Saturday, July 6, 2013

John Moore, From Ireland to Georgia

John Moore is one of my brick walls.  I know that he was born in Ireland in 1812 (census) and that he married Peggy Powers  in Crawford County, Georgia in 1844.  I have not been able to find out anything about him between those two dates.  I don't know if he was brought over as an infant or was fresh off the boat when he got married.  He isn’t in the 1840 census, but of course as an unmarried man, he could have been a hired hand on someone else’s record. He lived in Fort Valley, which was then Houston County and is now Peach, near the border with Crawford County.  In 1850, there were a total of 17 people in Houston and Crawford combined who were born in Ireland. None of them were Moores, none of them lived near John, and only two of them were women (looking for sisters) and have been eliminated. He of course died just before the 1900 census when he would have been asked what year he immigrated, and  at least 19 years before Georgia had death certificates. When he signed the loyalty oath after the civil war, where the official was supposed to write how many years the person had been in the county, he put “more than a year” for everyone. I know John naturalized so now I’m looking for that record. Unfortunately, at the time he naturalized you could do it in any court of record. He is within fairly easy reach of 3 different county seats, with all the relevant courts that they have.

So what do I know -

  - He was born in Ireland in 1812 (Multiple census)
  - He married Margaret "Peggy" Powers in Crawford County, GA on12 April 1844.
  - He and Peggy appear in the 1850 Houston county census, District 9, dwelling 274, family 274, pg 324.  Also in the household were their children Charles (4), William (2) and Sarah (1), as well as Asa Powers and John English, both listed as farmers.  John Moore was listed as a farmer with real estate worth $200.  He was born in Ireland, Peggy in South Carolina and everyone else in Georgia.  This stays the same throughout the censuses.
   - In the 1860 census (Houston County, District 9, dwelling 69, pg 957) John is a well-digger with real estate worth $50.  Three more children have been added - Mary, and two listed in this census as Drewsena and Drewsilla.
   - In 1867, he took the loyalty oath to the Union. 
   - In 1870 (Houston County, no district given, dwelling 942, family 1042, page 110) John is again a farmer, now showing $200 of personal value, $200 real value.  Children William (farm laborer), Mary, and Francis were still at home.  Francis is the child shown as Drewsena in 1860.
  - In the 1880 census (Houston County, Fort Valley, dwelling 329, family 329, pg 65), William is the head of household with John and Margaret living with him.  William is a farmer and John is again a well-digger.   Mary is still living at home.

He presumably died between 1880 and 1900, when he disappears from the census.  At one time, a genweb posting stated that he was buried at Oaklawn cemetery, dying in 1898, but this is no longer on line and there is no tombstone for him there.  There are two unknown adults buried in the same plot as his daughter. 


This search is complicated by the fact that there were two John Moore families in Houston county, probably unrelated.  The other Moore families in the county were all from Georgia and North Carolina.

After John and Peggy married, they settled down near Fort Valley and lived there for the remainder of their lives, raising a number of children.  For the first 14 years of their married life, Peggy's mother Sarah Turner Powers reportedly lived with them.  They also lived next door to Peggy's sister Sarah Ann Powers Holly.   John's occupations varies between "farmer" and "well-digger".  He did own land but did not seem to have developed it much.

Their children were:
   1.  Charles L. Moore, born April 1846, married Mary Ellen Dize (Dies) on 28 Apr 1868.  Died in 1907 in Houston (now Peach) county, GA.  Served in the Confederate army.
   2.  William C. Moore, born 1848 in Houston County.
   3.  Sarah A. Moore, born abt 1849, probably married Charles J. House
   4.  Mary Moore, born abt 1852, so far no marriage found.
   5.  Drusilla Frances "Fanny" Moore, born 25 Dec 1853, married John Dies (brother to Mary Ellen), died 11 June 1926 in Macon, Bibb County, GA.
   6.  Drusena Arena or Irene Moore, born 1 Sep 1955, married Moses Thomas Wade, died 25 Sep 1941 in Macon. 

    

6 comments:

  1. I'm going to assume that you already looked into church records and Georgia state marriage records (if there are any available from then)...

    Otherwise, I've got nothing :(

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  2. Best wishes on your search. I had an uncle named John Earl Moore who just recently passed away. I know he wasn't your John Moore, but it makes me wonder if somehow my uncle is related to the family that you're researching. Uncle Earl was born in Spartanburg, SC, and was the son of Robert L. Moore and Winnie Lou Shipman.

    I found you through Geneabloggers and am now following you via the Feedly Reader. Have a great weekend.

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  3. Sarah Turner Powers was my 5th great grand aunt, are there pictures of her family and where is she buried? (ga)

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  4. There are no pictures that I have been able to find yet and of course she died when photography was still fairly new. My family has no pictures of her children and I have yet to find any cousins who do, so it is the next generation down before we have photos.

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  5. Hi my name is Tonya and Samuel Lee Dyes was my great grandfather ( my grandfather was Rufus Dyes)son of Fannie (Drusilla Frances "Fanny" Moore).I am very excited to find your page. This really helps to fill some of the gaps with John!

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  6. Hi Tonya. Hope you see this. I hadn't been checking the blog for comments but I'm back now. I hope you saw the new year's post with Fanny's grandmother.

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