Richard Moore

	Moore

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The first documentation of an African-American settler in Mecosta County Michigan was James Guy. His deed was signed by Abraham Lincoln. He obtained 160 acres in Wheatland Township on May 30, 1861. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed each settler 160 acres in Michigan. By 1873 African-Americans owned 1,392 acres in the three counties of Isabella, Mecosta and Montcalm. Most of the land where Remus sits in the 1860's was owned by the Old Settlers.

Richard Moore

Picture from Marguerite (Berry) Jackson's Photo Album

& Penny (Harper) Sheppard

Mary Moore Grand Daughter of Ellen (Auntie) Moore

Richard Moore (1820-1880)

Ellen (Aunty Moore) Sleet

Ellen (Aunty Moore) Sleet (1826-1929)

Sister of Simon Sleet

Grand Rapids Press - February 18, 1927

Submitted by: Dorothy Bartow

Richard and Ellen (Sleet) Moore were slaves in Kentucky. Ellen was born at Walton, Boone County in 1826. Richard escaped via the Underground Railroad leaving Ellen and their children, Martha, Simon and Harrison who were freed after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Two of their children were sold as slaves and were moved to plantations nearby. Ellen (Sleet) Moore was able to gather her family together after the war. Ellen and Richard were reunited in Sharpsville, Pennsylvania and made their way to Remus, Michigan. Ellen moved to Remus in 1879 and lived there for over 50 years and was highly respected in the community. She died at age 102.

Margaret Garner, a fugitive slave from Kentucky, killed one of her children rather than permit her to be returned to slavery. Toni Morrison's masterpiece of a novel Beloved is based upon this narrative. Mary (Aunty) Moore came from the same plantation.

Mary Moore was born into slavery as Ellen Sleet at Walton, Boone County, KY in 1826. She and her husband came to Remus in 1879 with their children: Martha, Simon, Harrison, Lavina and George after the Civil War. Two of her children were sold as slaves but were moved to plantations near enough to enable her to gather her family together after the war and move them to Sharpsville, PA and from there to Michigan. Aunty Moore died in 1929 at the age of 102. She had lived with her granddaughters, Mary Moore and Miss Mandy Flowers, both well known and loved in the Remus Community. Her son Harrison also lived in the Remus area most of his life. Mary Moore was the granddaughter of Mrs. Ellen Moore.


	Moore

There are "Old Settlers" who came from Canada via "The Underground Railroad." It was the most dramatic nonviolent protest against slavery in the United States that began in the Colonial Era and reached its peak between 1830 and 1865. An estimated 30,000 to 100,000 slaves used the "railroad" to get to Canada; many others escaped to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe.