John Trotwood Moore
John Trotwood Moore | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | John Moore, Jr. August 26, 1858 Marion, Alabama,U.S. |
| Died | May 10, 1929 (aged 70) Nashville, Tennessee,U.S. |
| Resting place | Mount Olivet Cemetery |
| Alma mater | Howard College |
| Occupations |
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| Spouses |
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| Children | 1 son (Merrill Moore), 2 daughters |
| Parent(s) | John Moore Emily Moore |
| Relatives | Whitefoord Russell Cole(son-in-law's father) |
John Trotwood Moore(1858–1929) was an American journalist, writer and local historian. He was the author of many poems, short stories and novels. He served as theState Librarian and ArchivistofTennesseefrom 1919 to 1929. He createdMoore Academyin Pine Apple, Alabama in 1883. He was "an apologist for theOld South",[1]and a proponent oflynching.
Early life
[edit]John Moore Jr., was born on August 26, 1858, inMarion, Alabama.[2]He was ofScotch-Irish descent.[1]His father, John Moore, was a lawyer andConfederateveteran.[1]His mother was named Emily.[3]He had a sister, who later married a professor[who?]atVanderbilt University.[1]
Moore graduated from Howard College, now known asSamford University,where he studied the classics, and was a member of theSigma Chi Fraternity.[3]While in college, he wroteThe Howard College Magazine.[3]Later, heread lawwithHilary A. Herbert.[1]
Career
[edit]Moore started his career as a journalist forThe Marion Commonwealth,a newspaper in Marion, Alabama.[3]He was a schoolteacher in Monterey,Butler County, Alabama,and a school principal inPine Apple, Alabama,in the early 1880s.[1]
Moore became a columnist forClark's Horse Reviewin 1885.[3]He took the penname of "Trotwood" afterBetsey Trotwood,a character inCharles Dickens'sDavid Copperfield.[4]His column, called "Pacing Department", included short stories, poems and local histories. In 1897, Moore decided to publish a collection of his columns, entitledSongs and Stories from Tennessee.Four years later, in 1901, he published his first novelA Summer Hymnal.[3]Over the years, Moore published several other novels.
Moore foundedTrotwood's Monthly,an agrarian magazine, in 1905. A year later, as it merged withRobert Love Taylor's magazine, it became known as theTaylor-Trotwood Magazine.Moore was the chief writer and editor. The magazine was discontinued in 1910.[3]Meanwhile, he was the author of historical sketches onAndrew Jackson,Andrew Johnson,James K. PolkandSam Houston.[5]He was also a contributor toThe Saturday Evening Post.[5]
Moore was "an apologist for the Old South."[1]Labeled a "local colorist",[6]Moore's fiction typically included African Americans, horses, Native Americans, bluegrass, and Tennessee culture.[7]The main repeating character in his stories, Old Wash, was compared to theUncle Remuscharacter created by his contemporary,Joel Chandler Harris.[6]Moore was contemptuous of low-class whites and criticizedThomas Dixonfor writing sensationalist novels.[6]
Moore was openlyracist.[1][3]His racist ideas were reinforced by his readingJoseph Widney's 1907Race Life of the Aryan Peoples,a book recommended to him byTheodore Roosevelt,which Moore proceeded to review favorably.[1]He was a defender of theKu Klux Klanand a proponent oflynching.[1]Additionally, Moore wasfrancophobicfor racist reasons, lambasting the French for "intermarrying with theIndiansand treating them as equals "during theFrench colonization of the Americas.[1]
Moore was appointed as the State Librarian and Archivist for Tennessee by GovernorAlbert H. Robertsin March 1919.[2][8]He was recommended by businessmanJames Erwin Caldwell.[1]He served in this capacity until 1929.[3]He was invited to give a speech at the dedication of a bronze plaque in honor of PresidentJefferson DavisatSt. John's Episcopal ChurchinMontgomery, Alabama,in May 1925.[1]
Personal life
[edit]Moore married Florence W. Allen in February 1885.[3]They resided inColumbia, Tennessee,where they raisedTennessee Pacerson their farm.[3]After his first wife died in 1896, Moore married Mary Brown Daniel on June 13, 1900.[3]They had a son, and two daughters.[3]They resided in SouthNashville, Tennessee,where they organizedpossumhunts and literary gatherings.[1]
Moore wasPresbyterian.[1]
Death and legacy
[edit]Moore died on May 10, 1929, in Nashville.[3][5]The governor of Tennessee ordered state offices closed and flags to fly at half-mast. He was also one of the honorary pallbearers, along with four past governors. The actual pallbearers wereAfrican Americansclad in Confederate grey.[1]He was buried at theMount Olivet Cemetery.[3]
After his death, his widow was appointed State Librarian and Archivist for Tennessee.[2][8]She served in this capacity until 1949.[2][8]Meanwhile, their son,Merrill Moore,became a poet and member of a circle of writers known as "The Fugitives",who were partly inspired by Moore's own writing.[1]One of his daughters, Helen Lane Moore, married Whitefoord Russell Cole Jr., the son of railroad executiveWhitefoord Russell Cole.[9]
In 2019, the plaque that Moore dedicated to Jefferson Davis at a church in 1925 was moved to the church's archives. The pastor cited Moore's involvement as one of the reasons for the removal.[10]
Bibliography
[edit]- Moore, John Trotwood (1897).Songs and Stories from Tennessee.Chicago: J.C. Bauer.OCLC7537055.
