[62] The Cincinnati Directory for 1860.

[63] For the leading facts concerning the life of Robert Gordon I have
depended on the statements of his children and acquaintances and on the
various directories and documents giving evidence concerning the
business men of Cincinnati.




THE STORY OF MARIA LOUISE MOORE AND FANNIE M. RICHARDS[1]



The State of Virginia has been the home of distinguished persons of both
sexes of the white and colored races. A dissertation on the noted
colored women of Virginia would find a small circle of readers but
would, nevertheless, contain interesting accounts of some of the most
important achievements of the people of that State. The story of Maria
Louise Moore-Richards would be a large chapter of such a narrative. She
was born of white and Negro parentage in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in
1800. Her father was Edwin Moore, a Scotchman of Edinburgh. Her mother
was a free woman of color, born in Toronto when it was called York.
Exactly how they came to Fredericksburg is not known. It seems, however,
that they had been well established in that city when Maria Louise Moore
was born.

This woman was fortunate in coming into the world at that time. So
general had been the efforts for the elevation of the colored people
that free Negroes had many of the privileges later given only to white