John Shelley Moore was my great uncle. He was born on December 22, 1896, at his parents ranch house on Grizzly Gulch, near the rural town of Woody, in Kern County, California. He was the fourth of the eight children of George Henry Moore and Laura Zania "Frazier" Moore. John had seven siblings: Henry George (born 1890), Dell Dewy (born 1994), Charles Joseph (born 1901), Violet Pearl (born 1903), Byron Ray (born 1905), Gladys Laura (born 1908) and Ila Mae (born 1910). With the exception of Henry George, John and his six youngest siblings were born in their parents house on Grizzly Gulch.
John had two half-siblings from the first marriage of his father and Maria Sostanes Flores: Nathan Washington Moore (born 1879) and Virginia Pearl Moore (born 1881).
The United States entered WWI on April 6, 1917, John registered for the draft on June 15, 1918, and joined the Army on December 6, 1918. He was listed as single, 6' 1" tall, stoutly built, gray eyes, brown hair and had a slightly hurt left leg. A cease fire and Armistice was declared on November 11, 1918. John was released from the Army soon afterward on February 3, 1919.
John married Mable Virginia Zeller sometime after his release from the Army in 1919, at an unknown location. John and Mable had three children over the course of three and one-half years: Eleanore Rae (born 1920), Chester Byron (born 1921), and Russell Laurence (born 1924).
John died of complications related to heart disease while being transported to the Delano hospital. At the time of his death, John was sixty-nine years old.and had been married to Mable for forty-six years. He is buried next to Mable in the Blue Mountain Cemetery in Woody.
Single click here to navigate to the Memorial of John Shelley Moore (Courtesy of Find-A-Grave)
