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.

Through mountains mists a light in the mountains, Part 2 Truett McConnell College, 1946-2006 Holding Forth The Flame of Knowledge For Six Decades

We continue the exciting story of how Truett McConnell College, Cleveland, GA, grew from the foundations of the Hiawassee Academy (1886-1930) and the Blairsville Collegiate Institute (1904-1930). In this 60th year of the college’s founding, we celebrate the fanning of the flame of knowledge that sprang up and kept growing because people nourished the vision.

The George Truett Junior College, Inc.

From 1930 through 1944, the flame of an institution of higher learning lay dormant. But many people remembered the Hiawassee Academy and the Blairsville Collegiate Institute. The flame was there, awaiting another ignition.

Another Mountain Preachers’ School was held at Blairsville in July 1944.

Who preached the sermon that ignited the flame as Rev. Ferdinand C. McConnell had done in 1886? The person’s name is not known to this writer, but several factors were present to remind the gathered preachers that the time was right to propose a new Christian college in the mountains.

Dr. George Washington Truett died July 7, 1944. He had become a model for visionary ministers who set aggressive goals and worked to reach them. The ministers talked about establishing a college in his memory.

The Great Depression was past. America’s involvement in World War II, although taking a toll on young lives, had brought a raise in economic levels through work associated with the war effort. Many of the young men who would be returning from war when it ended would desire an education.

The vision was born in the hearts of several men. Among them were the Rev. Claud C. Boynton, Rev. L. Clinton Cutts, Dr. W. A. Taliaferro, John B. Payne (layman), Dr. Leslie S. Williams, Dr. James M. Nicholson, Mr. Frank Shuler (Union County Superintendent of Schools and a layman), and Rev. Clarence Voyles. Mountain preachers and mountain laymen seized the vision, fanned the flame.

After the Preachers’ School had ended, the above-named men met for prayer and discussion in the basement of First Baptist Church, Blairsville, where Rev. Claud C. Boynton was pastor. The dream was turned into a plan. The flame of knowledge was again ignited.

After several meetings, a committee drew up a charter and the men approved it.

The charter named the new school the George Truett Junior College, Inc. It was legally filed in Superior Court of Union County, Ga., on September 15, 1944.

A Firm Foundation and Founding

Desiring that the college have a firm foundation and adequate sponsorship, the next step was to present the plan to the Georgia Baptist Convention. Dr. Leslie S. Williams, professor at Tift College, Forsyth, gave the resolution at the Georgia Convention on November 13, 1944. The recommendation was referred to the Convention’s Executive Committee for study. Rev. Claud Boynton and others spoke in favor of the resolution.

At the 1945 Georgia Baptist Convention, the resolution to establish Truett Junior College passed and an appropriation of $25,000 was designated from the convention’s educational funds. A committee was appointed to “recommend…the best location and plans for securing additional financial support.” (from Georgia Baptist Convention Minutes, 1945, pages 80-81).

A “Committee of Ten” was appointed by the Convention’s Executive Committee to do preliminary work relative to site and fundraising. From November, 1945, through March, 1946, various north Georgia towns vied for the college’s location and pledged land, money and endowment. Blairsville was among the towns vying for the location.

At the March 12, 1946 meeting of the Georgia Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, the announcement was made that Cleveland, Georgia would be the site.

Several factors entered in. The location was still within a mountain county. The college would draw students from a broad area of Georgia and elsewhere, and having the college south of high mountains such as Unicoi Gap and Neel Gap would facilitate access at a time when the state and nation were still recovering from effects of World War II, scarcities in tires and transportation. Citizens of Cleveland had pledged more in acreage, building materials, money and utility services.

The Christian Index, newspaper of the Georgia Baptist Convention, announced in its July 11, 1947 issue that the new college to honor the late Dr. George W. Truett and Dr. Fernando C. McConnell would be located at Cleveland, Georgia.

A massive area-wide rally was held in Cleveland, Georgia on July 23, 1946, the official founding date of Truett-McConnell Junior College. Rev. L. Clinton Cutts, then pastor of First Baptist Church, McCaysville, Ga., temporary chairman of the Interim Board of Trustees, presided. A large crowd of Convention officers, ministers, and citizens of a broad area attended the rally. Five persons who had attended the Hiawassee Academy when the Rev. George W. Truett taught there were present. They were Mrs. J. Miles (Maggie) Berrong of Hiawassee; Mr. B. R. Dillard of Dillard; Mr. and Mrs. Andrew P. Ritchie of Clayton; and Mr. John A. Earl of Lakemont.

Sixty years had passed since the Rev. F. C. McConnell had ignited the spark for education on the courthouse steps in Hiawassee. From Cleveland, Ga., the flame was kindled and the vision was stirring toward reality.

A New College Opens Its Doors

Much work ensued from the July 23, 1946 founding date until the college opened doors to students on September 15, 1947. Facilities for classes and administrative offices had to be arranged. A curriculum and faculty had to be assembled. Plans for accreditation had to be drawn up. Arrangements for boarding students to live with citizens in the town were made.

