Stephen Moore
Stephen Moore is the son of Thomas and Comfort (Perkins) Moore, and grandson of Capt. Samuel Moore, who was twice married and had a family of 10 children. He was a native of, and resided in Canterbury, where his father was town clerk. He held a commission as Capt. under King George III but when the revolutionary struggle began he resigned his commission, and, casting his fortunes with the colonies, fought during the war on the American side. He died just before Independence was established, and his son Thomas, then a lad of 15, was bound out to a farmer at old Hampton, but, becoming dissatisfied with his new home, and fired with the martial spirit of the times, he ran away and enlisted in the army, serving about six months.
Capt. Samuel was by occupation a farmer and inn keeper. He kept the hostelry known for many years as the McCrillis Tavern,. About a mile south of Canterbury Center.
Thomas Moore was brought up on a farm, to the time of his father's death. In 1785 he began improving the tract of land, in which is now the town of Loudon, where he subsequently made his home. Jan. 11, 1787, he married Comfort Perkins, and, having previously built a small house on his Loudon land, the young couple at once went there and began housekeeping, and there the remainder of their lives were passed. The part of Loudon in which he located was an unbroken forest; he was the first settler in that part of town.
He was, by natural gifts, a bright, intelligent man, but had no educational advantages in his youth. When, in after years, he had gathered a little property around him, and had a child large enough to receive instruction, he and a neighbor named Wheeler hired a private tutor to come to their homes, who, spending his time alternately between the two houses, taught both parents and children. Thomas Moore was always a friend of education, and when the town began to appropriate money for school purposes, but had as yet no school building, he tended the use of his dwelling, and the school was kept in summer time in his barn, and and the winter months in his residence. He was one of the committee who first districted the town for school purposes, and he held various minor offices in the town. His family consisted of nine children, seven of whom reached maturity, viz:
Polly, died unmarried.
Samuel, Mary Charlotte Foster, of Canterbury, and had one child, now Mrs. Kate Rowe, of Rochester, New York.
Joanna, died unmarried.
Alexander, married Mary Page, of New Hampton; had a family of several children, who grew up to maturity.
Stephen, subject of this sketch.
Sophronia, married Jacob A. Potter, of Concord, and had a family of four children.
Comfort, married William A. W. Neal, of Concord, and had one son.
Thomas, died young.
Myra, married Joseph and Wadleigh, of Loudon, and had four children.
Of these nine children of Thomas and Comfort Moore, Stephen is the only one now (1885) surviving.
Thomas Moore was an industrious and enterprising farmer, and did much toward improving the tract of land on which he had made his home. In religious belief he was a Congregationalist, and his wife was a Free -- Will Baptist.
Stephen Moore, like others of his time and locality, had very limited advantages in the way of schooling. Brought up on the farm, he worked hard in his boyhood, but improved what little time he had for study as best he could, studying nights and at leisure times, and thus obtained a fair English education. Upon his father's decease the property was divided among seven children, but Stephen purchased the interest, from time to time, of the other heirs, until he finally became the possessor or of the home farm and adjacent wild lands, and here, for more than half a century, he toiled and labored and reared a family of children. Like his father, he was hearty, industrious and frugal, and he gradually improved the farm and buildings thereon, and gathered property around him, until he became in very comfortable circumstances, and was the proprietor of one of the best kept farms in his town.
In April, 1809, the barn, home farm of Thomas Moore was burned, together with four oxen, four cows, 10 tons of hay and farming implements. Supposed to be the work of an incendiary. There was no insurance.
The estem in which Mr. Moore was held by his neighbors was evidenced by numerous small presents, such as lumber, labor, etc.; also a cow given by the Shakers. Within six weeks after his barn was burned, he, with the help of his neighbors, had taken from the woods the lumber, and built the barn which at present stands there. He also built a shed and carriage house connected with the barn, and dug a well. In 1822 -- 23, Samuel, Alexander and Stephen Moore erected a sawmill on a small stream running through as the home farm, for the purpose of sawing their own lumber. A few years later the mill came into the possession of Stephen. Samuel and Stephen also bought and used the first shingle mill which was brought into the town. It cost, with right to use the same, one hundred and fourty dollars. The use it 20 years.
In 1840, Stephen Moore dug a well 50 rods from the building, laid pipes and brought the water to his house and barn. He also builds a small barn, 30 by 36 feet, for sheep, or the northeast side of the large barn. In 1848 he built an ell to the dwelling house, 40 by 20 feet, consisting of kitchen, pantry and wood shed. In 1850 he divided the large barn in the middle, moved one part back, put in an addition of 20 feet, making it 76 544 feet. He also built a shed, 30 by 16 feet, connected with the small barn. In 1858 -- 51 he raised 650 bushels of rye on outtlands, where he had cut wood and timber, and cleared for pasture. In 1860 he sowed four bushels of wheat on two and a half acres of land, and harvested there from a crop of 100 bushels.
