PATRICK C. MOORE.
Bio-Pen Pictures
SURNAMES: COLLINS, O"NEILL, CARROLL
Among the
successful men of Santa Clara County is the subject of this sketch, a brief
resumé of whose life is as follows: Mr. Moore was born in Middleton, County
Cork, Ireland, in 1836, his parents being William and Hannah (Collins) Moore,
who were natives of the place of his birth. He was reared and educated in
college until the age of sixteen years. His father was a farmer. Young Moore
then accompanied relatives of his family to the United States. Soon after his
arrival in New York he went to Hartford, Connecticut, and there engaged as a
clerk in the store of J. S. Curtis & Co., for whom his brother was bookkeeper,
and was there about a year, after which he went to West Ashford, same State, and
learned the percussion-cap business; next he went to New Britain, Connecticut,
and became an apprentice to the trade of a moulder in a foundry. He was engaged
in this calling until 1856.
In the latter year he came to California, by the
Isthmus route. While at Panama he was wounded by a shot in his right arm, during
a riot. He landed in San Francisco in April of that year. Soon afterward he
engaged in farm labor for Hutchinson & Green, near Sacramento, after which he
was employed in steam-boating on the Sacramento River. He then took up the
occupation of a miner at Long Bar, on the Yuba River. In 1857 he went to
Siskiyou County, where he stayed until 1858, engaging in prospecting, mining,
and farm labor; was also a clerk in a hotel a portion of the time. In the latter
year the Fraser River mining excitement induced him to make a venture in that
direction, and he joined the "grand army" that were seeking their fortunes in
the new gold-fields. This venture ended in a failure, and he returned to
California and resumed the more quiet occupation of farm labor until 1861. He
then engaged in the milk business in San Francisco—a business that he
successfully conducted until 1863. In this year he came to Santa Clara County
and located in San Jose.
Soon after his arrival he entered into business as a
peddler and teamster between San Jose and New Almaden. With the exception of one
year, in which Mr. Moore rented and cultivated the farm of Abraham Weller, at
Milpitas, he was engaged in the above-named occupations until 1886. During the
latter year he purchased a block of land on the corner of the Almaden road and
Orchard Street, in San Jose, upon which he erected two dwelling-houses, a
blacksmith shop, and store. He established himself as a grocer, and has also in
the same building a well-conducted and first-class saloon. In addition to his
property at this point, Mr. Moore also owns six lots and cottage-houses in the
city of San Jose. He came to California with little or no means, and has by his
industry and straightforward business dealing accumulated a fair share of this
world's goods.
He is an intelligent and enterprising citizen, greatly interested in the progress and prosperity of the county. In politics he is a liberal and conservative Democrat. In 1882 Mr. Moore was united in marriage with Miss Mary O'Niell, daughter of Jeremiah and Hannah (Carroll) O'Niell, who were natives of Ireland, but residents of Ontario, Canada West. Mrs. Moore was born in Canada, and came to California in 1874. They contemplate a tour of Europe, Canada, and the States in 1889.
Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888.
Pg. 558
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