The Gallant Mr. Ridgeway Moore
A particularly charming entry in Susie's diaries was written when she was 13 and a houseguest of Emmie and Annie Harriman in Riverdale, NY. On June 30, 1871 she described this encounter which occurred after visiting some neighbors of the Harrimans:
"As I was going in the gate who should I see coming down full gallop on horse back but my beloved Ridgeway Moore... Oh how I love my "old noodle." I would let him take my life I think. If I were a few years older perhaps he would give me his heart and hand. I do think he is perfectly lovely."
Of course, her words appeared to be conjured from the pages of a Jane Austen novel. Intrigued by Susie's enthusiasm I immediately set out to find out more about Mr. Moore.
Jacob Ridgeway Moore, born in 1842 (making him 29 to her 13), was a member of an old and well regarded Philadelphia family. On April 24, 1861, he enlisted as a Private in the 116th Regiment Pennsylvania Infantry and ended service as a First Lieutenant (one newspaper article referred to the young soldier as "gallant"). Upon discharge, he worked in the New York office of the family's business, Jessup and Moore Paper Company, and became a prominent fixture of Philadelphia and New York society. He had the honor of leading the cotillion for many of the ultra-exclusive Patriarchs Balls at Delmonico's and was a guest at Alva Vanderbilt's famous Fancy Dress Ball in 1883. As a souvenir of the occasion, Alva arranged for her guests to sit for portraits in their costumes. I found Ridgeway's photo from that event in a collection at the New-York Historical Society.
J. Ridgeway Moore, New-York Historical Society collection
Ridgeway never married, but scandal put an end to his social aspirations. In 1893 he was caught in an affair with a young woman named Sallie T.H. Moore, who was married to Louis Bragonier Moore (no relation). During the divorce trial Ridgeway took the stand and testified against his lover, thus winning the suit in favor of Louis Moore. This public airing caused quite a commotion and Ridgeway was expelled from the Tuxedo, Knickerbocker and Union clubs and became shunned by the social elite.
The New York Times, July 21, 1893
Fortunately, Ridgeway found another love--photography-- that enabled him to associate with a more artistic set. He took to travel and photographed what he really saw whether it was the home of a black sharecropper in Georgia, an aboriginal tribe in Samoa, or a trout fishing expedition in the Mt. Whitney region of the southern Sierras. He died at the age of 56 in New York on September 26, 1901.
J.R. Moore greeting Chief of Villa, Samoa, ca. 1900