Moore, Alphonso
(born: April 28, 1898 - died: October 19, 1983)Born in Florida, Alphonso Moore was a coal miner who became the first African American elected to the Jenkins (KY) City Council, in 1977.
Alphonso Moore was the son of William and Margaret "Maggie" Thornton Moore. In 1910, the Moore family lived in Biloxi, MS, where William Moore supported his family as a carpenter. His son Alphonso was a veteran of World War I. When he returned home from military service, his family was still in Biloxi; in 1920, he was working as a driver of a shell wagon.
Alphonso would leave Mississippi and by 1935 arrive in Jenkins to work in the coal mines. [Sources: 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1940 U.S. Federal Census records; p. 116 in Polk's Biloxi City Directory, 1925]
According to his World War II registration card, Alphonso Moore was born in Leon County, FL [source: Ancestry]. He worked for the Consolidated Coal Company in Jenkins at Mine #204 in Dunham, KY.
Alphonso died October 19, 1983 and is buried in Biloxi National Cemetery in Biloxi, MS [source: Find A Grave]. He was the husband of Omie Lee Hendrix [source: Wise County, Virginia Certificate of Marriage #30796 (Ancestry)].
For more see "Mayor, 45 councilmen are black city officials," in 1978 Kentucky Directory of Black Elected Officials, Fifth Report by the Commission on Human Rights, p. 18.