The first Franklin Moore’s older brother was Charles Freeman Moore born in 1942. The two brothers and their successive generations worked closely together in St. Clair for a century and a half. Charles had a son, Fred, who had a son, Charles, who had a son, Fred, who naturally had a son named Charles.
See the full Charles F. Moore family tree
Charles Freeman Moore and his younger brother, Franklin (I), along with Mark Hopkins, Justin Whiting and James Sanborn formed the Diamond Crystal Salt Company in 1886. Within months, though, Hopkins and Sanborn left and Charles became the president.
The first four generations of the Charles Moore line were involved in the salt company with all four serving as president and/or chairman of the board. See more about the history of the Diamond Crystal Salt Company including an extensive history of the first 100 years published in 1986.
Charles Freeman Moore’s son was Fred W. Moore, another important leader in St. Clair. In addition to his work and eventual presidency at the Diamond, Fred W. helped start the St. Clair Community Hotel Corporation that built and directed the St. Clair Inn. Anyone who has visited St. Clair will well know his namesake road, the Fred W. Moore Highway that connects St. Clair to I-94 about 7 miles west of town.
Fred W. Moore’s son was Charles F. Moore, better known as Charlie. Charlie’s biggest professional accomplishment was buying the Diamond back from General Foods in 1953. The company had been sold in 1929 and Charlie had joined General Foods after graduating from University of Michigan in 1930. By 1936 he was working at the Diamond and worked his way up to general manager by 1953. With investment from cousin, Franklin H. Moore, Sr. (III), and other Moore family members who owned the Moore Investment Company, the Moore’s were back in the salt business. Under Charlie’s direction, the company thrived. He served as president until 1971 and then chairman of the board until 1978. That year Franklin H. Moore, Sr. (III) took over as chairman and Charlie’s son, Fred S. Moore joined the board. See New York Times article.
Charlie’s first wife, Kristine, was the mother of Fred S. Moore and Harriet. She died in 1953 and Charlie married Barbara Weston in 1957.
Charlie was an avid boater and built a large boat house at his house on the St. Clair River to house his 53′ yacht. When he upgraded to build the Diamond Star, a 67′ custom Burger, he needed a larger slip. He donated land from behind the Diamond on the Pine River in St. Clair and helped establish the St. Clair Boat Harbor which was later named for him. Frank Moore V, aka Spike, worked at the boat harbor and remembers filling the fuel tanks and thinking that the fill up cost as much as he’d make all summer.
Charlie’s son, Fred S. Moore, grew up in St. Clair but lived in California until his early 40’s working in real estate. With his first wife, Kay, he had two children, Charles Nicholas, who went by Nicholas and Alexandra, who was called Pickle by family and friends. After a divorce, Fred married Lezlynne and they moved to St. Clair in 1982. They had two more children, Lindsay and Annie.
In 1987, the family sold the salt mining operations of Diamond Crystal Salt Company but retained a couple packaging plants that produced the red and white fluted salt packets found at fast food restaurants all over the U.S. along with other packaged food products. Fred focused on real estate development, creating the Diamond Cove subdivision with boat slips south of St. Clair, the Harbor Village resort community in Manistee on Lake Michigan, and other smaller projects.
See Fred’s tribute, article, and obituary
Fred’s son, Charles Nicholas Moore, goes by Nick and is an investment representative in San Francisco.