Part 2 of 2 Submitted by Mike Pitko “We have strayed a long way from the story of Melissa Moore. During all this business activity, however, Melissa and Philip Moore were dedicated members of the Eureka Methodist Episcopal Church. When they came to Eureka, he was 48 and she was 38 years of age. At first, they lived on a farm near Eureka. Soon after their arrival, it was announced that their son Charles was enrolled as a student at Baker University. When he graduated in 1887, the Moore’s purchased the office in Eureka. Presumably, they moved to Eureka at that time. At one time, according to an old church record, the Moore’s lived at Fourth and Elm, possibly in the house that was directly east of the NAPA store today, (no longer there). Let’s now look back at the experiences of Melissa and Philip on the frontier of Eastern Kansas, before they came to Eureka.
“She was born May 20, 1845, in Randolph County, Indiana to Watson and Beulah Anderson. In 1857 she moved to Kansas, to a Coffey County farm, not far from LeRoy. The Anderson group that came from Indiana included a young man, the son of a small-town merchant. When the young man was teased about Harriet, Melissa’s older sister, he said he’d rather have “the little one,” meaning Melissa, who was then only twelve years of age. The group came to the present site of Kansas City by way of the Missouri River. There they were reunited with Melissa’s father and uncle, who had gone on ahead to prepare their Kansas home. They met the families with two yoke of oxen and an ox wagon. The older travelers, including Melissa, walked the hundred miles to the Neosho Valley, since the small children and the household goods occupied the wagon.
