustrated a header for each topic related to the furnace including employees, the last blast, and various locations within the park. There are also many photographs included, among them are images of the furnace, employees, Greenwood Lake, cottages, the tree nursery, and a few of 1880s and 1890s photographs. The furnace’s 1936 dedication ceremony is also heavily documented with photographs, a transcription of the plaque, a timeline of the event, and newspaper clippings. There are also a handful of letters written in the 1930s related to the furnace and Moore’s work.

The third box contains a typed Moore family history which includes transcriptions from the family bible of births, deaths, and marriages. There are more images of familial homes and family photographs including a 1860s ambrotype of his sisters. Moore also wrote biographies for certain family members and included newspaper clippings relevant to that person. There is also an 1877 membership certificate for the Knights Templar and three 1948 certificates awarding Irma Davis (Moore’s daughter) a Degree of Flora in New Jersey, Maine, and New Hampshire.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

 Historical Society of Pennsylvania ; 2018.

Access restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Provenance

Purchased, 2009.

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Controlled Access Headings

Corporate Name(s)

• Northern Central Railway Company.
• Pennsylvania. Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey.
• Pennsylvania. Department of Forestry.

Genre(s)

• Family histories

Geographic Name(s)

• Altoona (Pa.)
• Elmira (N.Y.)
• Greenwood Furnace State Park (Pa.)
• Huntingdon County (Pa.)
• Milroy (Pa.)
• New Cumberland (Pa.)

Personal Name(s)

• Moore, Samuel T., 1855-

Subject(s)

• Floods--Pennsylvania--Johnstown (Cambria County).
• Forest nurseries.
• Genealogy.
• Ironwork.
• Land surveys.
• Pennsylvania--Surveys
• Stenographers.
• Surveying.

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Collection Inventory