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Moore Family Line of Ninety Six District, South Carolina
My great-great-grandmother Arzela Moore descends from the Patrick Gent Moore family (1681 Antrim, Ireland – 1752 Lunenberg, Virginia), who immigrated by 1746 from Antrim, Ulster, Ireland to Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Patrick’s son Joseph Moore (1715-1785) and his oldest son William Moore, born at Plymouth in 1746, is our Moore line.
The Moore family was a LARGE family. Grandfather Patrick had seven sons and it seems there were two daughters named Mary, both of whom lived full lives. Patrick’s son Joseph had six sons and one daughter. Have not yet researched Patrick’s other sons.
It appears that the entire Moore clan moved on to Virginia by 1748, which is where and when the next son William Moore was born at Halifax County, Virginia. Halifax was much larger then and was eventually split into at least four counties.
Church and State were almost one and the same at the time. Halifax County was known as Antrim Parish, Virginia. The vestry meetings of Antrim Parish were held at the Court House, then located at Peytonsburg in the eastern part of what later became Pittsylvania County.
Among the vestrymen of Antrim Parish were Thomas Dillard and James Dillard — members of the Dillard family would migrate to the upper Ninety Six District and settle at Spartanburg, South Carolina. A descendant, Samuel “Sam” Riley Dillard III (1893-1970) would marry my great aunt, Bessie W. Golden (1901-1985), daughter of John Hambright Golden and Mary Elizabeth Bridges Golden.
Living in Halifax, Virginia through at least 1756, four more Moore sons were born: Hugh Moore (1750), Joseph Moore (1752), Patrick Moore (1754) and Robert Patrick Moore (1756).
While much of the Ninety Six District, South Carolina was settled by freshly arrived Protestant Christians from the Ulster, Ireland area, our Moore family came via migration down the eastern seaboard coastline of Colonial America.
Joseph Moore settled in the Ninety Six District, South Carolina about after 1756, probably 1767 in what is now Abbeville, South Carolina.
Due to the size of the family (50 acres per member), the land grant of September 22, 1767 made to Joseph Moore for 350 acres at Granville County, South Carolina was probably to our Joseph Moore (1608271808).
NOTE: County names were very flexible at this time and have little in common with existing counties today or even any known geopolitical boundary at the time. It is Abbeville County, today.
Land plats from the era show the approximate location of his land.
Joseph Moore is listed as living at Long Canes and Places Adjacent, Ninety Six in the Jury Lists, 1779, Acts #1123 (1608272047). Also listed as grand jurors were James, John, and William Moore.
It is a bit difficult to determine where the ‘fork of the Long Canes and Little River’ is, but this area is approximately where the Upper Long Cane Presbyterian Church is today, founded in 1763. There is a large cemetery nearby from the colonial era.
Members of the Upper Long Cane Presbyterian Church were predominantly Scot-Irish at the time of the Revolutionary War and supported the rebellion. While not many specifics about Joseph Moore’s ordinary life is known, he did file a claim after the Revolutionary War for either services or losses (1608271843) due to supporting the rebellion.
Joseph Moore’s son Robert Burton “Burt” Moore (1756-1836, 3rd GGF) and Burt’s son William S. Moore (1799-1880, 2nd GGF) are the line that fathered Arzela Moore (1825-1886), who married Nathaniel Greene Golden (1812-1882/3), my great-great-grandparents.
You are welcome to add to or to correct this story by contacting: Bill Golden, Norfolk1956@gmail.com
BTW – I look forward to sharing your stories, photos and in-search-of quests. Contact me at the email address above.