Family talk:John Moore and Mary Bruce (1)

There seems to be very little record of this family.

In 1779, "John Moore of Warwick" is administrator of his father-in-law's estate, John Bruce of Fitzwilliam, NH. In 1816, still "of Warwick", he sells his land in Warwick. In 1817, "of Bernardston", he sells land in Bernardston. In 1817, he is warned out of Vernon, VT (see below), but remained until his death. He was selected as "Tythingman" in 1821, and is listed in the 1830 US census there, age 70-80.

I believe John was the brother of Mark, Jonathan, and Samuel Moore, all of Warwick. The land of John Moore was bounded by holdings of Mark and Jonathan.

From Vermont Warnings Out by Alden M. Rollins, Picton Press, Camden, ME, 1997, v.2 p.283: 30 Dec 1817: Moore, John, his wife Mary and Nathan, Jerusha, and Triphena.

By process of elimination, this couple is John Moore and Mary Bruce who married in Sudbury in 1775, just prior to relocating to Warwick. In his 1913 manuscript, Winthrop Reed Kendall, grandson of Jerusha, also identifies this as John Moore and Mary Bruce.

I have not found recorded births or baptisms of any of his children in VRs of Warwick, or several of the surrounding towns, though the other Moores of Warwick seem well represented.

Winthrop Reed Kendall gives Jerusha's birth date as Dec 26, 1791, which matches very well with the gravestone "Reed, Jerusha M., wife of Stephen Reed, died Jan. 25, 1861, AE. 69."

The Vermont Historical Gazetteer, by Abby Maria Hemenway, Vol. 5, pp 271-336 says Tryphena was the youngest daughter of a large family and was born Sept. 25, 1796. She married John S. Wright.

Nathan Moore is listed as 40-50 in the 1830 census of Vernon, VT, indicating he was born between 1780 and 1790. He married Electa Fitch in 1827. I do not know if this was his first marriage or not, though in deeds of 1812 and 1813 Nathan is explicitly identified as an unmarried man.

The Newberry Library's special collection website [[1]] says that a daughter of John's, Elizabeth, married on 7 Jul 1799 to Phineas Ashley Pomeroy. History and Genealogy of the Pomeroy Family, by Albert Alonzo Pomeroy, publ. 1912, p. 304, gives her birthdate as 4 Mar 1777. She is often confused with Mark Moore's daughter Elizabeth but Warwick VR and her father's will make it clear that the Elizabeth Moore who was born 1 Oct 1776 and married Silas Bruce was the daughter of Capt. Mark Moore of Warwick.

There are several cases where adult children of John appear to act as witnesses on deeds in which he was involved.

In 1811, Nathan Moore and John Moore, Jr. were witnesses to a deed signed by John and his wife Mary. It seems likely that this John Moore, Jr. was another son (though we can't rule out the son of Samuel Moore b. 1789).

In 1814, Polly Moore and David Moore were witnesses to a deed signed by John. I believe this Polly was John's wife, his daughter of the same name being married at that time, and I suspect David might be yet another son. This is probably the same David who I cannot place in any of the other Moore families and who married a Lucy Miller in 1808.

A Polly Moore married Samuel Belding in 1801. I cannot place her in any of the other Moore families and suspect she may be a daughter of John Moore. John sold a part of his farm where "Samuel now lives" to Samuel in 1809, and had several other real estate dealings with him.

There is a Mark Moore, age 20-30, listed in the 1830 Vernon, VT census. The 1810 census for Warwick gives John Moore two males under 10, of which Mark could be one. Technically Tryphena is called the youngest daughter in the reference above, so we can make no assumptions about whether these were sons or grandsons of John Moore.

--Jrich 18:09, 25 August 2008 (EDT)

Notes on "Cobb's Diary" posted by the Warwick Historical Society here offer some tidbits among the small number of references to John Moore.

1804
Sun January 8 John Moore return from Roxbury

1806
Tues November 4th Abigail Moore Daughter of John Moore died 5 P.M. Jaudice [sic].

1812
Wed April 15 West to John Moore's in Morning -- made a Bank Mortgage of his farm -- returned completed the other Bank papers

1816
Saturday March 30 John Moore Deeded his Farm to Stephen Perry who moved his family and took possession.

--Jrich 15:01, 16 November 2019 (UTC)