Genealogy and recollections

Front matter

HAROLD B. LEE LieBAfiY

PROVO, UTAH

Do No Circulate y f

Appendix

11 , 159

III 162

Illustrations

My wife, Jacqueline Anne Hall Frontispiece

Opposite Page My grandmother, Susan McKee O'Melveny, when very old ... 6

William Whiteside Moore and Nancy Vernon O'Melveny, his wife . lO

A. A. Moore at 14 years, taken at San Jose, Cal 16

A. A. Moore (from photograph taken 1915) 22

H. W. O'Melveny of Los Angeles, Cal 28

In Big Spring Cemetery 32

Historic Spot. "Big Spring," at the Big Spring Old Church and Cemetery 38

John Bland, Mrs. Moore's grandfather 44

Commission issued to my great-grandfather, James Moore, June 10, 1782 50

Old burial vault of the Whitesides at "Whiteside Station." House on the plantation, near Marshall, Texas, where Mrs. Moore was born (as it looks now) 54

Commission of my grandfather, John Moore, August 19, 1802 . . 60

Jacqueline Anne Bland Hall, Mrs. Moore's mother 66

Samuel Pike Hall, Mrs. Moore's father 72

Our son, A. A. Moore, Jr.; died June 19, 1914 78

Our home, in Oakland, Cal. (Built in 1880). I. Twentieth Street entrance. 2. Nineteenth Street entrance 82

Stanley Moore, Carmen Moore, Ethel Moore, A. A. Moore, Jr. . . 88

My Family, taken just before the marriage of A. A. Moore, Jr. (1898). 100

Wedding Party at marriage of my daughter, Jacqueline .... 106

Mrs. Moore and some of her grandchildren, 1908 112

I. The Spring at Bellefontaine as it looks now. 2. Mrs. Stanley Moore, with her three children — Mary Belle, Elizabeth, and my second Moore grandson, Stanley Williams Moore. 3. My daughter, Jacqueline, and her son, Stanley. 4. Some of the grandchildren in the garden, and the dog Prince 1 18

The family (October, 1912) 124

Mrs. Moore and Margaret. I. In Japan (October, 191 1 ) ; 2. In Egypt (January, 1913) 128

Swimming pool at Rancho 134

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ILLUSTRATIONS

Opposite Page In our game park at Rancho. I. Elk; 2. Deer; 3. Llama; (the horsemen are A. A. Moore and Arthur Moore) ; 4-5, Deer .... 138

Scenes at our Rancho. Golf, driving, trap-shooting 142

At our Rancho 146

At the Rancho. I. Mrs. Moore's sister, Margaret Walker, with her son Shirley; 2. Margaret Moore; 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Rancho scenes and grandchildren ISO

Swimming pools at new and old Ranchos IS4

Scene on horseback 15^

Buffaloes 164

[ viii ]

Part I GENEALOGY

Chapter I

ALBERT A. MOORE, first of three of that name, write this for my descendants, by reason that, as I judge, they should know more fully who they are and of what lineage, and learn somewhat of the part taken by their ancestors in the fine, fierce, stirring days of old, and the hardship and peril they endured in building the commonwealth now passing in large part to peoples alien or lately so.

Pioneer American families are swiftly passing, soon to be extinct or at least overborne and negligible. When my children shall learn of the sterling character and rude simplicity of the lives of the pioneers, and their unnoted deaths, and graves now in the main forgotten; as descendants of a passing folk, their modest pride should be, that they come of sturdy stock. So, too, in hardship that must come, let them remember that their forefathers slept in the woods, struggled with wild beasts, fought with Indians, French and English; making their clothing, killing their meat, raising their food from the soil, making their candles, living without stoves, lamps, matches, breakfast foods, tinned goods, telephones, sewing machines, railroads, steamboats, telegraph, gas or electric light and power, motor cars; mainly, without any of the helps now deemed necessities, and thus realize that hardship does not of necessity make for unhappiness, but makes for character, sturdy independence, morals, love of home, family and country.

Consider that the people I tell of in the Egypt of Illinois and their neighbor fellow fighters, a pastoral folk, strong in religious faith, simple in life, vigorous of mind and body, through toil and trouble, left, as they supposed, rich heritage for their descendants. If we have not all they builded it is not their fault. It is well to think over such matters; it ought to teach a lesson.

