The Life and Murder of Marion Joshua Moore (1869 - 1912)

Marion Joshua Moore

My great-grandfather, Marion Joshua Moore, was born 25 December, 1869 in Carrollton, Georgia, son of the Reverend Thomas Moore and Sarah Margaret Moore, maiden name Huckeba. He married Ada Eugenia Kinney, daughter of James Arnold Kinney and Alice Kinney (Evans). Ada was the granddaughter of Jesse Kinney, who had served as the first mayor of Temple, Georgia, and the great-great granddaughter of William Kinney, who family legend says fired the first shot at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse during the American Revolution.

Josh and Ada's first child, Rhudy Belk Moore, was born in 1891. Four more children followed, - Zillah "Mac" Moore (born 1894), Sarah Alice "Sadie" Moore (1897), Jewell Elizabeth Moore (1903), and my grandfather, Yancey Green Moore (1906). A sixth child, Marion Joshua Moore, Jr., was born in 1912, just a few months after his father's death. Sometime between 1906 and 1910 the Moore family relocated from Georgia to Alabama, settling in Fruithurst, where Josh became a Third Degree Master Mason.  Later he became a foreman with Southern Railway (now part of Norfolk Southern Corporation), at the Avondale yards. The family eventually returned to Georgia in Bremen, with Josh working in Avondale and returning home on his off days.

On 10 Septemeber, 1912, a Tuesday, Josh and two co-workers, W.C. Webb and F.M. Corly, were walking from their jobs down 26th Street in Birmingham to their camp car. As Josh and Mr. Webb came to the corner of 26th and Second Alley South, three men sitting on a stoop started an argument with them. The argument soon escalated into a fight. Corly fought for a while but then fled in search of police, while Josh and Webb were overpowered and held from behind by their assailants, after which Josh Moore was struck in the head with a brick bat, lacerating his scalp, pieces of which were later found adhering to the brick. Webb was stabbed in the back and hips. He would later say that when he saw Moore being struck with the brick, the blow was sufficient to break the brick in two. A police officer on patrol heard the melee and arrived to find Josh lying on the street with Webb sitting nearby, attempting to staunch the blood from his own wounds. Their attackers had dispersed, but two witnesses described what had happened. Josh Moore was rushed to Hillman Hospital with a fractured skull, from which he died the following Sunday, 15 September. His assailants, now identified as Henry Broman, Sid Smith, and Billy Whitehead, were arrested for murder and tried and convicted before Judge I.H. Benners on 30 September.

Josh Moore's remains were shipped to Bremen and interred in the Bremen City Cemetery. Ada's father paid pharmacy bills and other debts owed by Josh at the time of his death. On 20 January, 1913, Marion Joshua Moore, Jr. was born. On 15 August of that same year, Josh Jr. died from influenza. On 21 April of 1914, Ada also died from flu,. Now orphaned, her daughters and youngest surviving son, Yancey, were taken in by Josh's brother, Green Moore, and his wife Minnie.

All of Josh and Ada Moore's surviving children went on to lead relatively happy lives:

Zillah Moore with her mother, Ada 

 Zillah "Mac" Moore married twice, secondly to Bill Grey. Their daughter Doris married Bill Gordon. Mac Grey died in April 1978 and is buried in Atlanta.

Belk Moore, 1903

Belk Moore married Enola Robinson on 24 May 1910 in Fruithurst. Their children were Yuleth, born 1918, Theron (1911-1953), Grace, born 1916, Sybil, and Thaxton. Sybil married J.B. Graner. Thaxton married Mary Dixie Eady and was a Grand Master of the Odd Fellows.

Sadie Brinson 

Sadie Moore married Charles Brinson. Their daughter, Mildred, born 1919, married three times, lastly to Carl Walker. Sadie died in 1984 and she and Charles are buried in Birmingham.

Jewell in 1966

Jewell Moore married firstly Jerry Stevens 31 Dec 1921 in Short Creek, Alabama, and secondly Lang Perkins. Jewell and Jerry's son, Robert died young after 1930, while their daughter Evelyn married Sidney Parrish. Jewell and her second husband moved to Trenton, New Jersey, and after Jewell's death she was cremated and her ashes mixed with those of Lang and scattered down a highway in central Florida.

Y.G. and Christeen Moore at their 50th
wedding anniversary, 26 Aug 1973

My grandfather, Yancey Green Moore, married Christeen Taylor, daughter of John Frank Taylor (1882-1974) and Cora Belle Wages (1889-1982). They were married for 54 years and raised three children, my late father and two living aunts. Yancey followed in his father's footsteps, working for Southern Railway for many years as a surveying engineer. He passed away in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in November of 1977. Christeen followed him in April of 1993.