- Moore, John Trotwood (1901).A Summer Hymnal: A Romance of Tennessee.Philadelphia: H.T. Coates & Co.OCLC1543424.
- Moore, John Trotwood (1906).The Bishop of Cottontown: A Story of the Southern Cotton Mills.Philadelphia: J.C. Winston Co.OCLC2175994.
- Moore, John Trotwood (1910).Uncle Wash: His Story.Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co.OCLC2043887.
- Moore, John Trotwood (1911).The Gift of the Grass: Being the Autobiography of a Famous Racing Horse.Boston: Little, Brown, and Co.OCLC5433142.
- Moore, John Trotwood (1925).Ole Mistis, and Other Songs and Stories from Tennessee.Nashville, Tennessee: Cokesbury Press.OCLC1524848.
- Moore, John Trotwood (1925).Jack Ballington, Forester.Nashville, Tennessee: Cokesbury Press.OCLC4585276.
- Moore, John Trotwood (1926).Hearts of Hickory: A Story of Andrew Jackson and the War of 1812.Nashville, Tennessee: Cokesbury Press.OCLC1178990.
- Moore, John Trotwood (1926).Tom's Last Forage.Nashville, Tennessee: Cokesbury Press.OCLC7865046.
Further reading
[edit]- Green, Claud Bethune (1957).John Trotwood Moore: Tennessee Man of Letters.Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press.OCLC3377255.
References
[edit]- ^abcdefghijklmnopqBailey, Fred Arthur (Spring 1999). "John Trotwood Moore and the Patrician Cult of the New South".Tennessee Historical Quarterly.58(1): 16–33.JSTOR42627447.
- ^abcdThweatt, John H. (December 25, 2009)."John Trotwood (1858-1929) and Mary Daniel Moore (1875-1957)".The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture.University of Tennessee Pressand Tennessee Historical Society.RetrievedDecember 23,2015.
- ^abcdefghijklmnoHancock, Sandra G. (September 1, 2009)."John Trotwood Moore (aka Betsy Trotwood, Trotwood)".Encyclopedia of Alabama.Alabama Humanities Foundation.RetrievedDecember 23,2015.
- ^"Pen Sketch of John Trotwood Moore".The Tennessean.Nashville, Tennessee. June 23, 1907. p. 17.RetrievedDecember 23,2015– viaNewspapers.
- ^abc"Noted Tennessee Historian is Dead".The Anniston Star.Anniston, Alabama. May 10, 1929. p. 1.RetrievedDecember 23,2015– viaNewspapers.
- ^abcGreen pp.82-84
- ^Green, Claud Bethune (1957).John Trotwood Moore: Tennessee Man of Letters.Athens: University of Georgia Press.p.34
- ^abcThweatt, John H. (Fall 1991). "The Archival Tradition in Tennessee—the Moore Years".Tennessee Historical Quarterly.50(3): 152–156.JSTOR42626953.
- ^"HEAD OF ROAD SUCCUMBS IN PRIVATE CAR. Business Leader Was Returning to Louisville From Nashville. CHIEF OF LINE 8 YEARS. Porter Stops Train, Calls Doctor, Who Finds Executive Dead".The Courier-Journal.Louisville, Kentucky. November 18, 1934. p. 2.RetrievedOctober 25,2017– viaNewspapers.
- ^Lennox, Tim (February 9, 2019)."Montgomery's St. John's Episcopal Puts" Jeff Davis "Pew in Storage".Alabama News.
External links
[edit]| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
- 1858 births
- 1929 deaths
- American people of Scotch-Irish descent
- People from Marion, Alabama
- People from Columbia, Tennessee
- Writers from Nashville, Tennessee
- Samford University alumni
- Novelists from Tennessee
- American male journalists
- American columnists
- 19th-century American historians
- American male short story writers
- American male novelists
- American male poets
- American Presbyterians
- 19th-century American short story writers
- 20th-century American short story writers
- 19th-century American male writers
- Writers of American Southern literature
- American pro-lynching activists
- Horse breeders
- 20th-century American male writers
- 20th-century American non-fiction writers