Saying it ain’t so, Joe…
There’s an absolutely lovely story out there on the internet about the parents of Joseph Moore, who died in Caldwell County, Kentucky, around 1820.
Repeated in roughly a kazillion online family trees, the story is that he was the son of William and Mary (Steele) Moore of North Carolina, named in his father’s 1770 will, and so fond of his stepfather Alexander Coulter that he named a son Alexander.1
Since Joseph Moore is The Legal Genealogist‘s fourth great grandfather,2 it sure would be nice if this was true. That would push my North Carolina Moore line back another generation.
Alas, however… it sure doesn’t look like it.
Sigh…
Yep, I’m debunking yet another wonderful possibility for pushing my own line back another generation.
Here’s the problem.
There is a deed in Rutherford County, North Carolina, that was clearly executed in the fall of 1787 by the Joseph Moore who was the son of William and Mary Moore. It transfers 200 acres of land “being granted by his Majesty George the third to William Moore dated 1766 and transferred to the said Joseph Moore by a lawful will bearing date October the 19th 1770.”3
And there’s another deed in Rutherford County, North Carolina, that was clearly executed in the fall of 1801 by the Joseph Moore who was my fourth great grandfather. It transfers 50 acres of land on Howards Creek and it’s signed by both Joseph and Rebecca Moore4 — and that’s my Joseph’s wife.5
And — sigh — it’s pretty darned clear these are two different men.
One of the key factors that can distinguish between people of the same name in the same area at the same time is literacy: is there evidence that the person or persons we’re looking at were literate? At a minimum, we want to know if the person signed his or her own documents with a written signature, or signed with a mark. And when, as here, we’re looking at the clerk’s record of a deed rather than the original, we need to be sure the clerk was being careful in recording who signed and who used a mark.
Both clerks in both deed books appear to have been very careful about recording signatures versus marks.
Within just a few pages of the first deed, the same clerk in the same handwriting carefully indicated which grantors and which witnesses signed with marks. The clerk in this case did not record that this Joseph Moore, son of William, signed with a mark: the record is evidence that he could sign his own name.
Even on the same page as the second deed, the one by the Joseph Moore who’s clearly my guy, that clerk also carefully distinguished between signatures and marks of both grantors and witnesses. And in this case both Joseph and Rebecca are recorded as signing with a mark. That record is evidence that my Joseph could not sign his own name.
But, you may say, the deeds were executed 14 years apart. Surely conditions can change!
True. Someone who can’t write his own name can certainly learn.
But someone who is apparently healthy, whole and producing a boatload of kids every year or two — a fair description of my guy — isn’t likely to have forgotten how or lost the ability to sign his own name.
And for these two deeds to be executed by the same man, that’s what would have had to happen here.
Yes, it’s an assumption, that someone who once could sign would still be able to, and so using a mark on another document supports a conclusion that we’re talking about two men, not one. It’s what we call a valid assumption: a concept “generally accepted as true unless convincingly contradicted.” And we’re entitled to rely on it if we’ve looked for evidence that would say it’s not true, and we can’t find any.6
Adding in the facts that the clerks in both record sets carefully distinguished between signatures and marks, that the mark was used on a deed after the deed with the signature, and that my guy — the mark user — wasn’t frail or ill or ailing … well, all I can say is…
I’m saying it ain’t so, Joe.
William and Mary Moore were not my Joseph’s parents.
Back to the drawing board.
Cite/link to this post: Judy G. Russell, “Another theory shot down,” The Legal Genealogist (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : posted 4 Dec 2021).
SOURCES
- You’ll forgive me please if I don’t identify any particular tree or website. I’m not out to embarrass anybody, and I sure made my share of undocumented relationship mistakes back when I was a baby genealogist… ↩
- See Judy G. Russell, “Landing the fourths,” The Legal Genealogist, posted 22 Dec 2020 (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : accessed 4 Dec 2021). ↩
- Rutherford County, North Carolina, Deed Book J-L : 139-140, Moore to McClure, 11 September 1787, recorded 11 January 1794; FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/search/film/007517761), digital film 007517761, images 562-563. ↩
- Rutherford County, NC, Deed Book 22-23 : 291, Moore to Henderson, 5 November 1801, recorded 11 January 1794; FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/search/film/007517764), digital film 007517764, image 462. ↩
- See Judy G. Russell, “Landing the fourths,” The Legal Genealogist, posted 22 Dec 2020. ↩
- Board for Certification of Genealogists, Genealogy Standards, 2d ed. rev. (Nashville, TN : Ancestry, 2021), 26, Standard 45, “Assumptions.” ↩
I like reading your thought process on situations like this. Makes the rest of us more mindful…not as apt to jump to conclusions.
Having done more than my fair share of getting-exercise-by-jumping-to-conclusions, it helps me to work these questions through, too!!
