BackINTRODUCTION
The ancestors of the Moore family originated in Ireland and word of mouth history says that there were a number of brothers, who, with their families, sailed from Ireland to the shores of America in the 18th century, either prior to or by the year of 1751. They came bearing the Irish name "O'Moore" only to soon drop the "O" and take the name Moore.
We do not know how many brothers came but based on information from ships records and earliest records available in America, the bro-thers and their families probably landed in Virginia. Apparently, the parents of the brothers must have stayed in Ireland because years later there is a record of a letter that was received from Dublin, Ire-land pertaining to the settlement of an estate. Was this the estate of the brothers parents? It is a possibility since the Moore's in America were notified about the settlement of the estate. After living in Virginia for a while, they migrated to North Carolina, where it is thought that at least one brother stopped off in High Point.
The others went to South Carolina and settled in various areas with at least three brothers, Eliab, Samuel and William, reaching the old Ninety Sixth district known as Abbeville, South Carolina.
One of the brothers was William, whose wife was named Ann. This William, was born about 1734 in Ireland. From this William these children were born: John, Martha, Elizabeth, Ann, Mary, Sarah, Esther and Thomas. It is believed that the son named Thomas was the father of our ancestor, James Moore. Allowing for the average age for marriage and for the average time between births, it brings this Thomas' birth date up to about 1765-70 which would be about right for Thomas Moore, father of James Moore.
After carefully reading a book entitled, "Moore Family History, 1725-1981" compiled by Henry Walter Moore and Martha Elizabeth Moore in South Carolina, the conclusion has been reached that this line of Moore's could possibly be the family line that our family has been research-ing for years. Although nothing mentioned up to this point can be proven to be fact, it is reasonable to assume that this could be the ancestry of Thomas Moore.
In the 1810 census for Abbeville, South Carolina, there are two Thomas Moore's listed. The first one had two sons under ten years of age, one son under sixteen and two sons under twenty six. He also had one daughter under sixteen and two under twenty six. The second Thomas Moore had two sons under ten and two daughters under ten. Knowing the birth date of our Thomas Moore's son, James, to be December 1790, we want to believe that the first Thomas Moore mentioned was our ancestor since the ages seem to match those of our known ancestor.
Whether we are right or whether we are wrong remains to be proven.
Perhaps we will never know the answers but we plan to keep on search-ing for information that will prove of disprove our theory. In the
meantime, we will begin our story of the Moore's with our first proven
ancestor, Thomas Moore.
Thomas and Catherine Moore
Thomas and Catherine
Moore were probably married in South Carolina since their son, James,
listed his birthplace as South Carolina. Little else is known except
their names in the James Moore family Bible.
James and Polly Moore
James and Polly Moore lived in the area of Rhea County, Tennessee that would
become Meigs County in 1836. They raised their family on land
granted to them by the state of Tennessee and other land that they bought
from individuals. They had a total of approximately 1500 acres at one time
which they divided into tracts for their children. James was mainly a
farmer but spent a few years as purchasing agent for the Pinhook Minning
Company of which he was a partner. He and Polly are said to be
buried in the Cooley Cemetery in Meigs County near Watts Bar Dam on land
that was once the Moore homestead.