Moses Carpenter

An Illustrated History of Baker, Grant, Malheur and Harney Counties, 1902
published by Western Historical Publishing Company

Moses Carpenter

Inquiry into the life history of Mr. Carpenter bring sto light the fact that he is a native of the famed old Bluegrass state, born near Mannsville, on September 28, 1845. His parents, Joseph and Annie (Hogan) Carpenter, died when he was a mere boy, and he became the ward of his uncle, Asa Mann, who, in 1855, took him to the vicinity of St. Joe, Missouri. When he became seventeen years old, he enlisted in the Confederate army and was assigned to General Joseph Shelby's cavalry brigade. He participated in several severe engagements during his service in the army, among them those at Kane Hill, Prairie Grove, the second battle of Springfield, Missouri, the battle at Helena, Arkansas, and the battle of Jenkin's Ferry. At Cedar Glade he was very seriously wounded in the head by a rifle ball and left on the field for dead. If his comrades had had time theywould have buried him, but notwithstanding the severity of his wound he eventually regained his health and rejoined his regiment. At the close of hostilities, Mr. Carpenter went to Mexico in company with his former commander, General Shelby, and in 1865 he came to the Pacific coast of that country, where he remained two years. He then removed to Baker county and engaged in mining in partnership with Judge Ison, who had been an old friend of his in Mexico, and whose school in eastern Oregon he attended for a while in the endeavor to retrieve the loss of educational advantages occasioned by the war.

At a later date our subject bought out Judge Ison. He has been engaged in mining continuously since, and naturally has had interests at different times in some very excellent properties. Besides his quartz prospects he has some very excellent placer ground in the county. He and his partner, J. T. Jones, own together forty acres of rich placer ground on the Upper Salmon creek, but they are giving the greater part of their attention now to the Carpenter-Jones of Never Sweat mine and the Nelson placer eight miles west of Baker City. Mr. Carpenter is a public spirited citizen and has ever manifested a lively and intelligent interest in the affairs of his county and state, though he seems to be devoid of ambition for personal aggrandizement or political preferment. Fraternally he is affiliated with the well known brotherhood, the I.O.O.F., Wingville Lodge, No. 69. On October 10, 1877, in Clackamas county, Oregon, our subject married Miss Glendora Thompson, daughter of Joseph R. and Minerva A. Thompson, pioneers of 1875. Their marriage has been blessed by the advent of five children, namely, Joseph E., Moses, Jr., Thomas W., Lamar, and Oates.

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