Your logic is good, but I have a documented instance in which it would lead to the wrong conclusion. In my great-great-grandmother’s application for a Union Civil War Pension, she was instructed by the person filling in the application for her to put her X in the signature blank. She did. In the next paperwork from the Pension Board, she evidently didn’t have anyone helping her, so she signed it. This created a long chain of paperwork with the Pension Board, explaining why the discrepancy. It turns out, she was literate, but the notary helping her assumed she was not. This is all documented in the pension file of Emeline Dillow, widow of Jacob Dillow, from Union County, Illinois. Definitely the most interesting pension file I’ve ever read!
Margaret
That’s why the standard on assumptions says we can rely on them ONLY if we work diligently to see if there is any evidence that they should NOT apply in a particular case. Yours is a very good example of why that’s the case.
Wow! Something I never even thought to consider. I have a case of 2 George Mooneys, about the same age, one in Rutherford NC like your relatives, and one in Dysartsville, McDowell, NC. I have DNA matches to both men. The Rutherford George married and removed to Georgia where he lived out his life. This is definitely my relative. The McDowell George lived out his life there. Is he also my relative? Or are the trees wrong? (That’s my bet). But I haven’t been able to discern his parents. I have not looked at deeds, I’d better get on that.
Land records of all kinds are among the very very best genealogical records.
Going through the same type of Moore confusion in Edgefield County, South Carolina except its the “John Moore” analysis. Which one is truly mine? No one had an imagination in those days on using different names. Everyone was John.
I have a similar situation in my Morey line. I descend from Ezekiel Morey (1733-1815) who lived in Deer Isle, MN. He was married twice, first to Content Andrews and second to Patience Allen/Bray(?), my ancestor.
There was another Ezekiel Morey/Mowry in the same time period in Rhode Island. His parents were Hannah Packard and John Morey. His wife was Ruth Aldridge.
The number of trees that have Hannah and John listed as my Ezekiel’s parents, as well as assigning him a third wife (Ruth Aldridge,) is astounding. Their wills alone help make it clear that they aren’t the same person.
I may never know who my Ezekiel’s parents were, but it seems clear they were not Hannah Packard and John Morey.
Hi Judy, I wrote the story you refer to that noted Margaret Meyer Simpson, a certified genealogist, had concluded William and Mary Moore of Tyron County, NC were likely the parents of Joseph Moore based on a review of land records, and William Moore’s will. Since writing what I knew of Joseph Moore and posting on Ancestry, I’ve had my DNA tested through Ancestry.Com. Four descendants of Joseph Moore’s sister, Mary Moore Jones, are a match to my DNA and 27 other descendants of Joseph Moore. (Alexander Coulter was the bondsman for John Jones and Mary Moore’s marriage certificate dated 3-26-1789 in Rutherford County, NC.) Also, a descendant of Alexander and Mary Moore Coulter’s son, Alexander Coulter (1775-1853) is a match to the DNA of the Joseph & Mary Moore descendants. (There was another Joseph Moore living in Rutherford County, NC at the same time as our ancestor. Family trees for this Joseph Moore show his father as George Moore. I don’t know what evidence supports this.) If I had to guess, I would bet Joseph Moore was literate and could sign his name as M. M. Simpson’s notes on his father, William Moore, indicate he was the county tax collector. I haven’t looked at Caldwell County, Ky. records to see if I can find a signature, or lack thereof, for Joseph but will do so and will let you know what I find. Glad to have your information on the sons of Delilah Moore Robinson. I will add to my family tree.
(a) Delilah / Deliah Moore’s married name was Robertson, not Robinson. (b) I can only identify one son, but the census records suggest there were two others. (c) The blog post contains the image of the Joseph and Rebecca deed with marks for signatures noted. That may not be accurate, since of course it’s a clerk’s record, but it does mean no conclusions can be drawn that this is the same person who did sign without a mark. (d) However, the DNA may always factor in to suggest that perhaps in this case one of those two very careful clerks, who carefully distinguished between marks and signatures, made a mistake. I’d love to see your DNA analysis (I myself show as a match on Ancestry to 51 other people who descend from Joseph and Rebecca). I’d be delighted to push this back a generation or two!
Sorry. Robertson, not Robinson. Also, I saw your post on Robert Wilson “Mustang” Moore and I too have questioned how he was a son of Joseph Moore since he was not mentioned in any of the records. Apparently, he did die in
Frio, Texas in 1887, not killed by Indians in 1861. Frio was a Moore enclave when few others lived there so not sure who his parents were, but he may be a relative. I don’t know how to link you in to my DNA records. If you send a message to my email address, I’ve made a PDF of DNA record for Alexander Coulter’s descendant and will be happy to send it along.
Email sent!