Christopher Columbus Moore Served the Confederacy and the Union (Moore Family, Part 4)

With a name like Christopher Columbus Moore, the third child of nine born to Albert and Sarah McClure Moore must have been destined for a noticeable life in his future. Perhaps like his namesake, who discovered America in 1492, Christopher Columbus Moore (born May 2, 1843 in North Carolina, died September 26, 1920 in Towns County, Georgia) would lead a life worth notice.

When the Civil War broke out, Christopher Columbus Moore was still at home with his parents in the Woods Grove Community of Towns County. He helped his father work on the farm. The political climate in this northern county was both pro-South and pro-Union, with sentiments largely favoring the latter. Few slaves were owned by farmers who, at best, had only small holdings in cultivated acreage.

Christopher Columbus Moore probably walked from his home at Woods Grove to the county seat town of Hiawassee. There, on March 1, 1862, he enlisted in the Confederate Army, joining Company E, 52nd Regiment, Georgia Infantry. For whatever reasons, whether his political leanings or dissatisfaction that he might have been defending slavery, “Lum” Moore (as he was known) was found to be away-without-leave from his regiment several times. Not so good a record, especially for anyone who might have thought of receiving a good conduct medal.

He was at the Battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and there he was taken a prisoner of war by the Union on July 4, 1863, along with others in the command of Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton, Confederate States of America. Evidently plans were in the works to allow any of the imprisoned Southern soldiers who would do so sign an oath of allegiance not to take up arms again against the United States, and thus be released from prison. Christopher Columbus Moore signed the vow of allegiance and was released as a prisoner of war on July 6, 1863, only two days after his capture. He was no doubt still in pain at the time he was imprisoned and released. Lum Moore lost his right forefinger in fighting at Vicksburg—a very useful finger to lose.

Following his release at Vicksburg, he probably returned home to Woods Grove for awhile. But then, whether because of his loyalty to the Union or because he could be paid for his services if he enlisted, Christopher Columbus Moore journeyed to Cleveland, Tennessee where he signed up for a year in the U. S. Army on August 5, 1864. Where he served and in what battles is unknown to this writer, but before his year of enlistment was up, the war had ended. Christopher Columbus Moore was discharged from the Union Army at Nashville, Tennessee on July 16, 1865. Evidently his two enlistments were not something he wanted to discuss. Descendants note that their grandfather was silent about the war for the rest of his life.

The same year as his discharge from the Union Army, Christopher Columbus Moore and Mary Elizabeth Swanson were married on December 14, 1865. Her parents were Anderson Clifton and Mary Brown Swanson. She had been born June 29, 1840, the eldest of the Swanson children. Her parents had migrated from Wilkes County, NC to Union County, Georgia in 1849. Lum Moore’s father-in-law had also served as a blacksmith in the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Christopher Columbus Moore and Mary Elizabeth Swanson Moore had eight children:

(1) James (01/07/1867) married Sadie Boyd and Sallie Williams
(2) William Hannibal (04/10/1868) married Jennie Wood
(3) Laveda (04/06/1870) married Albert Welborn
(4) John Andrew (12/25/1871) married Emily E. Teem
(5) Lillie (10/25/1873) married William Nicholson
(6) Lola (10/20/1875) married John Philyaw;
(7) George (04/21/1879) married Pearl Parker
(8) Thomas Arthur (04/09/1882) married Mae Johnson

As we learned from Part 3 of this Moore Family story, Christopher Columbus Moore and his wife Emily looked after his parents in the declining years of their lives, as Lum’s father had specified when he deeded him land along Long Bullet Creek, Towns County, “for taking care of Albert Moore and his wife Sarah and keeping as part of the family during their natural life.” This contract Lum and Emily Moore faithfully kept until Albert died in 1897 and Sarah died in 1899.

The old Civil War veteran of two sides, Lum Moore, lived mainly in Towns County for the remainder of his life, engaging in farming and perhaps harvesting timber from some of his acreage. But there were two brief periods when this couple lived elsewhere. For five years they lived in Habersham County, Georgia at a place called Arnold’s Mill. They also lived briefly in Macon County, North Carolina. Each move may have been because of living nearer some of their married children.

