C. J. Moore was born December 1, 1873 in Pennsylvania, the son of R.B. Moore. The Moores moved to Oketo, Marshall County, Kansas, where R.B. farmed and published the Oketo Herald, among other pursuits. C.J. completed high school at Marysville High School and graduated from the University of Kansas in 1899. He later graduated from the Chicago Kent Law School in 1923.

C.J. Moore began working for the Santa Fe railroad in 1901, moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1904 and retiring in Topeka, Kansas in 1939 as chief clerk of the Department of Engineers for Car Construction. (His parents had retired to Topeka some years before.) Moore served as district president and member of the board for the Kansas Authors Club and was a member and elder in Westminster Presbyterian Church for several years. Moore was also an amateur photographer.

In 1903 C. J. Moore married Carolyn (Carrie) Bratten, the daugther of John Brierly and Sarah Bryan (Greer) Bratten. Mrs. Moore had been born March 31, 1880 in Larned and grew up in Topeka. C. J. Moore died in March 1962, and Carolyn Moore died in March 1970.

[Information retrieved from collection materials and from C. J. and Carolyn Moore's obituaries in the Topeka Capital-Journal, copied on their findagrave.com entries.]