Fearless Females: Nancy Flora "Nannie" Jones Moore, 1882-1969

Nannie Jones, about 1898, age 16

Nancy Flora "Nannie" Jones Moore, Breathless' maternal grandmother, was born February 24, 1882, in Denton, Texas.  She was the sixth of the ten children of Wiley Thomas Jones (1829-1901) and Sophrona E. Jones Jones (1850-1916).

Around 1898, when this photograph was taken, the family was living in Bartonville, where Wiley was postmaster.  It was here that Nannie met Tandy Clayton Moore (1878-1964).  Nannie was self-conscious about her right leg being shorter than her left leg, but this didn't bother Clayton.

Nannie was well educated for a girl of her place and time.  After graduating from high school in May 1899, she was hired as a schoolteacher in Ardmore, Oklahoma, where she worked for a year, picking cotton in October when school was let out for that reason.  The following year, she enrolled in Sam Houston Normal Institute in Huntsville, Texas.

When she returned home for the summer, though, she resumed her romance with Clayton.  They were married, on August 7, 1901, "at the residence of Robert Keith, the officiating minister." according to the Denton County News, August 15, 1901, page 8, column 5.

Clayton and Nannie moved around quite a bit in the first 25 years of their marriage.  While they were living in a dugout in Indiahoma, Comanche County, Oklahoma, oldest child and only son Thomas Gurth (1902-1935) was born.  Daughters Velma E. Moore (1903-1908) and Ivis Moore Mew (1905-2004) were born in Lewisville, Texas, while Fort Worth was the birthplace of daughter Ruby Clayton Moore Albillar (1908-1967).   Beulah Mabel Moore (1910-1932), Audie Ruth Moore Cook (1911-1969), and Jewel Moore Gresham (1914-1994), the three youngest daughters, were all born at Azle, northwest of Fort Worth.

The family was still living in this area in September 1917, but by 1919 they had moved to Stephens County, Oklahoma.  Originally living near Bray, nine miles east of Marlow, they moved closer to Marlow in 1922.  In the late 1920s, they rented 120 acres north of Marlow, and lived on this farm the rest of their lives.

Nannie died March 15, 1969, in Marlow, Oklahoma, outliving her husband and four of her seven children.  She is buried next to her husband in the Marlow Cemetery.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.