But they moved back to Woods Grove to live out their days. It is interesting that a post office once operated from the old homestead of Lum Moore’s father, and this post office was not called Moore—after the people who lived on that land—and not Woods Grove, as the community then and since has been known, but the post office that operated there for a decade from 1890-1900 was Campagne, Georgia.

Christopher Columbus Moore and Mary Elizabeth Swanson Moore died two months apart—he on September 26, 1920 and she on December 29, 1920. Their marked graves are in the Woods Grove Cemetery, Towns County, Georgia.

c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Feb. 24, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Continuing with the James and Albert Moore Families of Early Union and Towns Counties (Part 3)

Continuing with two of the families cited in the article published January 27, 2011 (Part 2) on Moore families in early Union County, we learn that when Towns County was formed in 1856, at least two of the Moore families living in Union in 1850—those of James and Albert—were within the bounds of the new county, Towns.

In 1850, the household the census taker numbered 627 in Union had only two people in residence, James Moore, age 70 and his wife, June Moore, age 67. Six years later this couple at age 76 and 73 respectively found themselves within the new county of Towns, living in the Woods Grove section. They had not moved. The new geography had just absorbed them as citizens of Towns.

James Moore was born July 10, 1779 in Rowan (maybe Iredell) County, North Carolina. His mother and father had migrated to America from Ireland prior to the American Revolution. James Moore married June Stevenson. She was born in 1783. They first made their home in Haywood County, North Carolina on a little farm alongside Crabtree Creek. The children born to them were named Harriet who married Hiram McLean, Clarissa Ann who married David Sellers, Aveline who married Samuel Sellers, and Johial, Terzey and Marcella whose spouses (if any) are unknown, and then the seventh child, Albert Moore who married Sarah McClure (more about this family later).

Sometime prior to the 1850 Union County, Georgia census, James and June McClure left their Crabtree Creek home in Haywood County, North Carolina and moved to the new and burgeoning Union County and settled in the Woods Grove community. Perhaps it was their youngest son, Albert, who convinced his elderly parents to move when Albert and Sarah decided to settle in Union. But James and June Moore did not have many years remaining in their lives in Union/Towns. June Moore died April 17, 1857 and James Moore died May 30, 1862. Their bodies were interred in North Carolina soil at Ely in Clay County in the Old Union Cemetery there.

Albert and Sarah Moore were registered by the census taker as living in household numbered 234 in Union County in 1850. Albert was born in Haywood County, NC on August 7, 1819. He married Sarah McClure, born April 3, 1822, a daughter of John and Sarah Cathey McClure. We learned from Part 2 in this account of this Moore family that seven of their nine children had been born prior to the 1850 census. Later, Albert and Sarah would have two more children. Their children were:

(1) Talitha Caroline (July 19, 1839-May 30, 1930) married on May 15, 1856 to Jehu Parker
(2) Nancy Ann (b. 1842) married Andrew James (“Jim”) Burch on Nov. 4, 1875
(3) Christopher Columbus (May 2, 1843-Sept. 26, 1921) married Mary Elizabeth Swanson on Dec. 14, 1865
(4) Altha (b. 1845) married George Tipton
(5) Andrew Americus (b. 1846) married Mary A. Green on March 3, 1867
(6) Sarah Jane (b. 1848) married a Parker
(7) Mercilla Arlene (b. 1850) married William L. Townsley on August 31, 1870
(8) Tursey M. (b. 1852) and
(9) Clarissa Melvina E. (b. 1854) married M. Henry Brown of Walker County

Albert and Sarah McClure Moore settled into life in the new county of Towns after they were absorbed into it by virtue of where they lived when that county was laid out in 1856. Then the Civil War came, and Albert Moore served with the Confederate forces during the war.

