This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Moore Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/CMB.2ACE/604 Message Board Post: in the past I have found a website called "Carol's Genealogical Files" which had the history of Myrtle, Oregon, Missouri on it. today, having received a massive pension file for the man who originated Myrtle, I went in search of Carol's website but although I can find hits for it at Google none of the hits take me to that site. however, I did find a transcript of that history at another site. those of you who have seen it before skim to the end because I can now tell you about the Moore family who started the town of Myrtle. [from Oregon County History, p16] .........The area was homesteaded by Robert L. and Adaline Tribble. They sold to Jonathan and Barbara Crass, who sold to Scott and Martha Moore. Moore laid out the town site in 1881 and had a general store. Myrtle derived its name from Moore's crippled daughter who could not go out to play. When children came to the store they were invited to play with Myrtle. So they were calling the store "Myrtle's" by the time Moore filed his application for a post office in 1884. The town grew with William Fortune's steam powered flour mill, later a grist mill, and the Whitehead blacksmith shop. James H. Taylor bought cotton at his gin which was hauled to Mammoth Spring and shipped when the railroad was built in 1882. Moore sold his holdings to Thomas Levi Taylor and his wife, Rebecca, in 1888..... Scott and Martha Moore and their daughter Myrtle....for several years I was pretty sure they were my fiance's ancestors, and today I find that his ancestor's pension verifies that they are. this is who Scott and Martha are, from a great deal of research and documentation, yet none of it done in or near Myrtle. John Scott Moore was b. Feb 6, 1841 near Mill Creek, Beaver, PA and grew up near Cambridge, Guernsey, OH. his parents were Thomas B. Moore and Catherine Scott. Martha K. Dunifer was b. 21 May 1843 near Cambridge, OH. her parents were Jacob Dunheiffer and Frances Barcus. John Scott, frequently known as J. Scott, and Martha m. in 1866 in Cambridge. they removed shortly thereafter to Mattoon, IL where a son, Thomas Edwin Moore, sometimes called Edward Moore, was born on Sep 4 1868. they then removed to Windsor, IL where a daughter, Jesse Myrtle Moore, was born on March 14, 1870. she died on Aug 23, 1888. there were no other children. in fact, these two children are something of a miracle, because John Scott came down with the measles in camp during the Civil War, and had recuring bouts of it afterwards. the above information is compiled from various obituaries, death records, birth records, marriage records, Thomas B.'s probate and John Scott Moore's pension record. on one affidavit in the 100+ page pension it states among the many places he and his family lived, that he was in Oregon Co., Missouri, and another paper says that he was in Myrtle. as far as I'm concerned, that's enough proof and coincidence to match my fiance's ancestor to the founding of Myrtle. as to Moore township? that's still a mystery, but I wouldn't be suprised if it had something to do with John Scott Moore's family. John was an only son, so it may be that other, more distant family came to the area, as well. they certainly did with the other places of residence which he had, which were many. John suffered terribly all his life from diseases contracted during his short stint in service and battled regularly for his pension and the additional wages. he himself was unable to work steadily, and from Martha's obit, she was regularly ill as well. I suppose she contracted either his measles or his TB, or both.