In September, 1866, Mr. Moore removed from the home farm to the Village of Loudon Mills, and the homestead came into the possession of his son A. G. Moore, who in 1868, raised the barn and put in a cellar, 76 by 24 feet, with the walls of split granite. In 1869 he built a carriage house and stable, 36 by 26 feet. In 1874 he put new wheels and gearing in the sawmill, and in 1884 he took up the lead pipes laid by his father, Stephen, and in their place laid cement lined iron pipes to the house and barn. He has also continued in various ways to improve the farm, and has been very successful in conducting it.
Stephen Moore married, Jan. 31, 1827, Mary L. daughter of Joseph and Nancy (Wells) Greeley, of Gilmanton, New Hampshire. They had eight children:
Joseph G., born December 12, 1827.
Albert, born February 21, 1831; died in infancy.
Anne Maria, born July 17, 1833; died Sept. 20, 1881
Andrew G., born G. Mary 12, 1836; married Laura A., daughter of Zephaniah and Mary Batchelder; and has one child living.
George L., born March 8, 1838; enlisted in Union Army and died in hospital, Jan. 12, 1864.
Infant son, unnamed, died in infancy.
Mary R., born Sept. 14, 1842; died Oct. 10, 1876.
Caroline A., born Nov. 23, 1848; died Jan. 1, 1852.
Joseph G., married first Mary A. Arlin, and second Anne Nichols. He has five children, all sons, and resides in Dubuque, Iowa, where he is at present engaged in the wood and coal business. He has been, however, for about 30 years, a railroad engineer.
Anne M., married John O. Hobbs, of Deerfield. He removed to Newport, New Hampshire, and was a merchant tailor there to the time of his death. His only child, Ms. Kate Hobbs, graduates from the academy there in the class of 1886.
Mrs. Moore died March 31, 1854. Mr. Moore married, as second wife, Mrs. Mary Berry, widow of Alanson Berry, of Loudon, a daughter of Levi Bean, of Brentwood, New Hampshire. Mr. Moore has given all of his children an academical education, at the various academies of Gilmanton, Pittsfield, Sanbornton and Loudon.
Since Mr. Moore's residence at the Village he has accomplished a work at once unique and interesting. He owned a tract of woodland lying adjacent to the Church in bordering on the Village, which he made overtures to the Village to assist in converting into a cemetery; not meeting with a satisfactory response, he conceived the idea of himself beautifying and adorning the grounds and preparing it for future use as a resting place for the dead. With characteristic energy, he at once set about carrying his plans into execution, and here, toiling day after day, to accomplish his cherished purpose, the last 20 years of his life have been spent. Beginning this enterprise at an age when most men were ready to retire from active life, it is astonishing to see what he has, I unaided and alone, accomplished.
The tract of land selected was, by nature, well adapted to the use to which he had applied it. It is peculiar in its topographical confirmation, there being a deep basin in the center, with level topped ridges surrounding it on three sides, with a slight depression or hollow leading off on the third. It is a beautifully wooded tract, not dense, but nicely distributed over almost the entire surface. This tract consisting of about six acres, Mr. Moore has fenced in with split granite posts, set about 18 inches apart, around three sides of the enclosure and a part of the fourth. The posts stand about three feet and half above ground and about 18 inches under the surface. This fence is to be completed by iron rod traversing the top of the posts and fastened to each, the holes being already drilled for the purpose.
In the valley, in the center of the cemetery, Mr. Moore has leveled off the land and walled the edges of the basin with split granite. In the center of this beautiful little plot is a miniature lake, with water clear as crystal, to which there is no visible inlet or outlet; and in the center of this lake Mr. Moore has constructed a little island and planted it with flowers. He has also constructed a beautiful drive around the park or basin, and built a receiving vault in the hillside, near the entrance to the valley. He has cleared the under brush from most of the tract, and contemplates laying out drives around and through it. In doing this work, Mr. Moore has built to himself a monument that will not only serve to keep imperishable his own memory, but he has prepared a resting place for the generations that will succeed him, credible to himself, ornamental to the town and of service to the community at-large.
Mr. Moore took an active part in building the Congregational Church in Loudon Village and in supplying the same with a bell.. He is a member of the Congregational Society.
He has never been an office seeker, but has preferred the quiet walk of the private citizen. In militia days, before the war, however, he took an interest in military matters and held the rank of Captain.
Through a long life he has been an earnest, honest, industrious, hard-working and successful man. Possessed of a strong physique, he still bids fair to survive many years. He began life prior to the present century, being born June 29, 1799. He has outlived all of his immediate family, and most, if not all, of his schoolmates and boyhood companions. His hearing is defective, but with that exception, his senses are remarkably well preserved, and his general health exceptionally good.

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