Born in Banffshire, Scotland, October 19, 1824, and came to Lower Canada with his parents in 1830. He received a limited education in the common schools and Derby Academy, Derby, Vermont. He spent his early manhood in teaching school and taught for about eight years, summer and winter. He had an ambition to enter a broader field and one for which he seemed to be by nature especially fitted. He chose law as his profession, and studied with the Hon. C. H. Reeve, of Plymouth, Indiana, being admitted to the practice in 1856. Believing that the great New West, as Iowa was then called, afforded better opportunities for a young man entering upon a professional career, he came to Hardin county, Iowa, landing in Eldora with a covered wagon, May 8, 1856, and has resided there ever since and been in the active practice of law for more than a half century. His career as a lawyer has always been one of dignity and hence he has been an ornament to his profession, as has been testified to by every judge and attorney practicing in the judicial district, as well as in the higher courts of the state. Politically, Mr. Moir has always been an ardent supporter of the Republican Party, in which he has held many positions of trust, all of which he has filled with credit and honor to himself and his party. He served for twelve years as president of the Eldora school board. He was mayor of Eldora, member of the board of supervisors of Hardin county, and president of the Hardin County Agricultural Society. He represented his county in the Iowa Legislature two terms (1861-1863) during the Civil war period. He was a charter member of the board of trustees of the Iowa Industrial School, appointed in 1868, and remained in that position, with the exception of two years, until the board of control took charge of the institutions of the state in 1898. He was for many years treasurer of the Industrial School. Mr. Moir is a veteran in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Iowa, having joined Eldora Lodge No. 77 on January 27, 1857, and was grand patriarch of the grand encampment of Iowa in the thirty-seventh annual session held in Des Moines in 1887. Of his domestic affairs let it be said that he was happily united in marriage October 27, 1847, to Olive J. Ball.

Born in Banffshire, Scotland, October 19, 1824, and came to Lower Canada with his parents in 1830. He received a limited education in the common schools and Derby Academy, Derby, Vermont. He spent his early manhood in teaching school and taught for about eight years, summer and winter. He had an ambition to enter a broader field and one for which he seemed to be by nature especially fitted. He chose law as his profession, and studied with the Hon. C. H. Reeve, of Plymouth, Indiana, being admitted to the practice in 1856. Believing that the great New West, as Iowa was then called, afforded better opportunities for a young man entering upon a professional career, he came to Hardin county, Iowa, landing in Eldora with a covered wagon, May 8, 1856, and has resided there ever since and been in the active practice of law for more than a half century. His career as a lawyer has always been one of dignity and hence he has been an ornament to his profession, as has been testified to by every judge and attorney practicing in the judicial district, as well as in the higher courts of the state. Politically, Mr. Moir has always been an ardent supporter of the Republican Party, in which he has held many positions of trust, all of which he has filled with credit and honor to himself and his party. He served for twelve years as president of the Eldora school board. He was mayor of Eldora, member of the board of supervisors of Hardin county, and president of the Hardin County Agricultural Society. He represented his county in the Iowa Legislature two terms (1861-1863) during the Civil war period. He was a charter member of the board of trustees of the Iowa Industrial School, appointed in 1868, and remained in that position, with the exception of two years, until the board of control took charge of the institutions of the state in 1898. He was for many years treasurer of the Industrial School. Mr. Moir is a veteran in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Iowa, having joined Eldora Lodge No. 77 on January 27, 1857, and was grand patriarch of the grand encampment of Iowa in the thirty-seventh annual session held in Des Moines in 1887. Of his domestic affairs let it be said that he was happily united in marriage October 27, 1847, to Olive J. Ball.