After the war, in early 1871, Albert Moore added to his already-held property by purchasing 150 acres from Marcus Kimsey for $300. The property was in Land Lot 50 of the 17th District along Long Bullet Creek. Records show that Albert Moore sold 80 acres in 1887 to his brother-in-law George W. Tipton for $300, receiving as much as he had paid earlier for the entire tract of land.

In 1895, Albert Moore deeded to his third child, Christopher Columbus Moore (known as “Lum”) the remainder of his land. The deed had a stipulation that Lum Moore would take in and care for his parents, Albert and Sarah McClure Moore, for the remainder of their lives. As was customary in that era, Lum Moore was true to his father’s wishes and provided a good home for his parents until their deaths.

Albert Moore died June 8, 1897 and his wife Sarah died almost two years later on March 18, 1899. They were interred at the Woods Grove Baptist Church Cemetery, Towns County, Georgia near where they had made their home since migrating from Haywood County, North Carolina to Union County prior to 1850.

c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Feb. 17, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

To Nagasaki after the Atomic Bomb Blast

Significant events in the history of our country and World War II—the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan respectively on August 6, 1945 and August 9, 1945—led to Japan’s unconditional surrender signed aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.

At the Potsdam Conference held July 26, 1945, leaders of the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union issued an ultimatum to Japan for unconditional surrender. Japan’s leader refused to surrender. President Harry S. Truman made the crucial decision to bomb two Japanese cities. It is almost certain that if that decision had not been made, the United States would have invaded Japan and many more people, both American, our allies, and Japanese, would have died in a bitterly-fought extended war after the peace in Europe had been signed.

RSp3 Grover D. Jones and buddies Harlor, Bridges and Jack Jones,
shipmates, on a mountain outside Nagasaki, Japan, 1945.

Navy Radioman Third Class Grover Duffie Jones and his crew were ordered to Nagasaki Bay for occupation duty shortly following the dropping of the bombs. Their mission was to restore communications. From his autobiography he wrote about this assignment. Because of the significantly historical nature of his (my husband’s) account, I share from it here:

“Occupation duty would be dangerous, even though fighting had ceased. Little did we know how very dangerous the assignment would be, for the aftermath of atomic fallout had not been studied extensively by scientists.”

Deployed from their main troop ship from a harbor in Hawaii, the radio crew and their officers and the radio equipment they needed were loaded onto an LST (Landing Ship Tank) and made the treacherous journey from Hawaii through storms at sea, finally arriving at Nagasaki Harbor.

Grover Jones continues in his journal: “A US Marine crew had arrived at Nagasaki some days before us and had established a base out in the mountains some few miles from the docks. The facility had been a prisoner of war building until the surrender of Japan.

“We were assigned to occupy what had been the customs building about six miles toward the entrance of the harbor. We quickly unloaded and were able to set up quite comfortably in those quarters.”

He follows with details of how they established radio communication. Then about the destruction from the atomic blast in the area where the Marines and Navy detachments were housed, Jones wrote:

“During my stay in Nagasaki, I made only one trip into the edge of the city. That part of Nagasaki was on the outer edge of the area struck by the atomic bomb. It had relatively small damage compared to the worst-hit sections. The people there who had survived the blast had unbelievably high respect for the American armed forces. They had brought an end to the terrible war the country had suffered for several years.

“A short distance from the part of the city we were in was utter destruction. Nothing remained. Within walking distance from the dock was the metal framework of a giant two-story building. It looked as if a giant hand had reached down and pushed the building toward the ground. The metal framework was twisted in every direction. No vegetation survived near the building.

“No warning was ever given to us that atomic radiation was there and might affect our bodies and possibly cause death or disease.”

The Navy detachment was successful in its mission to restore communication from Nagasaki to other American forces and ships in the general Pacific area. With that task completed, Seaman Third Class Grover Duffie Jones and his crew were sent on the long journey through stormy seas on a hospital troop ship back to the United States. They landed in Seattle, Washington in the midst of a bitter winter storm in January of 1946. Even his deployment from Seattle to Jacksonville, Florida for discharge from the Navy was frought with true stories of survival during a blizzard and severe winter weather in his westward travels on his way home.

