The Moores were one of our pioneer families

While the Moores were headed for Oregon, some of the wagon train intended to go to California. When the group reached Fort Hall, they met Lt. John C. Fremont. "Pathfinder" Fremont, who had recently been involved in the Bear Flag Revolt and other activities, gave them the word that the hostilities of the Mexican American War were over in California. At that news, Moore decided to change his destination. It's said that their train was the first to cross the Sierra pass into California after that ill-fated Donner Party.

When the Moore family arrived in California, Charles Weber offered them land to settle in Stockton. Moore declined, however, preferring to go on to the coast. He stopped at Mission San Jose, then San Jose, and finally settled at Santa Cruz. He raised potatoes in the area that is now downtown Santa Cruz. Eli died in 1859.

Alexander was one of Eli's sons. He had married Adeline Spainhower back in Missouri just before the family started on their odyssey. He settled in Santa Cruz, where the first three of his children were born. Moore's Point, where the lighthouse now stands, was part of his property.

Then in 1853, Alexander went up the coast looking for more land. He bought part of the Rancho Pescadero from the original grantee, Juan Jose Gonzales. He built the first American-style house in the town we now call Pescadero. At one time, he grew 1,500 acres of flax on his property.

Tom, another of Eli Moore's sons, also settled in Pescadero, but he never married or had children. Alexander and his wife had three more children. Alexander died in 1902. He is considered the father of Pescadero. Alexander Moore's six children and their assorted descendants constituted a significant portion of Pescadero's early population.

Alexander's son Walter and his wife had four daughters and one son, also named Walter. Walter Moore, Jr., was elected constable of Pescadero for three terms. Then he was appointed an ex-officio deputy sheriff of San Mateo County by Sheriff McGrath. In 1939, he moved his family to Redwood City to be closer to his job when he was made a regular deputy. Deputy Sheriff Walter Moore's children were Walter, Gordon and Francis. They had all been born in Pescadero.

Gordon Moore was born Jan. 3, 1929. He showed some promise and received an undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley. He earned graduate degrees in chemistry and physics. After working at Bay Area firms for several years, he, along with colleague Robert Noyce, founded Intel Corporation in 1968.

Now if Eli had not had a wanderlust, and Fremont had not told him of peace in California, and Eli didn't have a yen for the coast, and Alexander had not needed more farmland, and Walter had not had that job in Redwood City that brought him where his kids could easily get a good education, where would Intel be today?

Rediscovering the Peninsula appears in the Monday edition of the Daily Journal. For more information on this or related topics, visit the San Mateo County History Museum, 777 Hamilton St., Redwood City.