The Isaac Moore Family

Isaac Moore (1801-1885) was born in Washington Township, York County, State of Pennsylvania, of German born emigrants. In 1833 he joined a group of pioneers and sailed down the Ohio River to Portsmouth. From there he made his way via the Ohio and Erie Canal to the Black Swamp in Sandusky County, Ohio. On March 2, 1834, he married Barbara Overmyer (1809-1889) and in 1849 they cleared and settled on an 80 acre farm in Washington Township, Henry County, and built a small log cabin in the center of it.

Isaac received a deed from the United States Government in 1849 signed by Z. Taylor, President, under a Bounty Land Grant. This original deed and all subsequent deeds remain in the possession of Donald Moore, present owner of the farm.

Isaac was not only a successful farmer but he was also a county surveyor, a school master, and a carpenter and excellent cabinet maker. A corner cupboard he built out of native wild cherry dominates a corner of the Don Moore dining room today.

Isaac and Barbara were the parents of George Washington, Catherine (Mrs. Cyrus Murdock, Mary (Mrs. H. Hildebrand, after his death she married Henry Helsel), John, Daniel (who became a well known circuit riding preacher), Simon, and Israel.

Their youngest son, Israel (18051937) was married Oct. 10, 1875, to Emily Henricks (1859-1929). In 1880 he purchased the farm from his parents. Acreage on the deed is 79 acres since one acre had been given by Isaac to Washington Twp. to be used as a burial plot. This is the present Mohler and Union Cemetery, so named for Isaac's brother-in-law, first person buried there, and Union, Pennsylvania, Isaac's birthplace.

By this time a small house had been built along what is now County Road6. Then later another house was built a short distance north, and a few years later an addition was built on this.

Israel and Emily were the parents of George (1879-1952), Barbara Estella (Mrs. Fred Lieb, 1881-1974), Orie (Mrs. Charles Barlow, 1882-), Clarence (1886-1960), Jacob (1888-1890), Stanford (1892-), Millard (1899-1958), and Marcella (1902-1911). With the exception of B. Estella all of these children were Washington Twp. farmers. Estella and her husband owned a farm in southern Henry County near Hamler.

Orie, now 92, and Stanford, now 83, both live near Liberty Center in Washington Twp.

When their youngest son, Millard, married Israel and Emily moved back down into the little house. Israel lived there until it burned. He then made his home with Millard until he died at the age of 88.

In 1918 Millard was married to Mina Smith. He was a farmer and carpenter, specializing in building barns, and fell to his death in 1958 at the age of 59.

He purchased the Old Homestead from his father on Jan. 21, 1933; and he and Mina were the parents of: Robert (1919-), Alice (Mrs. Raymond Hill, 1922-), Estella (Mrs. Lloyd Miller, 1924-), Mildred (Mrs. Gilbert DeLong, 1926-), Herbert (1928-), Iva (Mrs. John Cymbola, 1930-), James (1932-), Russell (1934-), Royce Richard (1936-37), Donald (1940-), and Marjorie (Mrs. Charles Sunior, 1943-).

All of these children live in or within five miles of Liberty Center with the exception of Russell (Delta) and Mildred (whose husband is a Minister now serving in Pioneer, Ohio).

Mina held the deed to the farm from 1959 to 1964. In 1961 her youngest son, Donald, married Joyce Rice; and Mina moved down into a small house built in 1953 on the same site as the original small house. Don and Joyce took up residence in the big house and in 1964 purchased the farm from his mother.

Don has completely remodeled the big house throughout and has added a large double garage onto it; and he has followed the tradition of his predecessors by doing the work himself. He is the father of three girls: Cheryl (1962), Debbie (1963), and Teresa (1971).

The Isaac Moore Homestead has remained in the same family for four generations or 126 years. Except for the few years when Mina Moore held the deed, the youngest son in each generation was born on, owned, farmed, and lived his whole life on it.

Submitted by Mildred DeLong