MOORE NEWS Volume II June 7, 1997 Issue 28-B Extra Edition (Continued from Issue 28-A) Exodus In a previous report we saw that many young Moores appeared in the tithing lists for a few years, then apparently left their water-bound childhood homes. Nine Moores can be identified in the tithing lists whose appearance was brief and who might logically be considered Moores who moved away from Northampton County. Dates following the name represent the years the person was tithed. Tithing began for young men when they were sixteen. John, 1720-1722 Jack, 1722 Esron, 1725 John, 1729 Francis, 1738; Henry, 1738 James, 1738 Matthew, 1739-1741 Mathew, 1741-1742. The two Mathews at the end of the list may have remained in Northampton County inasmuch as they appeared in the last published list, although no information was found in Whitelaw which traced land transfers which involved them. We arrive now at an expanded list of Moores who lived on the Eastern Shore but did not remain there. These are: Marmaduke Moore, 1664, transported by Edward Smith, probably to New Kent County Austin Moore, 1668, headright of Mr. Ambrose White, probably to Elizabeth City County. Esron Moore, 1715, dropped from the Northampton tithing list. Robert Moore, 1720, son of Joseph and Elizabeth Moore, perhaps to York County Henry Moore, 1723, dropped. Jack Moore, 1723, dropped. John Moore, 1729, dropped. Francis Moore, 1738, dropped. Henry Moore, 1738, dropped. James Moore, 1738, dropped. Martyn Moore, 1769, headright of Capt. West Devereux Brown, probably to York Co. Bibliography: Cavaliers and Pioneers, compiled by Nell Nugent, 1977. Certificates and Rights, Accomack County, Virginia, 1663-1709, comp. by Stratton Nottingham, 1977. Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, by Philip Alexander Bruce, 1935. Marriages of Northampton County, Virginia, 1661-1854, by Jean M. Mihalyka, 1990. Minutes of the Council and General Court of Colonial Virginia, comp. by H. R. McIlwaine, 1979. Northampton County, Virginia, Tithables, 1720-1769, comp. by John B. Bell, 1994. The Statutes at Large, Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature in the Year 1619, comp. by William Waller Hening. Virginia's Eastern Shore, by Ralph T. Whitelaw, 1968. Wills, Deeds, &C. 1715-1729, comp. by Stratton Nottingham. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From earlier research and report, we discovered that Edward Moore, Northampton Co VA, lived in Shadwell, Middlesex Co, England. This explains the reaction you will note to new information as specified below. Maurice Thompson, referenced in this episode, was one of the most powerful merchants in England in the mid 1600s. Below, we repeat part of the deposition filed with Northampton County Court in 1643: "I, Edward Moore, of Shadwell in the Co. of Middlesex [England], Mariner, constitute and ordain my much respected and good friend Argoll Yardley of Northampton in Virginia, Esq, my true absolute and lawful attorney to aske, demand, sue and recover all debts that at this present or hereafter shall appear to be due me in moneys or beaver or tobaccos by bonds, bills, books or other subscriptions." - - - - - - - - - - - - - Below is the Editor's reaction to a key discovery while researching in England records to discover 'the why' that was surfacing in Virginia. Source: "Newsletter for the Descendants of John Moore (d. 1777); A. W. Moore, Editor. 1997. P. O. Box 420136; San Francisco CA 94142. The Screen Widens On April 28th Mrs. Browning emailed us a message in which this statement was in all caps: "HERE'S OUR CONNECTION TO THE POLITICAL/ECONOMIC FACTION: JOHN MOORE (OF SHADWELL) AND MAURICE THOMPSON SERVED TOGETHER ON THE STEPNEY VESTRY FOR NEARLY 20 YEARS, BEGINNING TEN YEARS BEFORE EDWARD MOORE (OF SHADWELL) AND THOMAS MOORE MOVED TO EASTERN SHORE." And the next day she emailed us the following paragraphs, which we are reproducing here because they convey the enthusiasm that is generated by the kind of far-reaching discoveries she has been making, and which enthusiasm we share. "I see a story developing that's much, much larger than what I thought it was even when I said it was a big story - when we first noted similarities among these early Chesapeake Moore families on the Eastern Shore, the James, the York and the Rappahannock. "I see a story that transcends the Moores, numerous as they are, and everything I've ever done before. I see a story that encompasses all aspects of Virginia/American history in the formative years after the end of the starving time and the great Indian struggles (they had just about all died of small pox by 1650), a story that leads right up to the Revolutionary War. I see the story of religious differences in Virginia that never found voice in New England, but wrote the Bill of Rights. I see a story of families hanging on to the edge of a continent looking back, but never really seeing the promise of the future they would create. I see a story of ordinary people developing a way of thinking that followed a leader, and moved the leader to see things as they were, not as he dreamed they were. We have in the palm of our hand a tale of great dimension, if we have the wit and skill to tell it. This is an enormous wrap of an entire era in Virginia history. As far as I know, no one has ever, ever, ever presented it cohesively in the light of a group of these Puritan merchants and their relatedness, their effect on American history - from their ascendancy to the setting of their political sun fifty years later, and their resoluteness to move forward. This goes right to heart of the culture, the family relationships, economics, government, politics. It's broader and bigger than our Moore family. Many of the families who came into Virginia on the wave of Puritan ascendance in the 1650s fled to Maryland or the Penn lands after Governor Berkeley tightened the screws on dissent, and the Puritans lost out in the jockying in England after Charles II restored the monarchy. I can't think of anything more exciting than learning American history wrapped in the warm arms of a family - an ordinary people who didn't raise generals or presidents, who sometimes hung on to life in a bare frontier, who cut the trees and molded the timber into a home, who got up every day and milked the cow, and planted their kitchen gardens, and birthed and buried their babies - and their wives and their husbands - in graveyards long since sunk back into the earth. As I've just discovered recently through the researce of the Hanby family, many of these Virginians moved to Maryland and to the Penn lands in Pennsylvania/Delaware/New Jersey, then dipped south again to upper Piedmont North Carolina and lower Piedmont Virginia, truly the jumping-off place to the American west. __________________________________________________________________ Back issues of MOORE NEWS available at: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/news __________________________________________________________________ MOORE NEWS: Compiled from email and other sources Distributed by Joyce Browning cJBrown7169@AOL.com 7 June 1997