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Alice Mae Moore
Bettis (1866-1919) MSS 100f The first white child born in Ruby City, Idaho, near Silver City, and the first child born to C. W. and Catherine Moore, Alice Mae entered the world on May 20, 1866. When she was a year and a half old, she caught a bad cold which resulted in a serious loss of hearing. This malady plagued Alice all her life. Her parents took her to New York and other places to seek rectification of her hearing without success. She apparently heard a “ringing in her ears.” As an adult she used a trumpet and could listen well to one person. On August 30, 1894, Alice married Doctor Harry S. Bettis, Boise’s first dentist. Their only child, Laurence Moore Bettis (“Docky”), was born on July 9, 1895, on his grandmother Moore’s birthday. Docky said his mother was a good woman who showed her love through cooking. Although his father was very outgoing, his mother was retiring, especially in comparison to her dominant sister, Laura. Docky thought people tried to bilk his mother out of money through her vulnerability to get help for her hearing problem. She apparently paid one man $2500 to help her. A friend (the mother of Jamie Ailshie; Jamie was the husband of Margaret Cobb Ailshie) hallucinated with her to cure it. Each time her hopes were dashed, she felt worse, her son said. Because of his concern about her financial vulnerability due to her handicap, her father, C. W. Moore, left her inheritance to the discretion of the trustees. They opted to give her son Alice’s full share after her death, which was only three years after C. W. Moore’s death. Alice was a good oil painter, with a sensitive application of color and shading, balance in composition, and realistic detail. Unfortunately only four of her paintings remain in the family. The subjects are Mount Hood, yellow roses, chickens, and dead fowl. Many of her works were taken from the carriage house at the Moore-Cunningham mansion during a break-in many years ago. She died in February 1919. No picture exists of her after her childhood. --by Carol L. MacGregor (1990) Sources: Bettis, Laurence Moore. Tape-recorded interview and conversations with the author. Moore family Bible in possession of the family. The Papers The papers of Alice Moore Bettis include just two items: a eulogy by Willsie Martin (1919) and a letter Alice wrote to her sister Laura, who was away at college (1890). Alice, the oldest child in the family, acknowledged Laura’s leading role in the family: “You have always seemed to me the oldest of us children.” Box 8, Folder 18
Biographical Material Return to Moore-Cunningham-Bettis collection main page Return to Special Collections home page For comments or questions about this page, contact Special Collections Department This page last changed: 9 September 2004
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