Kings County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm



 
FELIX MOORE
 
proprietor of the Hanford Agricultural Works, was born in Birmingham, England, 
in 1840.  He is the third in a family of eleven children, seven of whom were 
sons.  His father, Henry Moore, was manager in the blacksmith department of the 
gun manufacturing establishment of Arthur & Alfred Burrs, and to that trade he 
brought up all of his sons.
            At the age of eleven years Felix Moore began his trade under his 
father�s directions, and worked with him until he was twenty-one years of age.  
When he reached his majority he was married, at Haston Park, near Birmingham, to 
Miss Anna Hacket, and they resided in Birmingham until 1863.  In that year Mr. 
Moore came to America and worked at his trade in Canada about one year.  In 1864 
he went to New York city to meet his wife, and they located at Rome, New York, 
and subsequently in Plano, same State.  Mr. Moore bought an interest in a 
general shop, and remained at the latter place about two years, after which he 
moved to Ottawa, Illinois, and worked for King & Hamilton in the manufacture of 
farm machinery seven years.
            From Illinois Mr. Moore came to California. He first settled in 
Grass Valley, and bought a one-third interest with Moore, Wright & Moore in 
their general shop for repair work and the manufacture of wagons, which business 
relation continued three years.  Mr. Moore then purchased the entire 
establishment, and operated it until 1881, when he sold out and came to Hanford. 
 He worked one year in the repair shop of Barnes & Goble, then as partner 
continued two years, and in 1884 bought the remaining interests, and has since 
done business alone.  He does a general repair business, and has an extensive 
trade in wagons and agricultural implements.  His old shop, 30 x 60 feet, he 
tore down in the spring of 1891, and built his present establishment on Seventh 
street.  His lot is 75 x 150 feet, and his shop covers an area of 30 x 150 feet. 
Attached to this building is a storeroom, 30 x 60 feet, two stories, the second 
floor being nicely fitted up for his residence.  He also rents a storeroom of 
equal capacity for agricultural implements.
            In 1887 Mr. Moore became interested in horses, and bought up all he 
could secure throughout the valley, took them to Los Angeles during the 
real-estate boom and sold them at a handsome profit.  In 1889, with others, Mr. 
Moore secured 240 acres of land in the Coast Range, five miles west of Coalinga, 
and developed fine coal prospects.  In 1890 the California Coal Mining Company 
was incorporated, and the mine is sufficiently developed to be on a paying 
basis.
            Mr. and Mrs. Moore have two children, -- Fred S. and Martha.  Fred 
is engaged in the shop with his father, and has invented a seven-tooth 
cultivator, which is one of the best in the valley, and, as a weed-cutter, is 
very complete.  Mr. Moore has invented a ditch grass-cutter, which is gaining 
great popularity, as it can be used in full ditches, and will do the work of 
twenty men.
 
Memorial and Biographical History of the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern, 
California
Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892  p. 440-441
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler