Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: December 20, 1837 - Charles Chilton Moore

Image from bluegrassblade.net From The Kentucky Encyclopedia - Charles Chilton Moore, founder and editor of a liberal newspaper at the turn of the century, was born December 20, 1837, at his father's farm, Quaker Acre, eight miles outside Lexington, Kentucky, on Huffman Pike. Moore was the only son of the four children of Charles Chilton and Maryann (Stone) Moore, a daughter of the Rev. Barton Warren Stone, a founder of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) . Moore attended Transylvania University and graduated from Bethany College in West Virginia in 1858. He was ordained a minister of the Christian Church in 1864 and traveled the mountains of eastern Kentucky as an itinerant preacher, then became pastor of the Versailles Christian Church. Moore resigned his pastorate in Versailles, worked for a short time as a banker and a farmer, then turned to reporting for the Lexington Observer and Reporter, the Lexington Press, and the Lexington Transcript. In 1884 he began sporadic publication of his own paper, the Bluegrass Blade. In 1890, after three false starts, the paper began weekly publication. In it Moore espoused women's suffrage, prohibition, an international league of nations, publication of scientific information about human sexuality, and agnosticism. He used the personal pronoun "I" instead of the editorial "we" when presenting his views and was accused of personal attacks in the paper. The fiery nature of the Bluegrass Blade led to more than one physical attack on Moore, including an assassination attempt. In February 1899 in Cincinnati, Moore was convicted of sending obscene material through the mail and sentenced to two years' imprisonment in the Ohio penitentiary. His publisher, James Edward Hughes, was found innocent. While in prison Moore wrote his autobiography, Behind The Bars; 31498 (1899). President William McKinley commuted his sentence to six months; he was released July 7, 1899, for good behavior. He returned to Quaker Acre and the Bluegrass Blade, which he toned down in character. Moore wrote Tamam, a mixture of autobiography and fiction that was not published until 1908, two years after his death. In 1903 he traveled to the Mediterranean and Middle East and wrote of his experiences in Dog Fennel in the Orient (1903). Moore married Lucy G. Peake of Georgetown on February 14, 1867; they had four children: Charles, Leland, Brent, and Lucille. After a long illness, Moore died on February 7, 1906, and was buried in the Lexington Cemetery. According to news accounts, more than 1,000 people attended his funeral. Moore's epitaph is "Write me as one who loves his fellow man." Selected Sources from UK Libraries: Moore, Charles C. Behind the Bars; 31498. Lexington, Ky.: Blue Grass, 1899. Print. SOLINET/ASERL Cooperative Microfilming Project (NEH PA-24147) ; SOL MN09797.04 KUK. B M781, Special Collections Research Center - Biography Collection Moore, Charles C. Dog Fennel in the Orient. 2d ed. Lexington, Ky.: J. E. Hughes, 1903. Print. DS48 .M81 1903b, Special Collections Research Center Moore, Charles C. The Rational View. Louisville, Ky.: Courier-Journal Job Printing, 1890. Print. BL2775 .M640 1890, Special Collections Research Center