John Moore was born on his family’s farm at Ballycowan, Ballylesson, County Down, Northern Ireland, on the 10th August 1891, the son of William Henry and Mary Gibson Moore (née Allen). He was the fourth of six children.
He served his apprenticeship in the textile industry with Messrs. McGowan and Ingram of Belfast, and in 1911, had gone to live and work in Manchester Green, Hartford County, Connecticut, U.S.A., having secured an appointment there as a clerk.
In 1913, his sister Jeannette and her husband Walter Dawson Mitchell also went to the United States of America, to live in Newark, New Jersey, presumably at John Moore's suggestion, and a son was born to them there in 1914. Walter Mitchell senior worked in the textile trade and when this was hit by the war, he decided to return to Belfast with his family.
John Moore also decided to return with them, intending to enlist in the British Army, alongside his brothers, Archie and Bobby, who had already enlisted, and they all booked second cabin passage on the Lusitania, which left New York at mid-day, on 1st May 1915.
It proved a fateful decision for the family for when the Cunarder was sunk; the two male members of the Mitchell family were killed. John Moore and his sister, however, both survived.
In an interview with The Irish Times, which was published on 10th May 1915, John Moore related the story of the sinking: -
He said that they were just finishing lunch and Mrs. Mitchell had just repaired to the cabin to look after the baby, when there was a great crash which shook the ship. In a moment the passengers were rushing on deck to ascertain what had happened. When he got there, the vessel had listed, lifeboats were being swung out from the lower side, and lifebelts being handed round. He did not get a preserver, but managed to get into a boat, which, on reaching the water, overturned.
This is likely to have been Lifeboat No. 17.
Luckily he got hold of a rope which was hanging over the ship's side and held on for a little time, during which the passengers were jumping down in crowds, many of them striking him as they passed and bruising his body. Subsequently, he found himself struggling in the water, and just managed to clutch the keel of one of the upturned boats, with which he supported himself for what appeared to be a long time until he was rescued by what he thought was a minesweeper.
He could not describe the awfulness of the scene. He had lost sight of his sister and her husband and was despairing of seeing them again, when he observed them being taken out of the sea and brought aboard the trawler.
Mrs. Mitchell was in a semi-conscious state, and her husband was unconscious. Everything possible was done to restore him, but without success. As for the baby, he (Mr. Moore) did not see it after leaving the liner.
It is uncertain to which trawler John Moore was referring here, but perhaps it was probably a trawler used by the Royal Navy for minesweeping purpose.
If John Moore intended to enlist in the British Army when he boarded the Lusitania, he either changed his mind, or was rejected for some reason, for on the 17th July 1915; he boarded the Carpathia in Liverpool, on the first leg of his journey back to Connecticut.
He worked as a grocer’s clerk, before becoming a meter reader for the Connecticut Light and Power Company, and becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1921.
On the 27th May 1924, he married Clara E. Schmalz in Vernon, Connecticut, and the couple resided with Clara’s family for some years. They had no children, and later moved to 230. Parker Street, Manchester, Connecticut, where they remained for the remainder of their lives.
John Moore died at his home on the 27th May 1946, aged 54 years. He was buried in Grove Hill Cemetery, Rockville, Tolland County, Connecticut.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Connecticut Marriage Records 1897 – 1968, Connecticut Death Records 1897 – 1968, 1901 Census of Ireland, 1911 Census of Ireland, 1920 U.S. Federal Census, 1930 U.S. Federal Census, 1940 U.S. Federal Census, Connecticut U.S. Federal Naturalization Records 1790 – 1996, U.S. Passport Applications 1795 – 1925, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards 1917 – 1918, U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards 1942, Lisburn Standard, Irish News, Newark Evening News, Hartford Courant, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.