| These
records were compiled by Patricia
Davidson-Peters. She is the great-great
granddaughter of Thomas Anderson Moore who was
born in Scio, Harrison Co., Ohio on 31 October
1838. He
came with his parents James Updegraph Moore and
Rebecca (Cook), in 1847 to Collinsville, Madison
County, Illinois where his Uncle Joseph Moore was
working as a blacksmith making much needed cow
bells for the territory.
By 1860 Thomas had
left Illinois and was living in St. Louis where
he married his young bride, Clarissa VanBergen
Pilcher (1845-1890), the youngest daughter of
Ezekiel Pilcher and Louisa (Ballard).
Shortly after
their marriage, Tom enlisted in the 33rd MO
Infantry Volunteers and was "mortally
wounded" and left for dead at the Battle of Helena on the 4th of July in
1863.
A passing soldier
found a whisper of a breath in him and he was
taken to a Memphis hospital where he
recovered. After several months he returned
to his beloved wife "Clara" in St.
Louis, Missouri where they were the parents of
eight children and spent the remainder of their
lives.
Clarissa
Pilcher-Moore became a homeopathic doctor and
preceded her husband Tom, passing from his world
in 1890. Tom mourned the loss for twenty-five
years. He never remarried, but continued as a
carpenter and Chaplain of the Gen. Lyon Post 2,
Dept of Missouri of the Grand Army of the
Republic.
The Civil War
letters between Tom & Clara, as well as other
important family papers and artifacts, were
donated to the Missouri Historical Society in St.
Louis and are archived in the Thomas Anderson
Moore Collection.
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