His niece Betty Wilson salutes her uncle, RSp3 Grover Jones

He was honorably discharged from the U. S. Navy on February 11, 1946. He had been inducted on December 11, 1943 and entered active service on December 18, 1943. His record reads that he had a period of active service of two years, two months and one day. He wrote this at the end of his autobiographical sketch of his Navy service: “I returned home much older than the eighteen-year-old lad who left in the midst of wartime, and, I hope, much wiser for my experiences.”

Throughout several months of 1946, he suffered from a severe attack of painful arthritis, which rendered him unable to walk and in bed most of the time. He suspected, but neither he nor the doctors knew for sure, that the arthritis may have resulted from atomic fallout during his months in Nagasaki Bay. A faithful family doctor in Gainesville, Georgia where he then lived worked hard to pull him through that health crisis. He recovered enough to walk normally, but arthritis in one form or another was an ailment from which he never fully recovered for the remainder of his life to age 85 when he died on January 26, 2011 at Georgia War Veterans Home.

RSP3 Grover Jones was one of “The Greatest Generation,” that lofty, patriotic, brave group of servicemen whose love for God and country stand out as exemplary in the annals of our nation’s history.

c 2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Feb. 10, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

SALUTE TO A SAINTLY MAN

Rev. Grover Duffie Jones
October 5, 1925 – January 26, 2011

Early on Wednesday morning, January 26, 2011, my beloved husband of sixty-one years departed this earthly life. Ours had been a partnership of sixty-one loving years. I recall here some of the highlights of his life that qualify him as a saintly man, one worthy to be remembered.

We met at Truett McConnell College, Cleveland, GA in the first year of that school’s operation. I recall the first “official” visit he made to Union County in the winter of 1948. He was editor of the school yearbook, then called the “Gannetaha.” He, another yearbook staff member, Jane Lindsey of Morganton, and I were on an ad-buying trip to Blairsville for the yearbook. We went by my Aunt Avery and Aunt Ethel Collins’s house in Choestoe to eat lunch and also by my father’s house for Grover and Jane to meet him. My Dad, always getting right to the point, said, “Are you one of the preacher boys at Truett McConnell?” At that time, though Grover said later he was dealing with the call to preach, he responded no to my father’s question. As it turned out, my father’s query was a prediction, for Grover did surrender to the call to gospel ministry.

We graduated in the first class from Truett McConnell College in May, 1949. We worked, he with Meadors Distribution Company contacting various stores as a route salesman in North Georgia and I in my first year of teaching at Choestoe School. We were wed at Choestoe Baptist Church on December 23, 1949.

Grover and Ethelene at her father’s house – 1950

In 1950, Grover announced his call to preach. We entered Mercer University, Macon, in the fall of 1950 to complete our last two years of college. Antioch Baptist Church at Blairsville called him as pastor, and we made trips twice a month where he fulfilled his preaching appointments and weekend visitation to members. By request of Antioch Baptist Church, he was ordained at Choestoe Baptist Church on August 19, 1951. This was the beginning of his work as a saintly and humble pastor, continuing at Antioch, then at Harmony Baptist Church, Eatonton; Union Hill at Gray; Mt. Hebron at Hartwell (his first full-time pastorate), McConnell Memorial at Hiawassee, and First Baptist Church, Epworth. For 21 ½ years he did the work of a pastor. From those six pastorates, many testify to his godly influence upon their lives and salute him as a saintly man.

His seminary training at Southern and Southeastern Seminaries was not on a full-time basis but might be described as “piecemeal,” as he went to “J” terms (January, June, July). Those studies were geared to assisting in-service pastors hone their skills in the pulpit and delve more deeply into the Scriptures. He became known for his saintly insights into the Word and his compassionate care for members of his congregation.

In October, 1972 he began another direction in his work. He became director of missions for the Morganton Baptist Association, Blue Ridge, Georgia. Later, the Mountaintown Association was added to his assignment, as well as being representative of the Georgia Baptist Convention to the Gilmer-Fannin Association.

