The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 795 EUGENE F. MOORE. With the pioneer development of Yakima county Eugene F. Moore has been identified and as the years have passed he has borne his full share in the work of general progress and development. He has owned various ranch properties and still derives his income from his lands, which are largely devoted to fruit production. Mr. Moore is a native of Bedford county, Tennessee. He was born December 19, 1871, and is a son of Robert B. and Delilah N. (Swafford) Moore, both of whom were natives of Bledsoe county, Tennessee, the former born in 1837 and the latter in 1842. The Moore family has long been represented on this side of the Atlantic. Among the ancestors of Eugene F. Moore were those who participated in the Revolutionary war, in the War of 1812 and in the Civil war. His grandfather, Samuel G. Moore, was one of the first settlers of Tennessee, removing to that state from North Carolina in 1790, when it was a wild and undeveloped region, its inhabitants yet numbering many Indians, while over great portions of the state no white settlement had as yet been made. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Moore was James B. Swafford, whose fattier was a native of Virginia and removed to Tennessee about 1790. The Swaffords were related to the Lees, Nails, Howards and other prominent families of Tennessee and Mrs. Delilah N. Moore was a relative of the distinguished Confederate general, Robert E. Lee. The representatives of both the Moore and Swafford families were planters and traders of the south and were people of prominence and influence in Tennessee. Both the father and mother of Eugene F. Moore have now passed away. Eugene F. Moore acquired a public school education and with his parents went to Texas in 1882. There they resided until 1887, when the family started for Washington and on the 1st of February, 1888, arrived at Goldendale, this state. The father took up land and afterward purchased land in Yakima county and also in the vicinity of Prosser, Washington, about 1903 he removed to the Naches valley in Yakima county, where he passed away September 25, 1907. His wife survived him for only a brief period, passing away on the 25th of February, 1909. Both were consistent members of the Missionary Baptist church and guided their lives according to its teachings. They displayed many sterling traits of character which endeared them to all with whom they carne in contact. The father gave his political allegiance to the democratic party. Eugene F. Moore was a lad of eleven years at the time of the removal of the family from Tennessee to Texas and was a youth of sixteen when he came with his parents to Washington. He continued to engage in farming in connection with his father until he reached the age of twenty-six years, when he started out in the business world independently by renting land near Goldendale. He afterward bought and sold cattle and later engaged in buying and selling land, in which undertaking he was associated with his brother, Samuel G. Moore. In 1901 he purchased land in Rattlesnake county and about 1906 he took up his abode in the Naches valley, where he was engaged in sheep raising for a year. He has since bought and sold a considerable amount of land in the Naches valley and has had ranches all over this part of Yakima county. On the 15th of March, 1914, he purchased forty acres of land on Selah Heights, of which he afterward sold ten acres. On the remaining thirty-acre tract he is engaged extensively and successfully in raising apples and his orchards are in excellent condition. He also has a fine horse upon this place and all modern comforts and conveniences, together with all of the improvements necessary for the development of the farm. He likewise owns ninety-five acres two miles southeast of Grandview in Benton county, this, however, being largely raw land. On the 27th of December, 1911, Mr. Moore was united in marriage to Miss J. Myrtle Gunn, a daughter of L. Scott and Julia (Marsh) Gunn. Mrs. Moore was born in Minnesota, while her father is a native of Indiana and her mother of Maine. Her parents became pioneer people of Spokane, Washington, and they are now living near Mr. and Mrs. Moore. Her father was one of the early settlers of Minnesota. He was a son of the Rev. Thomas S. Gunn, a Methodist minister, who became one of the first preachers of that denomination in Minnesota, and Mary J. Patterson Gunn, a cousin of Walter Q. Gresham, ex-postmaster general, and also a relative of Robert E. Lee. L. Scott Gunn came to Washington in 1889 but returned to Minnesota in 1896. In 1903, however, he once more made his way to the northwest, settling in Yakima county, where he took up carpentering and building but is now living retired, he and his wife making their home near Mr. and Mrs. Moore. To Mr. and Mrs. Moore have been born four children: Mary Anita, born October 4, 1912; Virginia Isola, born January 30, 1914; Myrtle Lavera, November 8, 1915: and one who died in infancy. In his political views Mr. Moore has always been a democrat since age conferred upon him the right of franchise and he keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day. His wife is a member of the Methodist church and they are highly esteemed people, enjoying the warm regard of those with whom they have been brought in contact. In his business career Mr. Moore has displayed many sterling qualities. He has always been watchful of opportunities and has utilized his chances to the best possible advantage. He has closely studied every phase of business conditions bearing upon the line of his activities and his investments have been so judiciously made that his purchases and sales of land have brought him a substantial financial return, while the integrity of his methods has gained for him that good name which is rather to be chosen that great riches. ******************************** Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.