Fifty-four charter students and eleven faculty and staff met in convocation with the first president, the Rev. Dr. Loomis Clinton Cutts leading the processional. In a little more than a year, Dr. Cutts and others had formulated plans and the word was “Go!” Much cooperation had brought about a miracle in little more than a year.

I was in that first group of students meeting on September 15, 1947. We had a vision. I had a distinct sense of mission and calling to be in that place at that time in a brand new college. It was exhilarating and motivating. And so has it been in the sixty years since to remain closely associated with the “light in the mountains.” In this sixtieth anniversary year, the vision continues. The flame still glows brightly, has taken on a new aura. “Veritas liberat” is the motto, “Truth liberates.”

c2006 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Mar. 2, 2006 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

An early Union County Minister: Rev. Thomas M. Hughes

For several weeks now we’ve explored aspects of the Eli Townsend family and its branches. That subject still has many avenues to explore, but for now I change directions and focus on the Rev. Thomas M. Hughes family. His legacy in Union and other north Georgia counties was as an early minister of the Methodist Church.

In 1846 the Rev. William Jasper Cotter, a noted Methodist minister in his own right, was sent by the Conference to his new charge at Blairsville, Ga. In writing his autobiography published in 1917 when he was an old man, Rev. Cotter made several references to Rev. Thomas M. Hughes. He wrote of arriving at the Blairsville Mission.

“The next evening (after five days on the road from Murray County) we reached Blairsville and were kindly received at the home of Rev. Thomas M. Hughes, a local preacher.” The Rev. Hughes helped the Cotters to find a cabin to live in and helped them get settled. The Hughes family and the Cotters became steadfast friends. While Rev. Cotter was on preaching missions to Tennessee, North Carolina and throughout North Georgia, he wrote in his autobiography: “Our good friends, the Hugheses…never allowed Rachel to spend a night alone while I was gone.”

The Rev. Thomas M. Hughes was born in Buncombe County, N.C., on January 31, 1809. He was a son of Goodman Hughes and Eleanor Payne Hughes. In Habersham County, Ga., on January 1, 1828, he married Nancy Bird. She was a daughter of the Rev. Francis Bird and Frankie (Frances) Abernathy Bird. Nancy was born in Rutherford County, N.C. Both the Hughes and the Bird families had come to north Georgia to live when Cherokee lands were opened up for settlement.

Rev. and Mrs. Thomas M. Hughes had a family of thirteen children. Martha (1828-1881) married Joab Addington and William R. Logan; William Chapel (1830-1906); Francis Goodman (1833-1908) married Amanda F. Goodrum and became a Methodist minister; Louisa (1834-?); Eleanor C. called “Nellie” (1834-1902) married the Rev. M. G. Hamby; Frances Jane (1840-1904) married W. R. Duncan; Rosetta (1841-1912) married James Calvin Erwin; Thomas Coke (1844-1932) married Rhoda Butt and Sallie Daniel and became a Methodist minister; Sarah Elizabeth (1847-1885) married the Rev. John Wesley Twiggs; John Wesley; Andrew Paxton; Calley; and Samuel.

Rev. and Mrs. Thomas M. Hughes, through his ministry and through their family, contributed much toward the upbuilding of the Methodist Church in the 19th century. Rev. Cotter in an article in “The Wesleyan Advocate” following Rev. Thomas M. Hughes and Nancy Bird Hughes’ deaths wrote: “Brother Hughes was a worthy local preacher, gifted in song, popular in his county, filling offices of trust…Sister Hughes was Miss Nancy Bird before her marriage, and like her husband, a sweet singer, amenable, and one of the best of women. Her father, Rev. Francis Bird, joined the S. C. Conference in 1805 with Lovick Pierce and Reddick Pierce. Rev. Bird baptized me in 1842. He was the son of Rev. Thomas Bird who lived to be quite old. This places brothers Francis Goodman Hughes (son of Thomas and Nancy) and W. T. Hamby (grandson of William and Nancy) in a long sacerdotal line.”

In an obituary in “The Wesleyan Advocate” written by Weir Boyd following Rev. Thomas M. Hughes’ death, these outstanding achievements were noted about his life: He was licensed to preach in 1839, ordained a deacon in 1847, and ordained as an elder in 1867 by Bishop Pierce. He was a local preacher, in labors abundant, regular and prompt in appointments, impressive in his preaching. He was stable of character, uniform in deportment, the patriarch of a large family several of whom are ministers of the gospel. He served as Clerk of the Superior Court of Union County for sixteen consecutive years. In addition to his duties as a local pastor and as Clerk of Court, he also was a merchant. He died August 22, 1882 in the 74th year of his life.

A lofty obituary to Nancy Bird Hughes was written for The Wesleyan Christian Advocate by J. B. Allen. In it he praised Mrs. Hughes as one who sought first and foremost “the will of God,” was faithful in “the great congregation, in the Sunday School, in her family circle.” Three of her sons became ministers of the gospel. She died March 9, 1881 and her slipping the earthly vale was described as follows: “Her face beamed with divine light, and her whole appearance presented anything but that of fear and sorrow... We have seen many die but none so triumphantly.”

Rev. and Mrs. Hughes were interred in the Old Blairsville Cemetery.

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Sept. 15, 2005 in The Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.