John Godfrey Moore (July 7, 1847 – June 24, 1899) was an American businessman,

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

and

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...

stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange, as ...

promoter during the

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...

. He gained fame by successfully suing the United States government in 1893, on constitutional grounds, to stop the new

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

Act from coming into effect, delaying it by 20 years.

Early life

Moore was born in 1847 in

Steuben, Maine Steuben is a town in Washington County, Maine, United States. Incorporated in 1795, it was named after Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, the Inspector General of the U.S. Army during the Revolutionary War. The population was 1,129 at the ...

, a small ocean-side village of fishermen and small farmers. He was the son of ship Captain Henry Dyer Moore and Maria Godfrey. Moore received his schooling in the region, completing high school in 1865.

Moves to New York City

He moved to New York City in 1865 to work for his uncle in the lumber business. He found success, and soon formed his own company. Moore made a dredging company partnership with John O. Evans in 1868. Moore and associates successfully diversified into the booming

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

business in 1880, founding the American Union Telegraph Company. They expanded their trade, and eventually sold out to larger companies.New England Historical Society essay on Acadia National Park

Financier

With his profits, Moore then moved into the stock trading and promotion business, and by 1885 was co-owner of the Wall Street firm Moore and Schley, with partner Grant B. Schley. The firm prospered very successfully in the expanding economy, and built many important business and government connections in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

It did business with several of the wealthy families in the northeastern United States, including

John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...

J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...

Theodore Havemeyer Theodore Augustus Havemeyer (May 17, 1839 – April 26, 1897) was an American businessman who was the first president of the U.S. Golf Association and co-founder of the Newport Country Club, host to both the first U.S. Amateur and the first U.S. ...

, and the

Whitney family The Whitney family is an American family notable for their business enterprises, social prominence, wealth and philanthropy, founded by John Whitney (1592–1673), who came from London, England to Watertown, Massachusetts in 1635. The historic fa ...

Sues to prevent income tax

In 1893, Moore, a Republican Party supporter, gained national and international fame by filing a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

against the United States government, on constitutional grounds, to stop the new personal

, the first peacetime income tax, designed by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

, from being implemented. He won this case, and so delayed the implementation of the new tax for 20 years, until 1913, when this now-universal measure was successfully enacted.

Death, family

Moore died suddenly in New York City in 1899, leaving a large estate. His partner Schley carried on the business after Moore's death. Moore married twice. He had two daughters – Ruth and Faith – with his first wife, Miriam Jane Aldrich (1853-1890), of Munson, Massachusetts, whom he married in 1872. Ruth married Arthur Lee, a British military officer, later in 1899, just after her father's death. The couple had met in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...

, where Lee was a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

at the

Royal Military College of Canada '') , established = 1876 , type = Military academy , chancellor = Anita Anand ('' la, ex officio, label=none'' as Defence Minister) , principal = Harry Kowal , head_label ...

. With her inheritance, Lee was able to retire from the military in his early 30s, and start a very successful political career in Britain, being elected to the House of Commons in 1900. The couple later donated their country estate –

Chequers Chequers ( ), or Chequers Court, is the country house of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. A 16th-century manor house in origin, it is located near the village of Ellesborough, halfway between Princes Risborough and Wendover in Bucking ...

– in 1917 to the British government for use in perpetuity by successive prime ministers. Lee became

Viscount Lee of Fareham A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

, a member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

, and Ruth became a Viscountess until her death in 1965; the couple had no children. Faith Moore also moved to Britain, dying there in 1944. Moore had a son with his second wife, Louise Taylor Hartshorne (June 6, 1867 – February 10, 1923) of New York City, whom he married in 1894. She was the daughter of James Mott Hartshorne, also a Wall Street financier, who had founded his own firm James M. Hartshorne and Brother in 1863.

Legacy

Moore had purchased land near his birthplace, and constructed a famous home known as "Far From The Wolf", planning to turn the district into a resort and retreat for the wealthy to compete with

Bar Harbor, Maine Bar Harbor is a resort town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population is 5,089. During the summer and fall seasons, it is a popular tourist destination and, until a catastrophic fire i ...

. These ambitious plans were never realized to the extent he wished. Moore's first wife donated her extensive library upon her death. Maine land owned by Moore and donated by his heirs, following the death of his second wife, became part of present-day

Acadia National Park Acadia National Park is an American national park located along the mid-section of the Maine coast, southwest of Bar Harbor. The park preserves about half of Mount Desert Island, part of the Isle au Haut, the tip of the Schoodic Peninsula, and ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, John Godfrey 1847 births 1899 deaths Businesspeople from New York City People from Washington County, Maine American financiers 19th-century American businesspeople New York (state) Republicans