Moore, James B.

Born: 1780-XX-XX Virginia

Died: 1840-XX-XX Monroe County, Illinois

Flourished: Monroe County, Illinois

In 1781, Moore moved with his family from Virginia to Illinois. As a young man, Moore had a keel-boating business on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. He married Sally Shock in 1810. He settled northeast of Waterloo, Illinois, and developed a large tanning business. During the War of 1812, Moore organized and served as captain of a company of rangers. When the Illinois General created Monroe County in 1823, Governor Ninian Edwards appointed Moore as the sheriff of the county, the first person to hold that office. When John D. Whiteside, who represented Monroe, St. Clair, and Madison counties in the Illinois Senate, resigned in March 1837, Moore won a special election in July to finish his unexpired term. In August 1840, Moore ran for re-election, but lost. He died shortly after finishing out his term in the Senate.

Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, St. Clair County, 20 October 1810, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; History of St. Clair County, Illinois (Philadelphia: Brink, McDonough, 1881), 126; Combined History of Randolph, Monroe, and Perry Counties, Illinois (Philadelphia: J.L. McDonough, 1883), 315; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 205-206; Theodore C. Pease, ed., Illinois Election Returns, 1818-1848, vol. 18 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1923), 304, 332; Gravestone, Moore Cemetery, Waterloo, IL.