Person:James Moore (170)

Capt. James Moore, Jr. was one of the Early Settlers of Augusta County, Virginia

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Research Notes

• May have been the James Moore that obtained marriage license in Augusta County, Virginia on August 26, 1763. (Source: Chalkley's, Marriage Licenses)

Burial Notes

In 1998, researcher Robertson posted this excerpt from "Indian Tragedies Against the Walker Family" by Emory L. Hamilton:

On October 25, 1970, this writer [not sure if it is Hamilton or Robertson? -cos1776], and Mr. L. F. Addington, President of the Southwest Virginia Historical Society, visited the spot in Abb’s Valley, in Tazewell Co., VA, where Captain Moore and his family were captured and massacred on that fateful July 14, 1786. Our conductor was Mr. William Taylor Moore, great-great-grandson of Captain Moore, who explained the details of the attack thusly:

Captain Moore had gone across a small ravine some three or four hundred yards to salt his stock. The Indians came running down the hill above him and also down the hill behind his house, thus cutting him off from the house. He was shot down near a large uprooted oak, and when the soldiers came they wrapped his body in a sheet and buried him where the tree had uprooted, not having tools for digging a proper grave. The soldiers found the remains of two of his children and buried them beside him. Mr. Moore has three pieces of native sandstone marker that someone had carved and erected at Captain Moore’s grave. They fit the remaining portion still at the grave. Carved into the stone was:

Captain James Moore killed by Indians 1786

One of the small graves nearby Captain Moore’s grave has a small stone at the head with no markings. The second little grave is not marked at all and its location would be only a guess. The head and foot stones of Captain Moore’s grave are now separated by a large oak tree growing out of his grave.

1. ↑ Wilson, Howard McKnight. The Tinkling Spring, headwater of freedom: a study of the church and her people, 1732-1952. (Fishersville, Virginia: Tinkling Spring and Hermitage Presbyterian Churches, 1954)
   p 479.

   [add text]

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Howe, Henry. Historical Collections of Virginia: Containing a Collection of the Most Interesting Facts, Traditions, Biographical Sketches, Anecdotes &c. Relating to Its History and Antiquities, Together with Geopraphical and Statistical Descriptions ... (Charleston, SC: W.R. Babcock, 1846)
   p 489.

   [Detailed account of his murder and the murder and kidnapping of his family members.]

3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Capt. James Moore, in Find A Grave.

   [cos1776 Note of Caution: FindAGrave memorial pages register this burial in "Moore Cemetery" in Tazewell county, Virginia. This is not wholly accurate as there is no formal cemetery named "Moore Cemetery" at the site of the massacre where the victims are buried. See Burial Notes above.]

4. ↑ THE MOORES OF ABB'S VALLEY, in Pendleton, William Cecil. History of Tazewell County and southwest Virginia, 1748-1920. (Richmond: W.C. Hill Print. Co., 1920)
   p 411.

   [transcript in progress]

5. ↑ White, Emma Siggins. Genealogy of the descendants of John Walker of Wigton, Scotland: with records of a few allied families, also war records and some fragmentary notes pertaining to the history of Virginia, 1600-1902. (Kansas City, Missouri: Tiernan-Dart Printing Co., 1902)
   pp 133-145.

   [transcript in progress]

6.   Historical Highway Markers - [enter XP-5], in Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

   XP-5 ABB'S VALLEY
   Five miles southwest is Abb’s Valley, discovered by Absalom Looney. James Moore and Robert Poage were the first settlers, about 1770. In July, 1786, Shawnee Indians raided the valley, killing or carrying into captivity the Moore family. Mary (Polly) Moore, Martha Evans and James Moore (captured earlier) finally returned. They are known as “The Captives of Abb’s Valley.” Virginia Conservation Commission 1939
   (Location: Lon (X): -81.33424 Lat (Y): 37.30928 ; on Rt. 102, just east of Pocahontas)

   
7.   Capt. James Moore, in Johnston, David E. (David Emmons). A history of middle New River settlements and contiguous territory. (Huntington).

   [page number needed]
   ... An adventurer by the name of Absalom Looney in 1771 left his home on Looney's Creek, now in the Rockbridge Country, and came over the Alleghanies and explored the upper Bluestone country, particularly a beautiful valley now in Tazewell County, Virginia, and which in part bears the name of its discoverer, being called "Abb's Valley." Looney remained in this valley and adjacent territory for two or three years, and had for his refuge and hiding place from the savages and wild beasts a cave or rather an opening in the limestone rocks, for it was not deep under ground. This hiding place was pointed out to the author by William T. Moore, Esq., whose grandfather settled nearby in 1777. The cave referred to is a few yards south of the spot whereon now stands Moore's Memorial Methodist Church. On Looney's return to his home he gave such glowing description of this valley that one of his neighbors, Captain James Moore, was induced to make a journey to see it. He came in 1776 or 1777 alone, from his home with no companions nor weapons, save his rifle gun, tomahawk and butcher knife, the hunter's usual weapons of offense and defense. Looney had furnished him such a description of the valley as to enable him to find the way without difficulty. ...

8.   John Poage of Rockbridge County, Virginia
   Excerpt: “ Martha married Captain James Moore, and they settled in Abbs Valley in Tazewell County, just to the west of where the town of Pocahontas is now. In 1785, their oldest son James was taken captive by a Shawnee war party led by Black Wolf and was later sold to a French Canadian family named Ariome.The same chief led a raid on the Moore farm the following year and killed most of the family. Martha, four of her children and Mattie Evans, a visiting cousin were taken captive." From Carolyn Szabad