John Trotwood Moore | |
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| Born | John Moore, Jr. August 26, 1858 Marion, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | May 10, 1929 (aged 70) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Resting place | Mount Olivet Cemetery |
| Alma mater | Howard College |
| Occupations |
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| Spouses |
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| Children | 1 son (Merrill Moore), 2 daughters |
| Parent(s) | John Moore Emily Moore |
| Relatives | Whitefoord Russell Cole(son-in-law's father) |
John Trotwood Moore (1858–1929) was an American journalist, writer and local historian. He was the author of many poems, short stories and novels. He served as theState Librarian and Archivist ofTennessee from 1919 to 1929. He createdMoore Academy in Pine Apple, Alabama in 1883. He was "an apologist for theOld South",[1] and a proponent oflynching.
John Moore Jr., was born on August 26, 1858, inMarion, Alabama.[2] He was ofScotch-Irish descent.[1] His father, John Moore, was a lawyer andConfederate veteran.[1] His mother was named Emily.[3] He had a sister, who later married a professor[who?] atVanderbilt University.[1]
Moore graduated from Howard College, now known asSamford University, where he studied the classics, and was a member of theSigma Chi fraternity.[3] While in college, he wroteThe Howard College Magazine.[3] Later, heread law withHilary A. Herbert.[1]
Moore started his career as a journalist forThe Marion Commonwealth, a newspaper in Marion, Alabama.[3] He was a schoolteacher in Monterey,Butler County, Alabama, and a school principal inPine Apple, Alabama, in the early 1880s.[1]
Moore became a columnist forClark's Horse Review in 1885.[3] He took the penname of "Trotwood" afterBetsey Trotwood, a character inCharles Dickens'sDavid Copperfield.[4] His column, called "Pacing Department", included short stories, poems and local histories. In 1897, Moore decided to publish a collection of his columns, entitledSongs and Stories from Tennessee. Four years later, in 1901, he published his first novelA Summer Hymnal.[3] Over the years, Moore published several other novels.
Moore foundedTrotwood's Monthly, an agrarian magazine, in 1905. A year later, as it merged withRobert Love Taylor's magazine, it became known as theTaylor-Trotwood Magazine. Moore was the chief writer and editor. The magazine was discontinued in 1910.[3] Meanwhile, he was the author of historical sketches onAndrew Jackson,Andrew Johnson,James K. Polk andSam Houston.[5] He was also a contributor toThe Saturday Evening Post.[5]
Moore was "an apologist for the Old South."[1] Labeled a "local colorist",[6] Moore's fiction typically included African Americans, horses, Native Americans, bluegrass, and Tennessee culture.[7] The main repeating character in his stories, Old Wash, was compared to theUncle Remus character created by his contemporary,Joel Chandler Harris.[6] Moore was contemptuous of low-class whites and criticizedThomas Dixon for writing sensationalist novels.[6]
Moore was openlyracist.[1][3] His racist ideas were reinforced by his readingJoseph Widney's 1907Race Life of the Aryan Peoples, a book recommended to him byTheodore Roosevelt, which Moore proceeded to review favorably.[1] He was a defender of theKu Klux Klan and a proponent oflynching.[1] Additionally, Moore wasfrancophobic for racist reasons, lambasting the French for "intermarrying with theIndians and treating them as equals" during theFrench colonization of the Americas.[1]
Moore was appointed as the State Librarian and Archivist for Tennessee by GovernorAlbert H. Roberts in March 1919.[2][8] He was recommended by businessmanJames Erwin Caldwell.[1] He served in this capacity until 1929.[3] He was invited to give a speech at the dedication of a bronze plaque in honor of PresidentJefferson Davis atSt. John's Episcopal Church inMontgomery, Alabama, in May 1925.[1]
Moore married Florence W. Allen in February 1885.[3] They resided inColumbia, Tennessee, where they raisedTennessee Pacers on their farm.[3] After his first wife died in 1896, Moore married Mary Brown Daniel on June 13, 1900.[3] They had a son, and two daughters.[3] They resided in SouthNashville, Tennessee, where they organizedpossum hunts and literary gatherings.[1]
Moore wasPresbyterian.[1]
Moore died on May 10, 1929, in Nashville.[3][5] The governor of Tennessee ordered state offices closed and flags to fly at half-mast. He was also one of the honorary pallbearers, along with four past governors. The actual pallbearers wereAfrican Americans clad in Confederate grey.[1] He was buried at theMount Olivet Cemetery.[3]
After his death, his widow was appointed State Librarian and Archivist for Tennessee.[2][8] She served in this capacity until 1949.[2][8] Meanwhile, their son,Merrill Moore, became a poet and member of a circle of writers known as "The Fugitives", who were partly inspired by Moore's own writing.[1] One of his daughters, Helen Lane Moore, married Whitefoord Russell Cole Jr., the son of railroad executiveWhitefoord Russell Cole.[9]
In 2019, the plaque that Moore dedicated to Jefferson Davis at a church in 1925 was moved to the church's archives. The pastor cited Moore's involvement as one of the reasons for the removal.[10]
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