In the early 18th century in Ireland a number of Presbyterian ministers with members of their congregations moved to America. William Boyd's story is well known:
In 1718 Rev. William Boyd of Ireland brought to this country a petition of a group of Scotch-Irish for admittance to the New World. The signers included Thomas and James Moor, Jr. Other signers were Adam Dickey, James Alexander, John Black, John, Hugh, and William Blair, Thomas and James Jr. Leech, Knox, Given, Millar, Young, Love, Craig, Nesmith, Caldwell, Roe, Thompson, Hunter, King, Campbell, Ross, Kennedy, Blair, Stewart, Black, Boyd, Kerr, and Wilson, and others whose surnames appear repeatedly in the Moore family history in both the Carolinas, Alabama, and Tennessee.
Actually progressive members of many of these families had come across as early as the 17th century. Most of them entered this country in the PA/DE/MD area. They are found in Maryland (especially Somerset and Cecil Counties) and hence to Pennsylvania west of Philadelphia, in Augusta County, Va., in the Salisbury area of N.C. and in the York-Chester area of S.C. Others continued southwesterly, some of course as far as California.
The Moores are found in all of these places. It is likely that members of the family also came directly to Charleston. The family as a clan seems to have immigrated to Pennsylvania and/or Maryland early in the 18th century. Elements of it moved west and south with hordes of Scotch Irish kinsmen.
John Boyd, born 1656 in Ireland). In 1686 he married Mary? Moore, dau
of James Moore, Sr. of Ireland. Among their children were:
Samuel Boyd, (1689-1770); In 1720 he married
Margaret Campbell. He is believed to have come to PA and had a son
named John Boyd (cf 1999 submission of Susan Gillim.
(This from Leighanne Boyd in Boyd Rootsweb mailing list and
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~housboyd/welcome.html
The Moore family appears to be part of a group of Scotch-Irish who began settling in Somerset Co. MD in the 17th century; some of them made their way up to Cecil Co near the Pa line. (At that time the MD-PA line was undecided.)
The 1724 tax list for the Nanticoke Hundred of Somerset Co., Md. included three More families: John More, with Phillips and John, John More in the forest, and William Moore and also David Leach, with Mark and David, Jr. Among their neighbors were many Caldwells, Callaways, Collins, Givans, Hart, Henry, Jackson, Lackey, Olliver, Robinson, and Scott. There seems a good possibility that the descendants of David Leech and one or more of these More [Moore] families were found together some 60 years later in what became York Co. SC. Most of the names mentioned here are also represented in early 19th century York Co.
In the early 18th century many Scotch Irish families moved from Somerset to Cecil. Among them were Alexander, Wallace, Polk, Leech, Knox, Brevard, Harris, Givens and probably some other families. Members of all these families went south to Mecklenburg NC and York SC.
The LEECH family has been obliquely related to MOORE in several states. The account of their migration may suggest similar movement of the Moore family from Somerset to Cecil, PA, NC, and SC.
In a book entitled Colonial Soldiers of the South by Murtie June Clark on pages 6-9 there is a 1739 roster of the Cecil Co. Foot Company commanded by Capt. John Veazey. The list goes up to #220 and it includes #114 David Looch [Leech] and #176 Joseph More (genealogically of course this may mean much or nothing).
The following page numbers the foot company under Capt. Zebulon Hollingsworth; at #29 is John Moor and at #18 Nathaniel Moore. (In the celebration of Huck's Defeat, a Revolutionary Battle in York Co. SC, Nathaniel Moore appears as one of the sons of John Moore.) Also in this company a number of names appear which obviously relate to families who came from Somerset and who found their way down to Mecklenburg, NC and/or York SC. (In the 1760's what later became York SC was then part of Mecklenburg.) (Zebulon Hollingsworth was one of David Leech's creditors as noted in Leech's estate records in 1751 in Cecil Co.)