Retirement Celebration – June 1988
Other minister, Dr. Maurice Crowder, was host of Grover’s "This Is Your Life"

For 16 ½ years he worked in associational work until he retired June 30, 1988. Even then, he could not give up the work he loved and for four years was a North Georgia consultant to churches and associations for the Georgia Baptist Convention. His gentle way with people combined with wisdom and insight, served him well in the capacity of denominational representative, speaker and consultant.

1983 - with his grandchildren Paula, Matthew, Elizabeth, B. J., Christie, Crystal, and Nathan

In the meantime, he was a saintly father and grandfather. Son Keith was born in Macon in 1952 and daughter Cynthia in Anderson, SC (while we were at Hartwell, GA) in 1957. They grew up, married, and gave us seven wonderful grandchildren. Grover was a loving father and grandfather, continuing his saintly qualities in family relationships and seeking to demonstrate Christian qualities before them by precept and example. Even though he was ill when his five great grandchildren began to come along in 2006 and since, all of his descendants rise up and call him saintly.

1943

His battle with health began shortly after he was discharged from the US Navy following World War II. A vicious arthritis attacked him in the summer of 1946. He dealt with that malady for most of the rest of his life. In 1993 his heart received a physical makeover with five bypasses heart surgery. In January, 1996 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He spent from early 2007 through his death January 26, 2011 in the special care unit of Georgia War Veterans Home, Milledgeville. Through sickness his saintliness was still in evidence. But even more evident was provision for his care during the sixteen years of his journey with Alzheimer’s.

Grover and Ethelene's 50th wedding anniversary, December 23, 1999

As his beloved wife of sixty-one years, I attest to his goodness and compassion. I gratefully acknowledge his devotion as my life companion and the facets of his ministry and wide influence. We brought his body back to the enfolding hills of Choestoe for burial. But in my heart of hearts I know that he is not dead. His influence will live on in my heart and in the hearts of those especially touched by his kind and compassionate ministry. To God be the glory.

c 2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Feb. 3, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Moore Families in Union County in 1850 (Part 2)

Last week’s introductory column to early settlers with the last name of Moore in Union County in 1840 listed the households of Abraham, Joseph, Samuel and Ransom Moore, with nineteen people as the total Moore population. An examination of the next census, 1850, reveals nine households of Moores with a total of forty-six people with the Moore surname. The 1850 census was the first to list names of children. I was hard-pressed to find households in 1850 that carried through with age and constituency that might have been from those living in Union in 1840. But let us see the 1850 listing with names and ages:

Household 141: Robert Clark, head of household, age 49, born in Georgia was listed as head-of-household whose occupation was wagonwright. Last name, Clark? But then go further in this listing. In the household with him was Milly Moore, age 55, born in Virginia, and Amanda Moore, age 24, born in North Carolina, and a baby, Marion Moore, age 8 months (census-taker did not specify whether the baby was male or female; the name Marion was often used for either sex). When I examined the early Union County marriage records, I found that a Robert Moore (or Moon—writing not easily deciphered) married a Matila C. Carroll on October 12, 1856, with G. Hughes, Minister of the Gospel, performing their ceremony. Could Matila have been rendered Milly Moore in the 1850 census, and was the wagonwright, head of her household, a Moore incorrectly listed in the census as Clark? This is just one of many problems of examining early records to try to decipher ancestral puzzles.

Household 177: Samuel Moore, age 38, farmer, born in South Carolina, with wife Elizabeth, age 25, born in North Carolina, and children Eliza 9, Alonzo, 7, Clarinda, 5, James, 3, and Rebecca, 8 months—with all children born in Georgia. This household matches up with the Samuel Moore of the 1840 census (see last week’s column). However, marriage records lead us to believe that Samuel’s wife, Elizabeth, may have died and Samuel (or a Samuel Moore) married (again) on August 25, 1857 to Naomi Clements.