Likely, too, I do this, to keep myself in mind as much as may be, when I shall be "gathered to my fathers." No one likes the idea of sleeping in forgotten grave.

Those dead of whom I write, abhorred with all mankind the notion of oblivion — being forgotten and as if they never lived. No doubt it would have pleased much any of those dead ancestors of whom I am to speak to have known in life (if possible) that in 191 5 a descendant should write the name, — as, Enoch, or James, or John, Polly, or Betsy, — in kindly remembrance. One would rather be abused than forgotten. The longing for immortality on the earth, among kin and people — to be remembered and spoken and written of — is universal. There is a kind of immortality in "the recollection one leaves in the memory of man." Myself, I gloom a bit, in the thought that with brief lapse I will be as a "watch in the night" — forgotten, and as if never born.

Maybe I write of the past and my forefathers In slight hope thus still to be here, in the sense of being remembered and spoken of by my own people and for a time.

I am now to tell all I discover of the genealogy of my branch of the Moores and their wives and families resulting in the strain of blood my children carry. I have met difficulties. I find that the subject of genealogy and tracing descent needs a mind trained on those lines. It is now professional work; and such research, too, needs a lot of time and travel. I have no special training in such things and have not had the time to give.

Another difficulty lies in the permanent dispersal of the people I came from, at and about the close of the Revolution. My stock (Moore, Biggs, Whiteside, O'Melveny) is found in principal American origin in Maryland, Virginia, South and North Carolina. Now these adventurers from their early seats, in flocking to new unopened fields at the close of the Revolution, from Virginia, Maryland and the Carolinas, lost close touch with the old stock left behind, so, while the tribe grew in the old environment, the offshoots in the wilderness, bringing few if any records, raised a new tribe knowing but little of the old.

I notice in transactions of historical societies and from my acquaintance, too, that, in case of New England families, this trouble is minimized. Those who went to far parts kept up the connection, and in many, if not most, families, those ranging can always hark back to Plymouth Rock, or thereabouts, in unbroken line to the first comer. I think, too, the accessible records furnish more complete data concerning New- England arrivals and the antecedents of the colonists.

One who, with little or uncertain information, seeks to trace down from early Moores in the South, has a hard job. The w^oods were full of them. In the State enumeration of heads of families in Virginia from 1782 to 1785 there are one hundred and fiftynine Moores as heads of families, including ten named James. See "Heads of Families, First Census of the United States — 1790. State Enumerations of Virginia, from 1782 to 1785," page 163. There are also there noted five Biggs. By the same census it appears that in Maryland for the same period there were ninety-one Moores, heads of families. See "Heads of Families, First Census of the U. S., 1790, State of Maryland," page 167.

Many of these Virginia Moores were of (now) West Virginia and a number of the Maryland Moores were at Frederick. I note this by reason that my American Moore ancestry (and Biggs, too), begins with Frederick, Maryland, and the region about Wheeling, West Virginia. Frederick, Maryland, was a seat in America of my Moores and Biggs, both families having representatives in Virginia.

The census of Maryland just cited gives ten Biggs heads of families, four of whom are of Frederick and the others in Montgomery, Cecil and Hanford.

There is a town, Moorefield, in West Virginia, also one in Kentucky, and Mooreland, in Pennsylvania.

My Grandmother

Susan McKee O'Melveny

when very old

Possibly my children are doubly related, for my wife's grandmother was Jane Moore of Georgia. Maybe a trained investigator, paid for his time and labor, with a fair starter, might run down to date most Southern Moores with accuracy. I am so ignorant of proper methods that I do not know. I know my direct line to include my Moore great-great-grandparents, and the same as to Biggs and Whiteside, but my trouble is to get farther back.

I locate my Moore great-great-grandfather, James Moore, of England, and have dates of his birth, marriage, and his children, but I do not know what became of his children other than his son James, from whom I am descended. In that connection, however, I note that, as herein shown, the original James Moore, had a son, David Moore, born in 1742, and as shown in "Draper Manuscript Collection" (set out in an appendix), in 1779 at Fort Pitt, a David Moore receipted to Captain Benjamin Biggs (who was related to the wife of the second James Moore) for military equipment. I presume that David was the brother of James Moore, later of Illinois.

