Nathan Washington Moore was born on December 17, 1879 in Saticoy, Ventura County, California. He was the son of George Henry Moore and Maria Sostanes Flores. Nathan was the oldest of two children, his younger sibling was his sister Virginia Grace Moore.
Nathan married Maude Mable Golden on July 24, 1911 in Bakersfield, Kern County, California. They were married for fifty-five years and had four children: Richard Raymond, Bertha Lela, Lawrence Tearra and Arabelle Suston.
Nathan's mother Maria had been in poor health for several years. After the birth of his sister Virginia in May of 1881, his father decided to move the family to Oregon, hoping that the change would improve Maria's health. In 1882, George and his family traveled by wagon to the San Joaquin Valley headed for Oregon. They brought a young Spanish girl with them to help care for Maria, Nathan and Virginia During this journey, George met a group of people In Bakersfield that discouraged him from traveling to Oregon. They eventually headed to the hills northeast of Bakersfield and landed in the Granite Station area.
Nathan and his family lived in or near Long Tom in June of 1882. It is most likely that Nathan, his mother, sister and the Mexican girl were living on the Greemo ranch (currently the Record Ranch), about a two-hour horse ride from the mine. Nathan's dad worked as a laborer, probably at the Long Tom mine. Nathan's mother Maria's health deteriorated to the point that his father traveled to Bakersfield to secure medicine for her. Maria died on July 3, 1883, while Nathan's father was on this trip.
In 1883, Nathan's father was a twenty-five-year-old-widower left to care for a three year old son and a two year old daughter. George was in a difficult situation, he needed someone to care for his children while he was away working to make a living for his family.
Theodophilus and Adele Sewell lived in a home with their daughter Frances Sewell (age 8) in the Woody/Granite Station area, not far from the Moore's home. Adele, Aunt Dele, as she was so fondly known, had been caring for her younger five siblings since her mother died in 1868. Most of Frances children had left Adele's care by 1883. Aunt Dele was also helping her sister Elvira Engle's raise her four children down on the Horseshoe Ranch, just west of Granite Station. The children were Clara Engle (age 7), David Engle (age 5), Frederick Engle (age 3) and Callie Engle (age two months). There were plenty of children around the Sewell's home at any one time and Aunt Dele was known to be a loving and caring person.
Nathan and Virginia were left in the care of the Sewell's while their father was away earning wages to provide for them. Nathan and Virginia were raised by Aunt Dele for several years until their father moved them to a family that he was boarding from, close to his work. Benjamin Frazier and his wife Parthenia Jane Hitchcock Frazier had seven children: Benjamin Issac, Laura Zania