Household 234: Albert Moore, age 30, born in North Carolina, farmer, with his wife, Sarah, age 31, also born in North Carolina, and children Tillitha, 11; Nancy, 8: Christopher, 7; Altha, 5; Andrew, 4; Sarah, 2; and Mercilla, 2 months. From subsequent records, we learn that this family of Moores became residents of Towns County when that county was formed from Union in 1856. Later, Albert and Sarah had two more children, Tursey born in 1852 and Clarissa Melvina born in 1854. Union County marriage records show that daughter Tillitha Moore married John N. Parker on May 15, 1856; she would have been 17 at the time of her marriage. A Nancy Moore married J. K. Moot on September 2, 1875 in Union County. We can assume these two marriages were of children of Albert and Sarah Moore.

Household 290: Burton Moore, age 32, born in South Carolina, a farmer, his wife, Martha, age 22, born in North Carolina, and children, all born in Georgia: Mary, 7; Jehu, 5; and James, 2.

Household 291: Joseph Moore, age 63, born in South Carolina and his wife, Rebecca Moore, 63, also born in South Carolina. There was a Joseph Moore in Union’s 1840 census, but he was young, between the age of 20 and 30. I am wondering if the Burton Moore could be Joseph Burton Moore, listed as the young man Joseph in the 1840 census, and if the 63 year-old Joseph could be his father, since their households were close together. More unanswered questions!

Household 293: William Moore, age 25, a farmer born in South Carolina, his wife, Easter Moore, 22, born in North Carolina, and children John, 5; Lydia, 4; and Joseph, 2. I found a marriage record for Esther Muriel Beasley and William Moore, dated June 19, 1844, with Rev. Elisha Hedden performing the ceremony. A Civil War record shows that a William H. Moore of Union County served in the 23rd Regiment of the Georgia Infantry Volunteers, Army of Tennessee, Company B.

Household 341: Hugh Moore, age 26, farmer, born in South Carolina, his wife, Margaret, 23, born in South Carolina, and children, all born in South Carolina; Mary Ann, 6; Edy, 3; and Burton, 1. In this household was Mary Moore, age 70, born in South Carolina, whom I am assuming is Hugh Moore’s mother now living with her son. In that household is also a young man named Joseph Bryson, age 21, born in South Carolina. Could he be the brother of Margaret Moore?

Household 374: Thornton Moore, age 45, born in South Carolina, a farmer, with wife, Rebecca, age 48, born in North Carolina, and five children, all born in North Carolina: Mary Ann, 19; Benjamin, 18; William, 16: Elisha, 15; and Samuel, 13.

Household 627: James Moore, age 70, born in North Carolina and his wife, June, age 67, born in North Carolina.

Many questions remain about the early Moore families of Union County through the 1850 census. I did not find cemetery records matching names from the listings of Moores in Union in 1840 and 1850. Either they were buried in unmarked graves or they left the county before they died. I hope this research is of value to Moore descendants who are trying to find their ancestral roots.

c 2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Jan. 27, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Four Moore Families in Union County by 1840

With Christmas holidays and the New Year—and yes—the “deep freeze” of these early weeks of January behind us, it is time for some serious research to continue on early settlers of Union County.

I have had a request from some descendants of early Moore families to seek out what I can find about these family lines. It has not been easy to do, with no individual Moore stories submitted to the wonderful book, The Heritage of Union County, 1832-1994 about these hardy pioneers. However with census records, marriage records, and research here and there, I have pieced together some interesting information about early settlers with the surname of Moore.

Moore was a very common name in both Ireland and England, but it seems that in Ireland, especially, they were known as O’More, O’Moore, and finally, with the prefix O dropped, the surname became Moore or More. Researchers tell us that the surname Moore, in its various forms, ranked in 20th place among surnames in Ireland. It was common in England, as well. Not quite as popular in England, it was, nonetheless, a surname frequently heard in that country.