Chapter II

HERE are old family records which afford, with family tradition and scrappy information, about all we know of that original James Moore. As appears later, his son, also James Moore, the pioneer settler, went to the Illinois country in 1780 or 1 78 1, settling at a spring in (now) Monroe County, called Belle Fontaine. At the death of this Illinois James, the homestead on which he lived was left to his youngest son, John Milton, and this John Milton in his turn, when death came, left it to his son John Milton. So some of them always until lately lived there.

I judge that when James, son of James, came to the Illinois in 1780 or 1781, he brought with him either in a Bible or as a record, a family history gotten from his father, and, dying, left it with his youngest son, and so it came down to the last John Milton.

This last John Milton died some time ago, leaving as sole descendants two daughters; one of these died unmarried and the other married a German named (I think) Wooters. She bore him a son and died, and thus I think that family record came to the possession of Wooters who, I believe, occupies still a portion of the old domain as guardian, or in the right of his infant son. I have tried to get a view of it, but possibly failed to make myself understood. Maybe it was lost and never came to that possession. I think if I were on the ground I might find it among some of the Moores scattered over the Middle West. The point is, though, that that old record has been in existence and was in possession, as I assume, of the last John Milton as late as 1875.

In "Historical Atlas of Monroe County, Illinois," 1875 (Brink), appears a laudatory sketch of this last John Milton. The sketch proper is preceded by the following:

"The Moore family, with which the subject of this biography is connected, is one of the oldest in the history of Illinois. The first mention we have of the family is in England, where James Moore, the great-grandfather, was bom in 17 16. He subsequently emigrated to Virginia, but at what date is not now known. His son was also named James Moore. He was the grandfather of J. Milton Moore, and was born in Virginia in 1750. He was a captain of Virginia Militia, and was originally sent to the Illinois country by Governor Madison.

"An old family record is still preserved in one of the branches of the family, from which we make the following extracts:

"James Moore was born May the twenty-third, 17 16.

"His wife, Hannah, was bom March the twelfth, 1720.

"There were seven children :

"David Moore, born February twenty-second, 1742.

"Mary Moore, born November twentieth, 1745.

"Hannah Moore, bom May twenty-sixth, 1747.

"James Moore, born February fourteenth, 1750.

"Margaret Moore, born March second, 1752.

"William Moore, born May seventeenth, 1754.

"John Moore, born April thirtieth, 1756.

"James and Catherine Moore had children as follows: "John Moore, bom May twenty-fifth, 1773. "Benjamin Moore, born September fifteenth, 1775. "William Moore, bom April twenty-sixth, 1777. "William Moore, born December fifteenth, 1778. "James B. Moore, bom October eighth, 1780, "Enoch Moore, born February seventeenth, 1783. "Mary Moore, born November fourth, 1784. "J. Milton Moore, born October i8th, 1786.

"It was about the year 1782 when James Moore emigrated with his family from Virginia to what is now Illinois. In company with others he came to Kaskaskia, and then, proceeding north, founded the Colony of Belle Fontaine, one of the first settlements made by Americans within the present limits of the State. This location was just south of the present town of Waterloo. The country was then a wilderness, and had recently been rescued from British control by the daring and adventurous campaign of General George Rogers Clark."

It is clear that John Milton, father of the girl who married Wooters, then had a family record which had come down from the first James to second James, to John Milton, youngest son, and again to John Milton, youngest son, each in turn afte. the first James living and dying on the homestead. -

Well, where was the first James born in 1716? Who was he by blood and what became of his children other than my great-grandfather James? There has been uncertainty as to whether his son, James Moore, the Illinois pioneer (my great-grandfather), was born in Maryland or Virginia. I will discuss that later in connection with the family of my great-

William Whiteside Moore Nancy Vernon O'Melveny, His Wife My Parents, taken in 1857 AT San Jose grandmother, Biggs, for that family was of Frederick, Maryland, with removal to Virginia; but it will not take much time or space to set out all the facts I know, from whence to draw conclusion concerning the original James and his nativity.

