Unlocking a Family Secret
A small metal box quite literally held the key
Story by and photos courtesy of Dr. Garry E. Moore, Ph.D.
Sometimes, history is not found in a library. It is found in the keepsakes passed down to the next generation. Recently, I discovered a long-forgotten treasure: a small metal box containing a key chain that belonged to my grandfather, William Wilson “Willie” Moore. I wondered what the keys had unlocked.
The attached metal tag was cold and tarnished, a silent witness hidden away for decades. At first glance, the stamped characters were an indecipherable blur of faded letters. But as I squinted at the letters worn by time, his name and the word “Cleveland” emerged.
“Cleveland” acted as a bridge to the past, linking the physical artifact to the lives of Willie Moore (1877–1952) and his wife, Lottie Blanch Bowman (1899–1975). Willie never owned a car, so these keys did not start an engine—they opened a door, presumably to a house where Willie lived. He had kept them until the day he died. But where was this house, and where was Cleveland?
In my 2023 book on the history of this Moore family, I had inadvertently discovered another clue hidden in Willie’s 1918 World War I draft registration in Rowan County, which described a married man of medium height and build with striking blue eyes and dark hair. His wife’s name was Lottie. While he was never selected to serve, this record preserved vital data: his permanent mailing address in Cleveland, Rowan County, North Carolina, and his occupation as a self-employed farmer.
With this context, the faded letters on the key tag finally made sense: W. W. Moore; Cleveland, N.C. RFD-2—Willie’s postal mailing address. This did not necessarily mean that he lived in Cleveland, so I had to research the history of Cleveland and Rural Free Delivery (a predecessor to the modern postal service that provided free mail delivery directly to rural homes and farms).