There were no families with the last name Moore in the first 1834 census of Union County. However, by the second census in 1840, four households were registered. Even examining these records carefully leaves us with many questions. We find heads-of-households and constituents as follows:

In the Abraham Moore family he himself was listed as between 20-30 years of age, with one male under five and 3 females under five. With no other facts forthcoming from that census, this leaves us to believe that Abraham was perhaps a widower at an early age, with one small son and three small daughters, all under the age of five.

In the next Moore household was Joseph as head of household, and it seems that he, as well as Abraham (Were they brothers? We don’t know.) may have been a widower. In Joseph’s household was himself as head of household between 20 and 30, one male child under five, another lad between 15 and 20, and one female listed as between 50 and 60. Could this older female have been Joseph’s mother who was living in his household? And perhaps the male between 15 and 20 was Joseph’s brother, not his child, as it is not likely he had a son that old in 1840 since Joseph himself was between 20 and 30.

In the Samuel Moore household were only two persons, Samuel himself listed as between 20 and 30 and a female (assumed to be his wife) “15 and under 20.” In examining the Union marriage records, I find how an error in last-name spelling was recorded: Samuel K. Moon (not Moore) was listed as marrying Naomi Clements on August 25, 1857. But this marriage, coming seventeen years after the 1840 census when Samuel and his wife were listed without offspring, seems to indicate that Samuel K. Moore was married twice. A note in the marriage records shows that “Moon” should have been listed as Moore. One Andrew Young, Justice of the Inferior Court, performed the marriage ceremony in 1857 for Samuel Moore and Naomi Clements.

The fourth Moore household in Union in 1840 was headed up by a male “ 30 and under 40” with the unusual name of Ransom. I did find a marriage record for Ransom Moore to Adaline Murray, performed on February 21, 1838 by Jesse Reid, Justice of the Peace. This would give us a name for the “20 and under 30” female listed in Ransom Moore’s household. Ransom is the only male listed in his household. But when we examine the marriage date listed for him and Adaline Murray, we wonder about the two females listed—one between the ages of 5 to 10 and another female between the ages of 15-20. Since these children had the last name of Moore, it makes us wonder about their parentage. Then in Ransom’s household was a female between 70 and under 80 with the last name of Moore. We can imagine that she was probably Ransom’s mother who was, in her dotage, living under Ransom’s roof.

Besides Ransom Moore’s marriage record to Adaline Murray on February 21, 1838, there is a second marriage of a Moore listed before 1840. Mary Moore married Nathaniel Pain (sic; probably should have been spelled Payne) on December 24, 1839 with Justice of the Peace R. W. Roberts performing their ceremony. I found the household of Nathaniel S. Payne listed in the 1840 Union census with Nathaniel between 20 and 30 and the female in his household (his wife Mary Moore Payne) between 15 and 20 years of age.

Perhaps more questions than answers have been raised about these four households of Moores who resided in Union County in 1840. A total of 19 bearing the Moore last name were here, 9 males and 10 females. Available records, at best, are incomplete and do not give us a concise picture of how some households do not seem to have a wife or mother present, as denoted by ages listed for the genders in this Moore census. Next week we will examine Moore families in Union County as denoted by the 1850 census. Perhaps we can begin to piece together a better composite picture of the Moore families who were here prior to the Civil War.

To end today’s thoughts, I go back to Irish poet, Sir Thomas Moore (1779-1852) whom many of you, no doubt, read about in your high school or college literature courses (or maybe you’ve sought out some of his literary works on your own). One of his famous poems is “Believe Me if All Those Endearing Young Charms.” His poem was set to music and published in “Irish Melodies” in 1807. Here are his inimitable words:

“Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,
Which I gaze on so fondly today,
Were to change by tomorrow, and fleet in my arms,
Like fairy gifts fading away!
Thou wouldst sill be ador’d as this moment thou art,
Let thy loveliness fade as it will,
And, around the dear ruin, each wish of my heart
Would entwine itself verdantly still.”