The Atlas history, supra, says that the first mention of the family is "in England where James Moore was born," and that he migrated to Virginia. That migration may or may not have been stated in the records. The author, it may be, so concluded, by reason of obscure reference, or by being so told, for I am persuaded that several of the Moores have so claimed. It is not clear that he at first settled in Virginia, though he may have. I think he may have removed to Virginia from Maryland, and base that on two sets of facts.

In the first place there is unbroken tradition in my branch that the first James Moore before or after settlement in Virginia settled about Frederick, Maryland. My father, William Whiteside Moore, a son of John Moore, oldest son of James Moore, the Illinois pioneer, always so claiming, and also that his father, John, was born in Maryland, and the later children born in Virginia; my uncle, John Milton Moore, claimed the same. He interested himself a good deal in family history. At one time he prepared for presentation to Congress a claim for reimbursement to the heirs of the Illinois James Moore, of amounts expended in erection of a blockhouse fort at Belle Fontaine and outlay in protection from Indian forays. Late in life he wrote a pamphlet in which he

[II]

Speaks of that, and says that when leaving for California in 1853 he left certain papers with members of the Moore family in Illinois. I would like to see those papers.

My uncle, John Milton Moore, was pretty well informed on family matters. He has frequently told me a settlement of the first James (born 1716) was in Maryland. He and I together used to talk with an old Marylander, veteran of the Mexican War, living in California, about the fact of settlement in Maryland. His name was Bromley. He had known, or thought he had known, our relations in Maryland. Himself he had no doubt of it. It is evident, though, that my uncle supposed the first settlement of the first James to have been in Virginia, for he gives birth of second James as Virginia, with an apparent removal to Maryland.

I have spoken at length of that old family record shown by another John Milton at the old Belle Fontaine, to the compiler Brink. Well, my uncle, John Milton Moore, evidently had seen and copied a record much like it, but not identical. Though he is dead, it stands yet in his family Bible. It is identical so far as both speak, with the printed one in the Atlas, with two exceptions. It will be noticed that the genealogy printed in the Atlas begins with the births of the original James and his wife Hannah — • then follows the births of all their children, including James of Illinois. Then follows in the Atlas record the births of the children of the spouses, James Moore of Illinois and his wife, Catherine Biggs.

GENEALOGY AND RECOLLECTIONS

Now note the record in the Bible of my uncle, John Milton (son of John, son of James, son of James the original), to wit:

"James Moore, born May 23rd, 17 16. Ireland OT.

"Hannah, his wife, bom March 13th, 1720.

"James Moore married Hannah January ist, 1740.

"James Moore, their son, bom February 14th, 1749.

"Catherine Biggs, his wife, bom March 6th, 1750.

"James Moore, their son, married Catherine Biggs May ist, 1772."

Then follows in my uncle's Bible the birth of the first child of the marriage of James Moore and Catherine Biggs, to wit: "John Moore, their son, born in Maryland May 23rd, 1773; came to Illinois in 178 1." Then follows the marriage of John Moore (son of James Moore, son of John Moore) with Elizabeth Whiteside, December 23rd, 1794. Following, come the births of the children of that marriage, including my father, William Whiteside Moore, and my uncle, John Milton, himself, and it concludes with his own marriage and births of his children.

Clearly that record is taken from one like (but not entirely like) the one exhibited to Brink. These records speak differently in particulars not reconcilable, to wit: It is reasonable and probable that the record at the old homestead examined by Brink contained statement that the original "James Moore, the great-grandfather, was born in England in 1716." It is also probable and reasonable that my uncle copied into his Bible record from a record which said that this original James was "born in Ireland, OT."

The record examined by Brink seems to say nothing of the date of the marriage of the original James with Hannah, but my uncle's Bible gives that date as January ist, 1740. Again the Brink record gives the birth of James Moore second as February 14th, 1750, while my uncle's Bible gives it as 1749. I note also that in a book entitled "Proceedings of the Centennial Reunion of the Moore Family, 1882," by Doctor D. N. Moore and Mr. McCabe Moore, there is set forth that James and Hannah were married, but without date. It gives names and dates of birth of their other children agreeing with what I have called the Brink record, but giving the birth of James Moore second, as 1750, in disagreement with my uncle's Bible. That book also says the second James was born in Virginia. Doctor Moore is dead and I do not know the residence of Mr. McCabe Moore, but I would much like to know which or what record they saw. So much, then, for those records.

