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Born on October 21, 1877, in Boise City, Marion Percy Moore was the fifth child and second son of C.W. and Catherine Moore. He attended public schools in Boise. Marion went to Colorado to work for his brother Crawford on a cattle ranch for a while after school. He returned to Boise and worked on his father’s ranching concerns near Weiser. He apparently became involved with a married woman around 1912. He left for Canada in November 1913 but returned home where the woman’s husband came looking for him with a shot gun and apparently wounded him. He hid out at his sister Alice Moore Bettis’ house for two days and left for Australia. Marion was in Australia about three years. He bought a cart and a donkey and he drove the cart all over Queensland and New South Wales. There was little correspondence with the family in Boise. In Australia he met Frances, a Jewish woman (known to the family as “Aunt Fran”) who had a daughter, Doreen. They were married and Marion adopted Doreen. Mr. and Mrs. Marion Moore returned to Oregon and bought a ranch. Mrs. Moore knew nothing about ranching, but she bravely stuck it out several years, living in a relatively remote area that Laurence Bettis attested was “crawling with rattlesnakes.” Marion then sold the ranch and the cattle to “the Anderson boys.” Marion was a hard worker, and a very likeable and charming person but his business decisions were not wise. His marriage did remedy the problems his charm and attraction to women had caused. His wife was thrifty, a good manager of money. Mary Louise Bettis wrote of Mrs. Moore in a letter in 1948 to Laura Moore Cunningham, “Having been in Melbourne gave us something in common to talk about. Her hair was so black and heavy and lent itself to this braided style nicely.” Marion’s share of his father’s estate was up to the discretion of the trustees, who at that time were Laurence Moore Bettis and William Cunningham. (This must have been in the 1930s.) They decided to deduct the interest Marion owed the estate and give him his share of the principal which amounted to about $225,000. Laurence Bettis rode over on the train to Washington state where Marion lived to meet him and talk to him about it. Bettis encouraged Moore to stay out of business and look after his family with what he had, which he did. Doreen stayed home and looked after her mother and her father until they died. Marion was still living in Ellensburg when Laura Moore Cunningham died in 1963. Doreen never married and lived at Ellensburg, Washington, traveling on cruises around the world nearly every year on the income from her bank dividends from Idaho First. When she died in 1988, she left her stock to the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation. --by Carol L. MacGregor (1990)
Sources: Bettis, Laurence Moore. Tape-recorded interviews and conversations with the author. Moore family Bible in possession of the family. The Papers Marion Moore’s papers consist chiefly of correspondence, 1913-1914, relating to his personal difficulties and his emigration to Australia. The file includes letters back and forth between Marion and his father, C.W. Moore, and letters by both of them to other family members discussing the situation. Also included is a letter to Marion, apparently from the woman with whom he had been involved. Marion’s letters dated 1914 are from Australia. Box 13, Folder 14 Miscellaneous Box 13, Folder 15 Correspondence: 1913-1914, 1940 Return to Moore-Cunningham-Bettis main page Return to Special Collections home page For questions or comments about this page, contact Special Collections Department This page last changed: 10 September 2004 |
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