Like Sir Thomas Moore expressed for his love whose beauty fades with time but who still is dear, dear to him, so we, in our relentless pursuit of our ancestors and what life was like for them, imagine them still young, determined and beautiful as they pursue their dreams of a better life and worked to make that dream come true.

c 2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Jan. 20, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The American Flag, Our Nation’s Symbol

What truly patriotic American does not get a thrill to see the stars and stripes, our nation’s flag, flying in the breeze?

The evolution of the American flag as we see it today had several significant dates and milestones along the way. Let us consider a few of them.

On June 14, 1777, the first Flag Act was passed by the Continental Congress in session. It read: “Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.”

Due to no records—or perhaps records lost—we cannot be absolutely certain who designed and made the first flag ordered by the Continental Congress. Congressman Francis Hopkinson is credited with designing it, but there is no concrete evidence to this attribution.

All the stories and books we’ve read about the Philadelphia seamstress, Betsy Ross, who made the flag that rallied the Revolutionary War soldiers may have not contained the full truth about the originator of the flag. History tends to get rewritten at times, or adequate records proving facts get lost or misplaced. We are told now that “few historians believe that Betsy Ross made the first flag.” (from “Evolution of the United States Flag,” at: usflag.org./history). I regret these doubts, for as a school child, and also as a teacher, I can remember loving the story of Betsy Ross and the Flag.

The next act of record was in the US Congress on January 13, 1794, which stipulated that the flag have “15 stripes and 15 stars after May 1795.” The reason for this addition was to recognize the states of Vermont (entered the Union March 4, 1791) and Kentucky (entered the Union June 1, 1792). It had taken two years to make this change including the new states, and it proved, as we will see later, to be a rather unwise move on the part of the Congress, for stripes could not be added with each state that came into the Union. It would have made the flag too large, as states were being added frequently to the growing nation. Eventually, the stripes went back to thirteen, to represent the original colonies of Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island. These states are listed in the order they officially joined the Union from December 7, 1787 through May 29, 1790.

An Act of Congress on April 4, 1818 cancelled out the fifteen stripes from the act of 1794, and called for the original thirteen stripes representing the thirteen original colonies. This act also provided for the addition to the flag of a star to represent each state. The flag was to be updated on the 4th of July each year after each new state was added. James Monroe, 5th president, signed this bill into law. When he signed the bill there were twenty states in the Union. In addition to the 13 original colonies, Vermont (1791) and Kentucky (1792), Tennessee joined on June 1, 1796, Ohio on March 1, 1803, Louisiana on April 30, 1812, Indiana on December 11, 1816, and Mississippi on December 10, 1817.

The next Act was an Executive Order by President William Howard Taft, 27th president, dated June 24, 1912, establishing standard proportions to the flag. Prior to that, there was no standard size. This act also asked for arrangement of the white stars in the field of blue, representing the states, set in six horizontal rows of eight stars per row. This was, of course, after the nation had grown to 48 states. It was directed that a single point of each star point upward in the new design. Arizona had been added to the Union as the 48th state on February 14, 1912.

But the states were to grow by two more states, Alaska, added January 3, 1959 and Hawaii on August 21, 1959. While President Dwight D. Eisenhower served as president, he signed two executive orders regarding the flag, which made provision for the two new states added during his administration. On January 3, 1959 his order provided for the arrangement of stars in seven rows of seven stars each, “staggered horizontally and vertically.” Then seven months later, on August 21, 1959, his executive order asked for “nine rows of stars staggered horizontally and eleven rows of stars staggered vertically.”

Since the design of the flag in 1959 that included all fifty states, with a star for each, we have had no changes in our beloved national banner.

Henry Ward Beecher, noted American writer and minister, wrote in 1861 just prior to the Civil War when our country was about to be split asunder: “Our flag carries American ideas, American history, and American feelings. It is not a painted rag. It is a whole national history. It is the Constitution. It is the Government. It is the emblem of the sovereignty of the people. It is the nation.”

We know that some of the statements of statesman Beecher are highly metaphorical and symbolic. As we see the flag, may we be moved, as he was, to remember that it is a representation of a strong union of the people. It has inspired in battle and in peacetime. “Long may it wave!”

c 2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Jan. 13, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.