Here is a selected list of surnames which appear in
Cecil Co. MD,
Adair (found in Cecil, York and Lawrence)
Alexander (found in Cecil, York and Lawrence)
Ross (found in Cecil, York and Lawrence)
Brevard
Gillespie
McKnitt
Leech (found in Cecil, York and Lawrence)
Polk
McWhorter (found in Cecil, York and Lawrence)
Harris (found in Cecil, York and Lawrence)
McElheny
Moore (found in Cecil, York and Lawrence)
Cowan
Black (Alexander in Cecil; cf Col Soldiers
p. 13)
Barnet
Barry (Berry)
Reese
Sharpe
Thomas
Scott (owed money to David Leech in 1751)
Potts
Wilson (found in Cecil, York and Lawrence)
Rev. Thomas Wilson, colleague of Rev. James Alexander of
Raphoe, received a grant in or near New Munster???
In the middle of the 18th Century thousands of Scotch Irish and German settlers peopled the Carolinas, coming largely from Augusta Co. Among them were a number of my ancestors.
In 1751 Andrew Moor and Nathaniel Alexander witnessed a P/A executed by Aron Alexander of Petersburgh, Cumberland Co. PA to friend Moses Alexander of Milford Hundred, Cecil Co. to acknowledge a 1750 deed to William Langwill for a tract in Newmunster formerly in possession of David Alexander. Andrew also acknowledged it in court as well as the following entry, the deed. The deed states that David Alexander had bought the property from Thomas Stevenson of Bucks Co. in 1714. The deed was signed by Aaron and Ann Alexander.
In its early days Cecil Co. MD intruded into an area that later became part of Chester (and perhaps Lancaster) Co. PA. Many of the names listed in Cecil show up in those counties a few years after 1739. Moore and Leech are particularly significant.
Rev. John Cuthbertson was a Covenanter and pastor of the Octoraro Presby Church in PA. in the 1750's. He kept a journal, extracts of which were published as Register of Marriages and Baptisms. Walter Moore, who lived on Pennypack Creek 15 miles from Philadelphia, is often mentioned in the journal:
In 1754 the minister was at the home of Walter Moore and baptized Sarah, Elizabeth Leech, and Mary, all of them daughters of Walter Moore . (Walter Moore's house appeared to be two miles from White Marsh Church.
On the same page of the abstracted journal we read that on Dec. 12, 1758 he married John Moore and Margaret Ayres. On the next page: in 1759 he rode 31 miles to Chester, Darby, Philadelphia--left B. Leech." The following day he baptized Anne, daughter of John Wallace.
Back on page 201 is a notation that he rode 20 miles to and from Frankford with Brother Leech's child dead. (Cuthbertson had married Sarah, one of Walter Moore's daughters, so we may assume that "Brother Leech" was his wife's brother-in-law. Of course the minister habitually used the term 'brother' referring to his 'brothers in Christ'.)
(Unfortunately I have not found the first name of 'brother Leech' in the book. Nor have I had any success in identifying Walter Moore; but I did find a Walter Moore with Alexander Moore and other Moores buried at Bethel cemetery near the Leech property in SW York Co. SC. That Walter lived 1798-1861.)
Agnes Moore married John Boyd II, who was born in 1747 in County Antrim in Ireland. They are said to have had 11 sons. (This from Carolyn L. Boyd in Boyd mailing list.)
In Sunlight on the Southside page 130 ff is Cargill's List of Tithes. It includes Alexander, John, Joseph, and Robert Moore.
Here are some other interesting names in Lunenburg: Wylie, Wade, Berry [Barry], Boyd, Lacy, William Love and William, Sr. and John, Bell, Johnson and Johnston, Israel Pickens, Israel Robinson, Ross, Ash, Black Neely Rogers, Dodd, Rainey, Fleming Williamson, Gill, McElhenny, Wilson, and William and Richard Davis. Almost all of these families came down from the MD/PA area, lived in the "Southside" VA for a while, and proceeded on down to Mecklenburg, many of them in areas that became York and/or Chester, SC. Often they left some of their family members in VA.
