- Call Number:
- HIL-MICL FC LFR .M6F3P3
- Category:
- Family
- Creator:
- Moore Family.
- Material Description:
- 1 microfilm textual records 35 mm
- Background:
The Moore Family Papers were purchased by the University of New\ Brunswick at a Southeby's auction in London, England, on 13 December 1993. The purchase was made possible through funding from a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Fleeting Opportunities Grant, The University of New Brunswick Library, and with the assistance of Patricia Kennedy and other personnel from the National Archives of Canada. There is evidence within the Papers which strongly suggests that they were in the possession of W.O Raymond as late as 1920. In his book, The Ancestry of the Family of William Odbur Raymond, which was compiled in that year, Raymond reproduces the exact text of several of the letters in the collection. Where the Papers were from that time until the Southbey's auction remains unknown.
James Moore was born on 24 July 1754 in Newtown, Long Island, New York, the son of John Moore Jr. (1730-1827) and Hannah Whitehead (1729-1827). John Moore was a Loyalist who had been permitted to live on his estate during the American Revolution, but at the end of the war he sent James Moore, his oldest son, to Nova Scotia to look for a place where the family might settle should they be forced into exile by the Americans. As events unfolded, the family was able to remain in New York State and James was the only one to make his home in British North America.
The family of John Moore Jr. consisted of four sons: James, Daniel (died young), Benjamin, and Daniel Sachett. There were five daughters: Elizabeth, Anna, Patience, Mary and Abigail. The Papers contain correspondence with several of the above, and others are mentioned in many of the letters. James Moore traveled first to Granville, Nova Scotia, where he secured a grant of land and later moved to Saint John, New Brunswick. In May 1785, he married Elizabeth (Hallett) Seaman (1762-1815), a widow and the daughter of Captain Samuel Hallett of 2nd Delancey's Brigade. James Moore and his wife settled at Lower St. Mary's on the St. John River near Fredericton, New Brunswick, and purchased 600 acres of land from two sergeants and two corporals of the former Maryland Loyalist Regiment. A house was built on the farm and in 1789 John Moore visited his son for several months and was so pleased with the location he even considered moving from New York. By 1798, James Moore's health was failing, and late in the year he went to visit his relatives and his old home on Long Island where he died on 25 February 1799.
The five Moore children: John, Maria, Eliza, Jane, and Hannah, remained in New Brunswick with their mother after their father's death, but returned to New York to attend school and for family visits. Maria, the oldest child, was only twelve years of age at the time of her father's death. James Moore left all his property in Newtown, Granville, and St. Mary's, to his wife and children. Maria (1786-1855) married Samuel Carman, the son of the Loyalist Richard Carman and Sarah Horsfield Carman; Eliza (b.1788) married James Cunningham of Queensbury, New Brunswick; John (1791-1809) died at the age of eighteen years; Jane Whitlock (b.1794) married Isaac DeVeber, son of the Loyalist Gabriel DeVeber; and Hannah (b.1797) married her cousin Samuel Hallett of Sussex. The author and historian, W.O.Raymond, was a great grandson of both James Moore and Richard Carman.
- Contents:
The Moore Family Papers consist mainly of correspondence exchanged between members of the Moore family in Fredericton with relatives in New York State. Much of the correspondence is addressed to Maria (Moore) Carman and Eliza Moore. There are seven letters in the 1830's addressed to Sarah Carman from her daughters-in-law in Bathurst, Musquash, and St. Stephen. The correspondence reflects the daily lives of upper class Loyalist women in New Brunswick. It also documents the ongoing connections with family in the United States and the movement back and forth for the generations growing up after the American Revolution. The women discuss their personal and social lives, as well as the lives of mutual friends and relatives. Births, marriages, and deaths, are often referred to, and there is always great concern with illness. There is advice about the foolhardiness of a premature return to New York, discussion of marital difficulties, interesting commentaries on the significance of correct spelling and grammar, reports on sea travels, fires, weather, and an earthquake, descriptions of life in Bathurst, New Brunswick in 1830, and expressions of anxiety over the possibility of renewed war between Britain and the United States.
An item of particular interest is an affectionate letter written by Thomas Billopp, in a beautiful hand, to Maria and Eliza Moore, on 1 November 1805. Thomas Billopp was the husband of James Moore's sister Abigail and the son of Christopher Billopp, the prominent Staten Island Loyalist who settled in New Brunswick. The ship which Thomas Billopp refers to in the letter, may have been the one that carried members of the Francisco de Miranda expedition to Venezuela in an abortive attempt to liberate Venezuela from Spanish domination in 1806. The expedition met with disaster and Billopp was among those captured and executed. A letter in the Moore Papers from Julia Ann Staples to Maria Moore, and dated 26 October 1806, mentions the execution and his wife's grief.
In addition to the correspondence, there are fifteen legal documents dating from 1783 until 1849. They include several indentures for the sale of land, a power of attorney to James Moore from John Moore, Jr., the wills of both James Moore and Richard Carman, and a number of other documents. An item of historical significance quite different in content from the Moore Family correspondence and legal documents, but found within the papers, is a letter written on 7 November 1854 from the Siege of Sebastopol during the Crimean War. It gives a vivid account of the Battle of Inkerman.
- Originals:
The original records are held by UNB Archives & Special Collections.
- Archival Ref. No.:
James Moore family fonds, MG H 159
- Finding Aids:
A detailed finding aid has been prepared by the staff of the UNB Archives. The finding aid contains a biographical sketch of the Moore family, custodial history of the papers, scope and content information, calendar of correspondence, calendar of legal documents and a list of family relationships pertinent to the Moore Family Papers.
Electronic version available. See Microforms staff.
- PDF Finding Aid:
- Family Relationships Pertinent Moore Family Papers.pdf