Mary Conrad Weeks and John Moore, 1834-1861
"We are happy to perceive that our Representative in Congress from the fourth District, Hon. John Moore, has already interested himself warmly in various measures effecting the prosperity of Louisiana...It is fortunate at this particular juncture, that the citizens of Louisiana are represented in Congress by a gentleman of so much intelligence, sagacity and experience as Judge Moore. and especially is it a subject of congratulation that he is in no wise infected with those morbid and fastidious constitutional scruples, which kept his predecessor eternally in opposition to the vital interests of the South, and which rendered a hair splitter and abstractionist on questions demanding practical good sense and energetic action." -St. Landry Whig newspaper clipping, January 31, 1852
Following
the death of David Weeks in 1834, his widow Mary C. Weeks was kept extremely
busy seeing to the management of the plantation holdings of the David
Weeks Estate, her children's inheritance. Her brothers advised and assisted
her, but she often dealt directly with overseers concerning the sugar
plantation on Grand Cote.
In addition to decisions on acreage to be planted in cane and food crops,
supplies to be purchased, and marketing matters, as a sugar planter, Mary
was also responsible for the needs of the slaves on Grand Cote and at
the Shadows, over 150 men, women and children. This meant making sure
there was sufficient food and clothing for everyone and that adequate
housing and medical attention were provided when necessary. In addition
to the plantation, Mary also saw to the needs of her children, hiring
tutors to teach at the schoolhouse behind the main house and later locating
good boarding schools and colleges in which to enroll the five children
who survived childhood. Frances, William, Alfred, Harriet and Charles
learned reading, writing, arithmetic and geography from tutors at home
until in their early teens they went off to boarding schools.
In
1841, Mary's life changed with her marriage to John Moore. Moore was born
in Berkeley County, Virginia (now West Virginia), in 1789. John Moore
owned property in and transferred his place of residence to various Louisiana
parishes between the 1810s and 1830s. In 1816 he was acting justice of
the peace in St. Mary Parish and was also "reading law" under
Judge Joshua Baker of Franklin. In 1822, he purchased the property in
St. Landry Parish now known as Magnolia Ridge, near Washington, Louisiana.
From 1825 to 1834, Moore represented St. Martin Parish in the Louisiana
House of Representatives. Then again during the mid-1830s he was listed
as a parish judge in St. Mary Parish.
While legally keeping their property separate, Mary and her children frequently
sought her husband's advice in business and family affairs. The 1840s
and 1850s were prosperous decades for John and Mary Weeks Moore. She watched
her children mature, marry and have children of their own. Her marriage
to John Moore was a healthy and happy one, and she and her husband were
respected members of the community. The plantations were doing well and
the family's future looked secure.
Judge Moore was elected to Congress in 1840 and Mary traveled with him,
taking the children, except Frances who had married Augustin Magill in1841.
The Moores enrolled the older boys, William and Alfred, in colleges in
Virginia and Harriet in a female seminary in Georgetown. Moore was re-elected
to Congress in 1851, but after visiting him once in 1852, Mary chose to
remain behind at the Shadows, keeping in touch with her absent husband
through letters. "I have little to say unless I tell you over and
over again how much I miss your society and how much I want to see you.
You know the monotony of Attakapas life, only varied by fear of freezes
or of sickness." (Letter, Mary C. Moore, The Shadows to John Moore,
Washington, DC, Jan 14, 1853)
Sometime in the early hours of December 29, 1863, Mary Moore died peacefully
in her sleep as Union troops occupied her home and its grounds. She was
buried in her garden, "as the graveyards were all open the fencing
having been torn down by the Yankees." (Letter, Hannah J. Conrad,
New Iberia, to John Moore, De Soto Parish, Dec 4, 1864). John Moore died
at the Shadows, on June 17, 1867 at the age of 78 and is buried next to
Mary.
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