The second of Hyam and Ceclia Woolf Moise’s two children, EdwinWarren Moïse was born in Charleston, where his grandparents Abrahamand Sarah had settled, fleeing Saint-Domingue after theHaitian Revolution, when his Edwin’s father was still a smallchild. He and his brother Theodore werebrought up within a large extended family of cousins and aunts anduncles, attending congregation Beth Elohim. While much of the familywould remain in Charleston, leaving marks on the city—hisaunt Penina a prolific poet—butEdwin’s future, like that of his brother, an itinerant painter, layelsewhere.

After training atthe Medical College of Charleston, he married Priscilla Lopez,daughter of David and Priscilla Lopez, in 1835. They settled inWoodville, Mississippi, an affluent cotton town, where he worked as aphysician. There first child, Cecilia, was born there in 1836, and in1839 Priscilla died, four days after giving birth to twins, Sallieand Theodore.

Soonafter this tragedy, the family moved to New Orleans, where Moïsetook up work as a lawyer. He was elected to the Louisiana House ofRepresentatives, eventually serving as speaker. Meanwhile, he marriedLouise Hubert, with whom he would have five more children. Moïseserved as a United States Attorney and in 1856 was appointed attorneygeneral of Louisiana by Governor Robert C. Wickliffe. A staunchsuccessionist, he served, during the Civil War, as a Confederatedistrict court judge.