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Headstone of Leavenworth founder dedicated Sunday |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Monday, 14 June 2004 |
By CONNIE PARISH
Though Leavenworth historians have long known about H. Miles Moore's role as a pioneer and one of the founders of the city, most didn't know he had lain in an unmarked grave in Mount Muncie Cemetery since his death in 1909.
It wasn't until 1992 that John Will, a local history buff, discovered on a "cemetery walk" that Moore, his wife and his son had no headstone.
"John just had a fit," his wife, Jean Will, said Sunday. "He thought it was so terrible. I was president of the historical society at the time, but we didn't have money for anything like that.
"The building (the Carroll Mansion) needed repairs. Anyway, after (her husband) died last fall, I was taking donations in his name to Mark (Bureman, administrator of the Leavenworth County Historical Society),"Jean Will said.
"One day we were talking and I said one thing John wanted to do was get H. Miles Moore's grave marked," she said.
WILL'S MEMORY
She called it "just a fluke" she brought it up, but Bureman "jumped on it." The historical society took the donations given in John Will's memory and the board voted to add to it to buy a stone for H. Miles Moore, his wife Linna and their son, Harry.
On June 13, 2004, exactly 150 years after the signing of the incorporation papers for the city of Leavenworth, that gravestone was dedicated. That ceremony marked the culmination of events this weekend for the city's 150th birthday celebration.
Ken Bower, president of the Leavenworth County Historical Society, who welcomed the group gathered under the towering trees near the grave, said they'd planned a "short, dignified memorable occasion" to honor Moore.
MOORE'S DEATH
Moore died in a street accident at Fourth and Delaware streets as the result of a runaway horse just shortly before his 83rd birthday.
"H. Miles Moore was deaf," Jean Will said. "They were shouting but he didn't hear them and he walked out in front of the wagon. The two sticks that come out (of a wagon with a horse), one of them impaled him."
His wife had suffered a stroke, and in fact, Bureman said, was lying in a coma when he died. When she died about three months later, she'd not known of her husband's death.
'HARD TIMES'
Bureman said the man, whose accomplishments have been publicly touted, had "fallen on hard times" at the end of his life. In fact, Vic Young, who operates Mount Muncie, had discovered in research over the past few days that the burial plot was donated for the Moore family. Their son, Harry, who died in 1917, is also buried there.
Hardly anyone knew what Harry had done in his lifetime, but one local historian said Sunday that he'd been a pharmacist, working in a drugstore.
Edward Chapman, whose comments about Moore's significance and career were part of Sunday's ceremony, thanked Bureman for letting them know about the lack of a marker.
'95 YEARS LATE'
"Pardon us for being 95 years late," he apologized to the town founder. He later added, "As a member of the bar, I'm just a little ashamed."
But Jean Will said she was just glad it finally happened.
"If I'd known he was a lawyer, Chappy," she joked, "I'd have called you."
Moore, who was a lawyer in Weston, Mo., in 1854, was one of the 32 original members of the town company that laid out the city of Leavenworth. He served as secretary of the town company, wrote up the agreement, and kept the documents detailing the association's meetings.
Because of this, Bower said, we know that it is because of Moore that the city is named Leavenworth. He read from Moore's "definitive history of the city written for its 50th birthday," that outlines this.
NAMED THE TOWN
According to the minutes, some of the company wanted to call the city "Douglas" for the author of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
"But Mr. Moore opposed that," Bower read from the history, "urging the name of Leavenworth after Fort Leavenworth, claiming it was the handsomest and most desirable location on the Missouri River."
The town company ultimately unanimously adopted his suggestion.
ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER
But that's far from all Moore accomplished. Bureman and Chapman cited highlights of his illustrious career. He was elected a delegate to the Topeka Constitutional Convention and subsequently became the first attorney general under the free-state document. He was later elected as a member of the territorial legislature.
During the Civil War, he served as judge advocate on James H. Lane's staff, and was ultimately appointed captain. After the war, he was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives.
He was Leavenworth's city attorney for many years, serving in that role until his death.
Bureman read from an article in a January 1900 edition of the Leavenworth Advertiser, urging his election as a municipal judge.
The article indicated voters had a chance "to show gratitude to a man who's probably done more to build up Leavenworth and the state of Kansas than any other living man, who has accumulated almost no personal gain."
BLESSINGS ON THE FAMILY
The Rev. Lee Block, rector emeritus of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, where Moore had attended, provided the invocation and benediction at Sunday's ceremony. Leavenworth historian J.H. Johnston III laid the wreath, which was donated by Davis Funeral Chapel.
A reception was held in Moore's honor at the Carroll Mansion.
http://www.leavenworthtimes.com/articles/2004/06/14/news/news02.prt |
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