James Moore (1712-87) was the oldest son of Alexander Moore and Rose Cowan. James came to America as an infant. As a young man he went to Virginia (Lunenberg?) where his sister Margaret had married William Black. He married William's sister, Rachel Black.
James Moore (1712-87) died in York Co. SC. His
children were:
Alexander 1756 md Dorcas Erwin and
Catharine (Palmer) Marion
Rachel 1758
Mary b 1761 md Major James Moore and
Francis Erwin.
John, died unmarried in 1831
James 1764-1847 unmarried, buried at
Bethesda.
Jane b ante 1774; md Rev. James McElheny
Josiah, MD, b 1775; married Agnes (Nancy)
Smith
In 1763 James Moore received a grant on the south fork of Fishing Creek in York Co. SC. In 1769 he conveyed 126 acres of it to David Leech. In 1769 Leech conveyed it back to John Moore, Jr., likely the son of James, the original owner. This last conveyance was witnessed by John McElheney, Jr. (no doubt a close relative of Leech's wife, Prudence McElhany Leech). (cf. p. 568 of Some SC County Records, Vol 2. York Co Deed Book A.)
In the celebration of Huck's Defeat, a Revolutionary Battle in York Co. SC, Nathaniel Moore appears as one of the sons of John Moore. Note that a man (no doubt an earlier generation) named Nathaniel Moore appeared in the 1739 militia role of Capt. Veazey in Cecil Co. MD, quite close to David Leech. (Wild guess: this John Moore of Huck's Defeat was the John Moore married to Margaret Ayres by Rev. Cuthbertson, the Pennsylvania Presbyterian minister in 1758.)
In 1782 Alexander Moore was appointed Sheriff of Camden Dist. James and John Moore, Richard Sadler and David Beard signed a bond for him. (Richard Sadler was the brother-in-law of William Leech.) In 1800 Alexander Moore became the first judge of York Co.
In 1781 the will of John Moore was witnessed by David Leech.
The 1790 York Co. census in the published consecutive
lists of the census
On page 30, col 3:
#20 John Moore
#21 William Leech (John and Wm Leech were brothers.)
page 28, col 3 shows:
#58 John Harris (likely a member of the Harris
family who in Lawrence Co. AL was to marry a descendant
of John Leech.)
#59 James Moore
John Harris, son of Samuel and Martha Laird Harris, and grandson of James and Mary McIlhenny Harris, lived in York Co. SC. In 1777 he married Jane Moore (1756-1843). (In an article dated 1964 produced by Mr. Joseph E. Hart, Jr. on "Some of the Descendants of James Moore" he mentions 3 Jane Moores of appropriate ages. The only one he didn't otherwise account for was James' sister; he simply listed her with no dates or description. Of course this Jane Moore could have been a member of some other Moore family.)
John Harris died in 1811. So far I haven't found records on his children.
It appears that after the war members of both the Leech family and the Moore family moved to Turkey Creek, about 10 miles west of Fishing Creek and from the Bethesda community to the Bullocks Creek one. John Leech and James Moore, Jr. are both found on page 261 of the 1810 York Co. census, as also Alexander Moore, Esq.
will of Alexander Moore 1813
wife Catharine
sons: Alfred, Maurice A, James
daus: Rachel and Dorchus A.
exors, sons, William and James
wit Mary Irwin, John Moore, Andred Springs p 1814.
Bethel Presbyterian Church is located in SW York Co.
Leech's and
Moores and many associated families are buried there.
Among these are
William Moore (1773-1843)
Walter Moore (1798-1861)
J.O.Moore (1800-1867)
Drucilla Moore (1801-80)
John Moore (1809-74)
Drucilla Moore (1801-88)
Edward Moore (1814-1900)
Some associated families:
Henry Craig (1729-1807)
Alexander Ross (1775-1823)
David Johnston (1798-1825)
Katharine Kilpatrick Kerr died 1821
Andrew Kerr, died 1842
Joseph Feemster (1778-1839)
Sarah Feemster (1783-1839)
In the 1830 Franklin Co. TN census John Moore appears on page 118. On page 125 are three Harris families between David Leech and Rice Collins, also Minos B. Feemster: all of these are York Co. families.