If, in fact, the first James Moore, born in 1716, was born in Ireland, it is certain that he was of English or Scotch blood and from the part of Ireland colonized by Scotch and English early in the 17th century (about 1607, I think), when King James evicted the Irish people from several counties and settled on the lands, colonizing Scotch and English, whose descendants are there yet, and now making trouble against Home Rule in Ulster. All the descendants of the first James Moore have been Protestant. The folklore, stories, songs, household words and phrases, family names, wills and the like all speak only of English origin. The Scotch and English so planted on Irish soil have been most virile, long dominant in America in war, letters and statecraft. Those English and Scotch transplanted to Irish soil, there on alien ground produced a distinct type, better and stronger in new environment than in their old home.

In favor of England as native place of the first James Moore, and Hannah, his wife, I add that there is now in possession of one of the family at Alton, Illinois, a book of poems which has come down to him through his father, descendant of original James. That book bears inscription (and has so borne it in all the years) to wit: "J^^^^s Moore and Hannah Moore, born in London, England." That book evidently was brought to Illinois by James Moore second, the pioneer, and had been his father's. As evidence, that book is persuasive on the question of nativity, and in a court it would be received in a proper case, not as conclusive but as competent, relevant and material on any issue involving the question.

I believe that the first James and his wife were English. I conclude that they first settled in Virginia; that the second James was born there, after which some of the family settled in Frederick, Maryland, but on such authority as I find I cannot determine definitely as I would wish.

In the war between the States, church and other records in Frederick, Maryland, were mainly destroyed, so search on those lines would be non-pro-

[IS]

ductive. There were always Moores there (Protestant) and from long before the Revolution they were fairly numerous, though that does not prove anything save opportunity.

The Bible record (supra) does not say where James, the pioneer of Illinois, was born. The matter set forth in Brink's Atlas, from family records at the old homestead, says he was born in Virginia. My uncle, John Milton, wrote a booklet on family matters in which he says that James Moore, the pioneer, son of the original James, was born in Virginia, but lived a time in Maryland, where his first child, John Moore, (father of the said John Milton, and my grandfather) , was born. The Centennial book of Doctor and McCabe Moore says the second James was born in Virginia. Reynolds' "Pioneer History" says of the Illinois pioneer, he was "native of Maryland."

As will appear, James Moore was leader of the first party of actual settlers in Illinois in 178 1 or 1780. The party, in leadership of James Moore, was Shadrach Bond (uncle of the later Governor), Garrison, Rutherford and Kidd. Reynolds may have concluded they were all from Maryland by reason that some of them certainly were. Reynolds says that Bond was from Maryland, but see "Virginia Series, Vol. II, Kaskaskia Records, 1778-1790," wherein it appears that Bond testified in court that he was native of Virginia. There is no question but that this James second lived in West Virginia: that most of his children were born there, and no doubt that when he

A. A. Moore

at 14 years

(Taken at San Jose, Cal.)

Started to Illinois, to settle there, he went from West Virginia; but that does not prove he was born there. Sometimes his party of settlers is spoken of as Marylanders; sometimes as Virginians, and again as of both. In truth they were of both, but migrating from one or the other does not prove birthplace.

Stuve and Davidson, page 203, speak of the party as Moore, Garrison, Kidd, Bond and Rutherford, saying that James Moore was the leader and they were from Virginia and Maryland, Moore settling at Belle Fontaine.

I judge that is true; some of those men were soldiers of General Clarke, of which I will speak later. Clarke's force was partly recruited in Kentucky and partly in West Virginia, but not, I think, in Maryland. So Bond probably was born in Maryland, as many writers say (non constat the affidavit of birth in Virginia), and Kidd and Rutherford, doubtless as Reynolds says, were Clarke's soldiers, recruited, I think, in Virginia, though native of Maryland.

