(Click on picture to view larger image)
"Spokane and The Spokane Country - Pictorial and Biographical - Deluxe Supplement." Vol. II. The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1912. (No author listed.) pg. 213.
THOMAS A. MOAR is a successful man whose intelligently directed industry and unfaltering perseverance has constituted the rounds of the latter on which he has climbed to the plain of affluence. He was born on Prince Edward Island, Nov. 3, 1844. His father, George Moar, was a native of Orkney islands, on the north coast of Scotland, and emigrated to Prince Edward Island in the year 1803, and married Jane M. H. Norton in 1825. She was born in Londonderry, Ireland, in 1806, and emigrated in the year 1819 with her father, the late John Norton, Esq.
Thomas A. Moar was one of a family of twelve, of whom six are still living. He received his education at Brudenell River, Prince Edward Island, and on having attained his majority he struck out for himself, working at the carpenter trade for a short time. Not been satisfied with that work he removed to Newfoundland, where he went into business with his brother who owned a schooner of eighty tons in which he traded and fished between Newfoundland and Labrador, making yearly trips up the St. Lawrence river to Quebec, where supplies were purchased.
During the six years spent with that isolated and primitive country he had many novel experiences, being called upon to perform the marriage ceremony, to christen the infants and bury the dead. Becoming dissatisfied with his occupation on the coasting trade, he decided to go west in the year 1873 arrived in Chicago, where for a year he worked at his trade. Still heeding the call of the west, the succeeding year found him in Denver, but being fascinated by the glowing accounts of California and the Pacific Coast, the following year found him in San Francisco, where for a number of years he managed work for one of the largest contractors in the city finally becoming a leading contractor on his own account. But the spirit of adventure was not yet subdued and the year 1889 saw him headed north. Arriving in Spokane, November 3, of that year, he was immediately given a crew of men to put to work on the Auditorium Theater, which was then one of the finest buildings west of Chicago. In 1895 he was united in marriage to Miss Almeda J. Bell, daughter of John Bell, of Prince Edward Island, of Scotch descent. They have one son, T. Edgerton Moar, who is now a student in the high school.
As a contractor Mr. Moar ranks among the best in the state, his advice been sought by many prospective investors. The Spokane and the state of Washington has always appealed to him. When he came to Spokane it was but a village, but to him it's location and surroundings appeared advantageous and promising as no others. This brought him to the conclusion to cast his career and live with that of the country and its people with the result that his expectations have been more than realized. Comparing the village of 1889 with the magnificent city of today, he feels proud to have been connected with the development of this giant young city and predicts for it a grand future.
Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton
* * * * Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the individuals featured in the biographies.