John Colbert Moore. The basis of a community’s prosperity and a nation’s progress and solidarity is measured by the thrift, energy and intelligence of its agricultural citizenship. Unite with these qualities the reinforcement of strong and eminent family connections and there is added to the community something of permanence that is not found when the latter qualities be lacking.

John Colbert Moore is not only a successful farmer and stockman of the Aylesworth community and the State of Oklahoma, but he belongs to one of the best families extant in the Southwest, while his wife claims as her heritage the blood of two of the most prominent families of the old Choctaw and Chickasaw nations. “ Blood will tell” is an old and favorite saying the world over, and the truth of the aphorism is everywhere evident in the home and business life. The best families of Virginia may look back with pardonable pride on their ancestry; but no aristocracy has more pride of ancestry than these families found in the old Indian Territory, for the white ancestry comes from the oldest and best families of the Atlantic seaboard and Europe, while the Indian ancestry is from the purest strains of the proudest American native.

Mr. Moore was born in Saline County, Arkansas, November 3, 1869. He is the son of Joseph Colbert Moore, a man of Cherokee and Chickasaw blood. The latter fought in the Civil war as a captain in the commissary department of tho First Arkansas Regiment, Confederate Army, and was in action at the battles of Gettysburg, Shiloh, and many other history making engagements. After the war he returned to Arkansas and made that state his home until he went to the Indian Territory in 1883. He was the son of Colbert Moore, a white man, who married a girl of Cherokee-Chickasaw blood, of the name of Allen. He was adopted by the Chickasaws and later became interpreter for the nation.

Joseph Colbert Moore, father of the subject, married Mary Murray, who was born and reared in Tennessee. She was a daughter of Mrs. Agnes Hawthorne, who had settled with her invalid husband at the old Chickasaw Bluff Indian Village. Mr. Hawthorne was a New Yorker by birth and ancestry, and came of a fine old family. When Joseph C. Moore brought his family from Arkansas to the Indian Territory he settled near the head of what became known as Moore’s Creek, on the old Blue County Choctaw Nation. In those days the Indian Territory was still in a most primitive state. The range was covered with cattle and the wilds abounded in game of every description, peculiar to that section of the country. There were no schools save certain private academies and a few subscription schools of the order that existed in our country prior to the development of our present splendid public school system. For these reasons, Mr. Moore, who was but a lad when the family left its Arkansas home for its present location, had few enough advantages in the matter of education. He attended a few sessions of the neighborhood schools, but it may be said with all propriety that he gained his education mainly in the school of experience. He had an excellent training in the matter of farming and stock-raising under the guidance of his father, who was most successful in that enterprise, and the young man early entered into the business on his own responsibility. He prospered from the beginning, and prior to the Government allotment of lands in that district he owned several hundred acres and a splendid herd of cattle.

In 1894, when Mr. Moore was twenty-five years old, he took a wife. Miss Mary E. Maytubby, daughter of Capt. Peter Maytubby, was the girl of his choice. In this connection it is fitting that some further mention be made of her family, for it is one that has been equally prominent in the history of the Indian Territory with the Moores.

Capt. Peter Maytubby was a full blooded Chickasaw Indian and a veteran of the Civil war. He was born in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, October 10, 1837, and came to the Indian Territory in infancy with others of the tribe that migrated from the South to the Southwest in that early day. His family settled at Fort Coffey near Fort Smith, and they settled on a farm near Caddo. This old homestead became the property of Captain Maytubby, and there he built a large and handsome house. The place is four miles from the Town of Caddo, and is one of the finest in this district. At the beginning of the Civil war Maytubby enlisted in the Confederate army, and he became captain of Troop A, under Gen. Douglass H. Cooper. He passed through the long civil conflict with a brilliant record, and when the war was ended he returned to his home and resumed farming and stock-raising as before. Prosperity followed him all his days, but he never became in any manner estranged from his people. He fought their battles to the end of his life, and despite his many interests he was never too busy to give his time in their interests. He was long connected with the tribal government in an official capacity, and he later served with honor and justice as a member of the Dawes Commission. Captain Maytubby was the father of a family of twenty children, of which nine now survive. He was married three times. His first marriage took place in 1857 when a Miss Hiles became his wife. She was a quarter-blood Choctaw. One child of that union now lives, Sam W. Maytubby of Caddo. His second wife was Miss Rufina Tolsom, of the distinguished Choctaw family of that name. Two children born of that union are now living: Peter (Bud) Maytubby, of Caddo, and Mrs. Moore. The third wife was Miss Tabitha Bailey, a white girl of Fort Smith, Arkansas. She became the mother of six children who are now living: Sophia is the wife of Dr. N. Miller, of Durant; Susa married E. E. Pitchlyn of Caddo; Jess D. is a resident of Caddo; Bessie married Milton Farmer of Texas; Elisha B. also lives in Caddo; and Lillian married Jack Bond of Atoka.

The Moores have a fine home in Aylesworth and arc among the foremost people of the community. Mr. Moore is a leader in the varied activities of his district, and is a democrat in politics. His only fraternal affiliations are with the Masonic order, in which he is well advanced.