Almont M. Moore

Almont M. "Mount" Moore , preacher and school teacher of Harrison Co., Texas, was born in 1846, a slave of W. R. Sherrad who, in the 1830's, settled a large plantation eight miles northeast of Marshall Texas. Almont's father was Jiles D. Moore of Alabama and his mother Anna was born in Missippi. (His mother’s mother was Cherry and she was also a slave of the Sherrads.) The family moved to Texas as slaves with “Master Sherrard”.

Almont "Mount" attended Bishop and Wiley Colleges, in Marshall, and obtained a teacher's certificate. He also became a preacher.

This is an excerpt from an interview with the WPA in the 1930's:

". . . the Indians gave them a hot time when they first came to Texas. Finally they became friendly to the white people. My mistress was Lucinda Sherred and she had a world of children. They lived in a big, log house, but you wouldn't know it was a log house unless you went up in the attic where it wasn't ceiled. The slaves helped master build the house. The quarters looked like a little town, with the houses all in lines. They had rules for the slaves to be governed by and they were whipped when they disobeyed. Master didn't have to whip his slaves much, because he was fair to them, more than most of the slaveowners. Lots of masters wouldn't let the slaves have anything and wouldn't let them read or even look at a book. I've known courts in this county to fine slaveowners for not clothing and feeding their slaves right. I thought that was right, because lots of them were too stingy to treat the slaves right unless they made them do it."

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress