[BARTHOLOMEW FIGURES MOORE.]
BY ED. GRAHAM HAYWOOD.
A great lawyer, a cherished and distinguished citizen having fallen in our midst, in obedience to an honored custom, we turn aside from the ordinary pursuits and ambitions to pay this sad tribute to our illustrious brother.
Bartholomew Figures Moore having passed the age allotted to man by the Psalmist, in the midst of his friends and kindred, departed this life in the city of Raleigh, November 27, A. D. 1878. He was the son of a Revolutionary soldier, and born at the family residence near Fishing Creek in Halifax county, January 29, 1801.
Having prepared himself for college, he entered the University of the State in 1818, and in 1820 graduated with honor in a class of recognized ability.
Leaving the University, Mr. Moore read law with Hon. Thomas N. Mann, an able and distinguished lawyer of Nash county. After obtaining his license he entered upon the practice of his profession at the then flourishing village of Nashville, the county seat. His success for some years was not by any means flattering, yet the first five hundred dollars he received from his professional services he expended in traveling and familiarizing himself with his country.
In December, 1828, he married Louisa, a daughter of George Boddie, Esq., of Nash county, who lived only until the 4th of November, 1829. In April, 1835, he married Lucy W., likewise a daughter of George Boddie, who, having witnessed and shared his toils and triumphs, survives him, blessed with a large and estimable family.
He returned, in 1835, to Halifax, his native county, and while pursuing his profession, was elected successively to the House of Commons from 1836 to 1844, with the exception of 1838, when he was defeated in consequence of having voted to give State aid to the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad Company, of which he was a warm friend and an able advocate.
He was appointed Attorney-General of the State in 1848, and, upon the convening of the General Assembly in December, elected to the same position. This office he continued to hold and fill with great acceptability until he resigned it in consequence of being appointed a commissioner to revise the statute law of the State. To him was assigned the principal labor of arranging the matter and superintending the publication of the Revised Code.
While ample success crowned his professional career in Halifax county, yet in 1848 he removed to Raleigh, where he resided till the time of his death. Bringing with him his well-established reputation for research and ability, he continued to command an extended and lucrative practice in this and other parts of the State.
Mr. Moore early secured a high reputation as an able and profound lawyer by an elaborate brief in the celebrated case of the State vs. Will, a slave (1 Devereux and Battle's Law). It was a case that awakened a general and profound interest throughout the country and settled the true relations between master and slave in our State. It recognized the right of the slave to defend himself against the assaults of his master in the preservation of his own life. It is reserved to but few of the profession to so impress their views upon the courts, in advance of public opinion, and to prepare so admirable a collocation of the law and to establish so durable a reputation upon any one case.