Photos courtesy of Bill Bingham, Jr., grandson of Cora Belle Moose Cline.

Class of 1911

Birth: 27 Mar 1890, Cabarrus County, North Carolina
Death: 26 Aug 1987, Spencer, Rowan County, North Carolina

Parents:
Giles Monroe Moose (1852-19210
Rosa Cora Misenheimer Moose (1860-1940)

Siblings:
Dewey Whitfield Moose (1881-1950)
Harry Augustus Moose (1883-1888)
John Baxter Moose (1885-1963)
Jacob Oscar Moose (1887-1953)
Lena Estelle Moose (1892-1984)
Sophia Moose Goodman (1895-1970)
Hugh Monroe Moose (1898-1990)

Spouse: Howard Lonzo Cline (1881-1958)

Children:
Marguerite Cline Bingham (1921-2016)
Betty Jane Cline (1923-2007)

Burial: St. Johns Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery
Concord, Cabarrus County, North Carolina

Source: www.findagrave.com, #545558333

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Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, NC) 19 Jan 1919, p. 17

The announcement of the recent marriage of Miss Cora Moose, daughter of Giles M. Moose, of the county, and Howard L. Cline, of Spencer, has been received with decided interest by the many friends of this popular young couple. The ceremony was performed by Rev. J. B. Moose, of Thomasville, brother of the bride, at the home of the bride’s father and was witnessed by only the immediate relatives and a few close friends. Mr. and Mrs. Cline will make their home in Spencer where Mr. Cline holds a responsible position with the Southern railway.

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From Bill Bingham, Jr., grandson of Cora Belle Moose Cline, submitted 25 Mar 2020

Cora Belle Moose Cline—A Remembrance

My grandmother Cora was born on March 27, 1890, in Cabarrus County, NC, the fifth child of eight children born to Giles and Rose Moose. She grew up in a rural setting near Mt. Pleasant.

Her Moose ancestors were part of the migration from Germany in the 1700’s that came from the Rhineland and landed in Philadelphia hoping to start a new life in a new land. Along with many other Germans, this search led her forebears from Pennsylvania to Piedmont NC to the area that eventually became Cabarrus County.

Cora’s Lutheran faith was a central part of her life. Like three generations before her, she grew up as a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Mt. Pleasant. She was proud of its beginnings as Dutch Buffalo Creek Church and its status as one of the earliest Lutheran churches in central NC.

Cora, along with her sister Lena, attended Mont Amoena and graduated in 1911. I have a photo of her and her sister as well as three other graduates. I understand it was taken outside the original school building that burned shortly afterward.

Cora married Howard L. Cline on January 8, 1919. She was 28 years old; he was 37. At the time of their marriage, Howard had an established career as a locomotive engineer with the Southern Railway. They moved to Spencer, NC, home to the recently constructed Southern Railway Maintenance Shop.

Cora and Howard had two daughters, Marguerite and Betty. The girls grew up with their parents in a two-story frame house on Eighth St. in Spencer. Marguerite married William Bingham on December 15, 1945. They had three children—myself (Bill Jr.), Lisa, and Deborah. We grew up next door to my grandparents.

I was born in 1947, so my memories of my grandmother Cora are of her in her fifties and older. However, I believe there was a constancy of constitution about her that held true throughout her life.

She was the hub around which our family turned. My grandfather was gone frequently on his engineering runs and when he was home he stayed outside in the garden as much as possible. Although we lived “in town” my grandparents had over an acre around our two houses that we planted. We had corn, tomatoes, onions, beans, cucumbers, squash, cantaloupes, watermelons, and strawberries.

My grandfather and father tended the garden, but Cora brought in the harvest. Prepping, canning, and freezing were regular family activities spearheaded by her and the shelves in her basement were loaded with jars that held the products of our activity.

And did she ever know how to use that harvest. Growing up in a rural family with five brothers and two younger sisters honed her skills in the kitchen.  Her fried chicken was great and I’ve never had apple dumplings like hers.  Her dressing with giblet gravy was an annual treat at Thanksgiving.

Cora was the chief financial officer of her household. My grandfather brought home the railroad paycheck but Cora managed it. Over time she acquired various rental properties around town and meticulously maintained them and made them productive. Always she had a practical bent; we laughed that she would hover over repairmen to see what they did in the hope that she could do it herself next time and save money.

My father’s mother died before he married my mother Marguerite and, after he married, Cora became my father’s substitute mother. They were a perfect fit because she was game for anything outdoors. My grandfather owned a farm on Cold Springs Road in Cabarrus County. Cora was always ready to join my father to go to the farm to harvest apples from the orchard, to pick up pecans from the trees in the yard of the farmhouse, or just to be out for a ride in the country.

When Cora and Howard moved to Spencer, they became active members of Calvary Lutheran Church in Spencer and remained so all their lives, but she never gave up her love for St. John’s in Mt. Pleasant. As a young boy, I remember our family trips to homecoming and the feasts under the pines at St. John’s.  Those trips were truly a homecoming for her.

Cora’s interests stretched beyond home and family. She was an active member of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary Society and the Grand International Auxiliary of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. I think she delighted in these “networking” activities. I have a newspaper photo from the Salisbury Post dated September 28, 1949, that shows her with ten other local women preparing to board the train for Grand Rapids, Michigan, to attend the Triennial Convention of the Women’s Missionary Society.

Cora never preached the importance of an education, but I believe I picked up a love of books and learning from her obvious respect and admiration for her brother John B. Moose who was a Lutheran minister and seminarian and her sister Lena Moose who attended Mont Amoena and subsequently taught there.

I don’t remember my grandmother Cora ever complaining. She lived each day as it came and accepted what that day brought with grace, fortitude, and gratitude for life’s simple pleasures.

Cora died on August 26, 1987. She was laid to rest at St. John’s not far from the resting place of her parents and siblings.

(Remembrances by Cora’s grandson Bill Bingham, Jr. — March 2020.)