Joshua Burns Moore

Joshua Burns Moore (1826-1897) was a lawyer, a farmer, a delegate to the 1865 Alabama Constitutional Convention from Franklin County, and a Democratic senator for Colbert, Franklin, and Lauderdale Counties in the Alabama State Legislature who served for two terms. Moore notably became embroiled in a legal battle with Arthur Keller, father of Helen Keller, regarding land ownership.

Moore was born on March 11, 1826, to William Moore, a farmer and veteran of the War of 1812, and Susan Burgess Moore. Both of his grandfathers, Moses Moore and William Burgess, moved to Alabama from South Carolina and made their homes in Franklin County.  

Moore was raised in humble circumstances, receiving a limited education in primitive schools in between his work in the fields. He left school at the age of 14 and later read law on his own, gaining admittance to the state bar at the age of 17. Contemporary sources note he became a prominent attorney and an accomplished orator. Moore would later credit local attorney Richard Blocker for assisting in his early legal experience. He married Thomas Ella Pearsall in 1858; they would have four daughters. On the 1860 Agricultural Schedule, Moore is listed as owning 100 acres and assorted livestock as well as growing corn and cotton.

Despite being a slave owner (15 according to the 1860 Census), Moore opposed secession and strongly resented the situation in which secession placed the people of the South once it was enacted. He understood that standing with the Union would mean potentially fighting his friends and neighbors and noted that they could not sit idly by while U.S. forces were in north Alabama. Although he was appointed to serve as paymaster of the Tompkins Brigade militia company with the rank of major in February 1862, he did not hold this position for any length of time and was given a medical exemption once conscription was enacted. After the war, several newspapers mistakenly made reference to Moore’s Civil War service. Some sources even referenced him as “Col. Moore,” causing further confusion, as he never served in the military. His personal writings indicate he was against any so-called “Yankee” invasion or interference, and he also referred to the war as disgraceful and causeless. Throughout the war, Moore remained as uninvolved as possible for self-preservation. Following the war, he introduced an order to annul the Ordinance of Secession as a delegate to the 1865 Constitutional Convention that sought Alabama’s legal return to the United States. The product of this convention was rejected by the U.S. Congress. (The constitution ratified in early 1868 paved the way for Alabama’s readmission to the United States.)

Moore continued to practice law in Tuscumbia, Colbert County, after the Civil War. He was joined in practice by his brother-in-law, future state senator John D. Rather, sometime following the war, with their partnership ending in November 1871.

Moore was elected to the Alabama State Legislature and represented Colbert, Franklin, and Lauderdale Counties for two terms in 1874-75 and 1875-76. While in office, he spoke against the state giving any financial assistance to private corporations, including railroads, particularly through levying taxes on its citizens. He also advocated for limiting the amount of property taxes the state could levy each year.

While Moore served in the legislature, he professed that he was a reluctant servant of the people who had no political aspirations. Local papers endorsed Moore as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1875, but he declined, citing his general reluctance to serve in political positions and his view that being a delegate while also holding legislative office would be inappropriate.  Despite his refusal to serve as a delegate, Moore publicly noted several issues with the  Constitution of 1868 that needed attention. Moore blamed the constitution for bringing the state to the brink of bankruptcy by creating what he viewed as useless offices that wasted taxpayer money, including the office of lieutenant governor and the entire Bureau of Industrial Resources and state Board of Education. Moore suggested that the school system needed to be overhauled to direct money to education, not officials. He further argued that state and federal elections should not coincide and indicated his view that federal election officials intimidated and swayed local voters and elections.

On November 22, 1874, a tornado struck Colbert County, destroying Moore’s home and killing his wife and their two youngest daughters while Moore was in legislative session in Montgomery. The tornado was responsible for the deaths of at least ten people and the damage or destruction of telegraph wires, a church, school, two flour mills, a railroad bridge, and several homes. 

When not in public office, Moore remained involved in politics, attending meetings and speaking on subjects he wished to influence. Newspapers of the time noted him as a skilled and persuasive orator who championed white supremacy, among other issues. He was a member of the North Alabama Bar Association and spoke at their meetings in addition to his frequent attendance. At a meeting of the Democratic Party at the Colbert County Courthouse on May 20, 1876, Moore publicly denounced political candidates who ran independent of accepted party nominations, but did not mention Joseph Humphrey Sloss, a former Democrat who was running for a third congressional term as an Independent, by name. Sloss, an editor and a lawyer in addition to being a politician, took the statements personally and addressed them in his paper, the Tuscumbia Times. Moore countered with a thorough examination of Sloss’s failure to represent the interests of the people and his congressional loss to Goldsmith Whitehouse Hewitt. The pair continued to exchange words in the press until Sloss challenged Moore to a duel. They each traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, whereupon the false rumor that Moore had attempted to ambush and assassinate Sloss was widely circulated. In reality, friends of both men made a public show of intervening, which allowed the matter to be settled without bloodshed.

In August 1869, Moore became embroiled in a protracted legal battle with lawyer and politician Arthur Keller regarding Moore’s home and attached land. Keller (mainly known in modern times for being the father of Helen Keller) stated that he had purchased a claim to Moore’s house and lot for $75, and sued Moore for “ejectment,” or eviction. Despite this claim having questionable legitimacy and appearing to have been sold by someone who did not have rights to the property, Moore had offered to pay Keller up to $1,250 as a compromise to drop the matter. When Keller insisted upon $4,000, Moore refused to pay and Keller initiated the lawsuit. Lower courts ruled in Moore’s favor, but Keller appealed the case to the Alabama State Supreme Court. By July 1874, Moore had paid around $2,000 in legal fees, and the Supreme Court upheld the circuit court’s ruling in favor of Moore. 

After withdrawing from public politics, Moore continued to practice law for many years. He suffered poor health for some time, having been diagnosed with catarrh of the stomach, more commonly known today as gastritis, which eventually caused stress on his heart. Moore died at his home surrounded by his two daughters on March 15, 1897. He was interred in the Oakwood Cemetery in Tuscumbia.