The SC Militia was active in the War of 1812. Many of Andrew Jackson's army returning from the Battle of New Orleans were said to have settled in the Mt. Hope area of Lawrence Co. Means' 1st Regiment included John, John, Philander, and Robert. John Leach/Leech is listed as a private in Youngblood's Regiment. There were three Youngblood families in the 1820 (state) Lawrence Co. census.
In the 1820 Lawrence Co. (state) census James Moore appears at #14 of page 20, which put him about 15 doors away from John Leech at #4 of page 21.
The 1830 Lawrence Co. census shows a number of families listed
consecutively in what became the Hatton area (roughly between Mt. Hope
and Town Creek):
John Leitch (Leech)
William Ash (his son-in-law)
William Davis (he appraised Leech's estate in 1835)
John Moore (there were Leech-Moore connections in
SC, and before that in PA. There was also an
intermarriage, probably in Lawrence Co. between the
Moore and Davis families.)
James Moore
William Dickey
Samuel T. King (father of Rev. Robert King)
All of these surnames are found earlier in York Co. SC in close proximity to the Leech family there.
For example William Davis and his brother, Josiah, were sons of Capt. William Davis and his wife, Martha Spence, who were married in York Co. SC in 1783. The other surnames show up at various places in this file.
When John Leech of York Co. SC died in Lawrence Co. in 1835 among his appraisors were William and Josiah Davis and William Moore. The Davis brothers were also among the buyers at his estate sale.
It's at this point that we find good evidence of a familiar relationship between the Moore and Leech families. It goes through two intermediate surnames: Ash and Davis:
Mary Elviria Davis was born in 1822 in SC. She was the
daughter of William and Armanella MOORE DAVIS. She
married Robert L. Ash, the son of Jane Leech and the
grandson of John Leech. Robert and Mary Ash had a
daughter, Martha who married Walter Harris. It appears
that Mary's grandmother was a Moore. (Note that the
1790 census for York Co. SC shows John Harris adjacent
to James Moore.)
Joseph Hart, distinguished genealogist of York Co, SC names a
William Moore who married Eleanor Oates. His son John md Jane
Patton; they had a daughter named Armanilla Oates Moore, who Hart says
married Humphries and died before 1854
What we have here in western Lawrence Co. is a web of intermarried York Co. families: Leech, Ash, Davis, Moore and Harris. Actually there are several others, including Dickey and King. All of these people are concentrated in a little area around the NE corner of Twp 6S 9W.
From Linda Underwood Joy:
John Jackson Moore was born 1802 in York Co. SC. In 1822 he moved
to Lawrence Co. AL, and in 1837 to Itawamba Co. MS. He married
Elizabeth Ann Green in Lawrence Co. in 1828.
One correspondent speaks of Newton Moore, born in Lafayette Co. in the 1860's with brothers, William Thomas, John, and James, with neighboring Alexander Family kin.
Shirley Scott shares this history:
1st Generation:
Also from Shirley Scott's website:
Mary Ann Dickey, (1863-1924), daughter of Thomas
Jefferson Dickey, who moved from Maury Co TN, to
Lafayette Co. MS and grandaughter of James R. Dickey
born 1790 in SC, married Thomas Dudley Moore,
(1858-1937) in 1882. This family went from Lafayette
Co. to Ripley Co. MO. (Note the proximity of the Moore
and Dickey families in Lawrence Co. AL in 1830.)
And this from Brenda Bryant:
They lived in Water Valley, just south of the Lafayette Co. line.
Comments, Corrections, Criticism, Suggestions
� 2001 Larry
Clayton
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