Taken from the website, "In 1858 the Herrick and Jennings Map Company published a map of Harford County which shows some buildings and the names of their owners. Not many buildings were in the south side of Havre de Grace when the map was prepared, but the William Moore house is indicated with “W. Moore” on the map’s 700 block of Market Street. The Moore house is also shown on the 1921 Sanborn Insurance Map.
The house was built in 1847 by William S. Moore (1817-1877), grandson of William Moore and Martha Mortimer Moore who had immigrated from England in 1776. William S. Moore married Mary A. O’Neill Moore (1828-1912) in 1845 and they lived in this home at 710 Market Street. Mary O’Neill Moore was the granddaughter of the Havre de Grace War of 1812 “Defender” John Henry O’Neill, who later became the first Lighthouse Keeper.
One of the sons of William S. and Mary Moore was Captain William E. “Billie” Moore (born about 1850). In 1878, Captain Billie Moore advertised in the Harford Democrat that his sloop scow, “Widgeon,” was capable of carrying 50 tons and would haul “freight, grain, coal, lumber and like commodities” from or to all points on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. He also was known for piloting the famous 52-foot gunning scow, “Reckless,” which was built in 1880 in Havre de Grace and carried sport hunters from New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore to hunt for ducks on the Susquehanna Flats. Sailing scows were flat-bottomed boats with a rectangular form (or barge like). They carried cargo to and from Havre de Grace to other Chesapeake Bay ports. They were swift and could run across shallow waters due to a very light draft.
Captain Billie Moore was also well known as a decoy maker in his close community of neighbors in the south end of Havre de Grace. He and his son-in-law, Robert F. “Bob” McGaw, are known to have helped R. Madison Mitchell when Mitchell began his decoy career. They are credited with teaching Mitchell how to mix and blend colors and one season helping him to finish 1,400 new decoys in time for gunning season.
Captain Billie and Mary Moore were parents of Carrie Polhemus Moore who married Bob McGaw, Jr., in 1918, after which the couple lived with the Captain and his wife in this house until buying their own house on South Washington Street. A younger brother of Captain Billie was Henry (Harry) O’Neill Moore (1864-1945) who married Evaleen and had a daughter, Jennie, in 1893. Captain Harry built and sailed the skipjack-rigged, square-stern sloop “Jennie F. Moore” in local waters having named it for his daughter.
When Jennie Moore decided to marry Earl Dunbar “Dick” Hipple her parents permitted Jennie and Dick to build a home and workshed on a corner of their property, which became 319 Lafayette Street. Dick and Jennie Hipple raised their three children there and Dick Hipple became well-known in the decoy-carving community. A large shed still stands behind that home at 319 Lafayette Street.
The last owner of this property, George Barry Burns (1935-2016), also owned the 319 Lafayette Street home. George Barry Burns was the son of Hannah Hipple Burns (1914-2007) and George W. Burns (1912-1984) and was the nephew of Hope Hipple. George Barry Burns died in February 2016 and bequeathed both properties to the City of Havre de Grace, with assistance from the Historic Preservation Commission. The City has renamed this large corner property as the “Moore Family Homestead” and the Havre de Grace Green Team grows vegetables in the Heirloom Victory Garden on the property that they donate to local food pantries.
County Records
Built 1860. 1554 sq ft, 1 bath, fireplace, no basement, 18,000 sq ft lot."
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