Was just reading this and realized the tangent we went off on ignored an interesting part of the quote - the curse. What was Philo's curse, I wonder and was it cured?

Here is a thought. In the Third Coot invasion, the shiremaster of Booh sided with Coot. We know that's not Mello Feathertoes - who was acting as Constable of Blackmoor town at the time.

DA1 calls Philo the sherrif of Ramshead, but honestly Ramshead doesn't seem to have been invented yet in the early '70s. Perhaps at that time Philo was the Shiremaster of Booh and his curse has somethng to do with the alignment with Coot. One could say he went to Ramshead afterward.

Not that it would fit with any of your theories, but if the name of "The Black Moors" would turn out to be a nod to the actual geographical environment in Minnesota, then it would be worth mentioning that some of the "filler" place names also seem to check out with the local geography. For example, there's a Lake Ramshead in Minnesota, as well.