WILLIAM MOORE, son of John and Rebecca Moore, known as "William Moore of Moore Hall," was born in the city of Philadelphia, May 6, 1699, and at the age of fourteen years was sent to England to be educated. He graduated at the University of Oxford in 1719, and returned to Philadelphia, where he married in 1722, Williamina, daughter of David, fourth Earl of Wemyss, who with her brother, James, later fifth Earl of Wemyss, had been driven from Scotland in 1716 on account of her father having espoused the cause of the Pretender. ...
William Moore, on his marriage settled on his father's tract of two hundred acres of land on Pickering creek, west of the Schuylkill, in Charlestown township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, and erected "Moore Hall" on an elevation, over-looking the Schuylkill and miles of surrounding country, about twenty-five miles from Philadelphia, and lived there the remainder of his life. He was a member of Provincial Assembly 1733-40, and in 1741 was commissioned a Justice and presided as President Judge of the Common Pleas, Quarter Sessions and Orphans' Court of Chester county, from April 4, 1741, until the Revolution. He was also Colonel of a Chester county Regiment, during the Colonial wars in 1747 and 1755.
He lived at Moore Hall in considerable style, maintaining a retinue of slaves and servants, and entertaining lavishly in Colonial times. In 1758 he was arrested for publishing an address severely criticising the Provincial Assembly, and with his son-in-law, Dr. William Smith, Provost of the College of Philadelphia, was brought before the Assembly, where both refused to make any defense, he merely admitting the authorship of the paper. Dr. Smith carried his appeal to the Privy Council in England and was sustained by that body on February 13, 1760. An aristocratic gentleman of the old school, he had no faith in the "rabble," as he termed a large mass of the enthusiastic patriots of 1775-6, and remained to the last a staunch Tory. While the Continental Army were at Valley Forge. Col. Clement Biddle was quartered at "Moore Hall," and the Committee of Correspondence held a session there in 1778.
William Moore died at "Moore Hall," May 30, 1783, aged eighty-four years. His will devised his whole estate to his wife, of whom he says, she was "never frighted by the rude rabble or dismayed by the insolent threats of the ruling powers ; — happy woman, a pattern of her sex and worthy of the relationship she bears to the Right Honorable and Noble family from which she sprang." She did not long survive him, dying December 6, 1784, in her eightieth year. Judge Moore was an enthusiastic churchman, and was a vestryman of St. James Protestant Episcopal Church of Perkiomen, and of St. David's, Radnor, where he and his wife are buried and where a tablet erected to their memory bears the following inscription :
TO THE MEMORY
OF
WILLIAM MOORE, ESQUIRE,
Of Moore Hall, in the County of Chester
and
WILLIAMINA, His wife.
He departed this life, on the 30th day of May 1783
Aged 84 years.
She died on the 6th day of December 1784, in the 80th year of her age.
This venerable pair lived together in perfect love,
and unremitted Harmony and Confidence, for the long
period of 63 years: dispensing the best of Life, with
an ardent and uninterrupted zeal, revered by their
Children. Beloved by their Friends, respected by the
Community, in which they passed their lengthened days, —
Benevolence & urbanity beamed on all who entered their
Hospitable Mansion : they administered comfort to the Poor,
& to the Afflicted, encouraging, a modest merit and protecting
humble honesty, though covered with rags.
He presided in the Common Pleas, Quarter Sessions &
Orphans' Courts in this County for a great length of time,
As a Judge, & as a Magistrate he was indefatigable in
Executing the solemn charge of these important stations
acquitting himself with intelligence, impartiality & dignity.
He was a tender father, — a true Friend, — an indulgent
Master.
She was one of "the brightest patterns of excellent nature"
Possessing a highly cultured understanding, she was
mild, considerate, kind & good. She was eminently
distinguished by her amiable disposition & unassuming
manners ; with calmness, but with resolution, she bore
the heaviest afflictions, — the severest trials of the uncertain
World : and evinced her firm reliance upon a state of
happiness, far beyond the grave.
"That state celestial where no storm assails.
No ills approach, — where bliss alone prevails."