Lewis ("History of West Virginia") says that in Lord Dunmore's war, 1774, there was on the scene a mixture of the peoples of West Virginia and Maryland. The booklet of John Milton Moore says that the party in starting for the Illinois started from Wheeling. So, notwithstanding that it seems clear he was born in Virginia, he is frequently credited to Maryland. A good many writers of early history speak of him and of his party, as I will quote later, on other subjects. Some call him Virginian, some say he was of Maryland, naturally falling into confusion on matter not deemed important, and more naturally, too, of a moving people. He surely did start to the Illinois from Wheeling, and at the time of the start was living near there with his family, then consisting of his wife, Catherine Biggs, my grandfather John, his first born, and other children.

The marriage of James Moore second does not assist as much as it might otherwise in fixing his nativity, by reason that the Biggs family was settled first at Frederick, Maryland, with a branch leaving there to settle (among the first) in West Virginia. I will speak later more at large concerning my Biggs ancestry.

Sufficient here to say that the original Biggs settled on the Monocacy River near Frederick in 1742. One of his sons, Benjamin, in 1770, with his family removed to West Liberty on Short Creek, near Wheeling. Catherine Biggs, the wife of James Moore second, was his daughter. She was born March 6th, 1750, so was twenty years old when her family left Maryland. James Moore, who married her, was born February 14th, 1750 (or 1749), so he was also about twenty when his wife's family left Maryland. James Moore and Catherine Biggs were married May ist, 1772, two years after his wife's family had left Maryland.

Now, several situations may have been present as possibilities, but as the marriage was two years after the wife's parents removed to Virginia, one would say they married in Virginia and consequently that my grandfather, their first born, born May 23rd, ^llTi) was there born. It could be that the family had long before left Maryland; that James Moore second was born in Virginia and was found there by Catherine. My uncle's Bible (supra), presumably copied as to that from an original record, says their first child, my grandfather John, was born in Maryland. He thought, and wrote, that after the marriage of James and Catherine in Virginia, the spouses moved to Maryland and again moved back, but all I can do is to leave it where I find it.

I feel clear that my grandfather was bom in Virginia. Benjamin Biggs, the father of Gen. Benjamin Biggs, and of Catherine, who married James Moore, moved from Frederick, Maryland, to West Liberty (Short Creek), Virginia, in 1770, and we know that James Moore and Catherine married in 1772. Now, as appears in "Abstract of Documents contained in Draper Mss.," printed as an appendix hereto, Benjamin Biggs in 1770 in Virginia assisted James Moore in building his house on his settlement. It is thus indicated that Moores and Biggs were settled in Virginia at that date.

Now to this point in disjointed narrative we have my great-grandfather, James Moore second, married to Catherine Biggs, living, as I assume, near Wheeling, and my grandfather, John Moore, their first child, born 1773. We will hear no more of John until we find him a boy of a few years in the country of the Illinois, in 1780 or 178 1. In fact I know no more

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of the doings of James Moore second from his marriage until he went to the Illinois.

The pertinent inquiry then is, when did he first go? Was he a soldier under George Rogers Clarke? What did he do in the Illinois, and how did he live and die, and what became of his children? Was he the first American settler? and so on.

I cannot make much segregation in matter cited, but all citations and observations thereon will relate to the whole inquiry in whole or salient part. But before citation to or observation on matters relating to my great-grandparents, Moore and Biggs, I will kind of bring up the Biggs stock to the point, if it comes, where the relation may refer to both. I get the data in part from historical publications, and partly from a genealogical compilation made by the father of Miss Irma T. Biggs, now living in Frederick, Maryland.

Chapter III

OHN BIGGS, the remotest American ancestor, was born in England, wife's name unknown. He with his familyfirst settled in 1740 in New Jersey. In 1 74 1 he removed to Maryland, settling on Monocacy River, six miles above Frederick. He had two sons, Benjamin and William. The son William remained in Maryland, having a family of eight sons and two daughters, whose descendants are still about Frederick (see among my papers a letter from Miss Irma T. Biggs, giving many names and residences). In a letter to me she says "in 1770 the son Benjamin sold all his property and removed to West Liberty on Short Creek, West Virginia."