Edward H. Moffitt, secretary and treasurer of the Coeur d’Alene Hardware Company, of Wallace, Idaho, is numbered among the native sons of the Keystone state, his birth having occurred in Allegheny City, August 22, 1845. His parents were Rev. Thomas and Maria L. (Patterson) Moffitt. The father was born in Pennsylvania in 1818, and for many years devoted his energies to the work of the ministry in connection with the Methodist Episcopal church. His death occurred in 1878, when he had reached the age of sixty years. His wife, who was born in Pennsylvania, in 1818, is now a resident of Canon City, Colorado. The family resided in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, until 1857, when they removed to central Illinois, where they remained until 1870, the year of their removal to Kansas. It was in the latter state that the father died, and since 1881 the mother has made her home in Colorado.
Mr. Moffitt, whose name introduces this review, acquired his education in the public schools of Pennsylvania and Illinois, and in January, 1864, when eighteen years of age, loyally offered his services to the government as a defender of the Union, and was assigned to Company F, Second Illinois Cavalry. He served until January 1866, and was mustered out at San Antonio, Texas, for the war had ended and his aid was no longer needed.
Returning to his home in Illinois Mr. Moffitt was for two years engaged in the grocery business in Monticello, and in 1868 he went to Colorado, where he engaged in mining and prospecting until 1887. He first visited Idaho in 1879 and was for some time in the Wood river country. In February 1884, he came to Shoshone County and was one of the first settlers in the Coeur d’Alene section. In 1887 the hardware business with which he is now connected was established in Wallace, under the firm name of J. R. Marks & Company and later passed into the hands of the firm of Holley, Mason, Marks & Company. Upon the reorganization of the firm, in 1882, the business was incorporated under the firm name of the Coeur d’Alene Hardware Company, with J. A. Fitch as president; A. B. Campbell, vice-president, and Edward H. Moffitt, secretary and treasurer. They deal in mining and mill supplies and all kinds of general hardware and have one of the most extensive hardware stores in the west. They enjoy a very liberal patronage, and not a little of the success of the enterprise is due to the energetic and capable secretary, whose executive ability and keen foresight are most marked.
In 1888 occurred the marriage of Mr. Moffitt and Miss Effie J. Colborn, of Iola. Kansas, and to them have been born two sons. They have a pleasant home in Wallace, and the household is celebrated for its hospitality. In his political views Mr. Moffitt is a Democrat and socially is connected with the Masonic fraternity. He is a public-spirited and progressive citizen, lending his aid and co-operation to every movement for the public good, and is a reliable businessman, who fully merits the confidence reposed in him.