Finding The Parents of Thomas W. Moore: Part 3

Thomas W. Moore

b. 26 Jul 1823 in Indiana

d. 18 Jul 1893 in Beechgrove, Tennessee

m. 1848 to Nancy Ashley (b. 29 Jan 1828, d. 14 Mar 1884)

Following my recent hint regarding the parents of Thomas W. Moore (in part 2 of this search), I began searching through census records for confirmation of a location in Indiana where I think Thomas' family lived at the time of his birth.

The hint came from finding "T.W. Moore" on a list of previous Indiana University students. This student was a freshman in 1845 and was from Jackson County, Indiana.

Investigating the 1830 census records returned some intriguing results. Thomas would have been around 7 years old at the time.

There are only 7 "Moore" households on the 1830 census in Jackson County, headed by the following individuals: Eli, Hugh, John, Joshua, Mary, Samuel, and William.

From this list, the two that caught my eye were Hugh and William, since both these names are repeated in my Moore line. In fact, my 2nd great-grandfather on this line (and Thomas' son) is William Hugh Moore (b. 15 Mar 1852, d. 11 Feb 1911).

I analyzed the household data that is available in these census records in an attempt to rule out some of these options. I narrowed the list down to three households that contained a male, age 5-10, during the 1830 census: Hugh, John, and Joshua.

This is a snapshot of Hugh's household:

2 Males 5-9

1 Male 30-39

2 Females <5

1 Female 10-14

1 Female 30-39

Then, I immediately went to the 1840 census data to see if any of these households still had a male child that matched the calculated age of Thomas at the time. I noticed that Hugh was no longer a head in 1840.. at least not in Jackson County. Doing a quick search for "Hugh Moore" in the area returned nothing.

Since Hugh was my main lead, I decided to begin to look for wills or probate information, thinking he may have died before 1840. I came across a probate record from 20 Aug 1849 that contained some excited information:

p. 436 August 20, 1849--John CRABB & Thomas W MOORE Guardian  of Heirs of Hugh & Rebecca MOORE Deceased --more time allowed for the sale of Real Estate

I was thrilled to find this. It seems to support that there is a Thomas W Moore that is presumably the son of Hugh and Rebecca Moore in Jackson County. This court record reflects a real estate sale after the death of Hugh and Rebecca.

To be sure this Thomas was not an individual other than our Thomas, I checked census data from 1840, 1850, and 1860 for other individuals by the name of Thomas Moore in the area (by 1850, our Thomas was already in Coffee County, Tennessee). No hits.

This information seems to support that we may have finally solved the identity of Thomas' parents.

My theory is that Hugh Moore brought his family to Indiana shortly before Thomas W. was born. Sometime between 1835 and 1840, Hugh and Rebecca move in with their oldest daughter after she is married. Thus, Hugh is no longer the head of the household. Around 1845, Thomas heads to Indiana University a short distance away. Hugh and Rebecca die around 1847 or 1848. Thomas heads to Tennessee to be a teacher in Coffee County. In 1849, Thomas appears on the court probate record regarding the real estate that belonged to his parents. John Crabb, a possible brother-in-law or uncle of Thomas, is in Jackson County and handles the real estate until it is sold.

More fact checking is required before I can update my tree with Hugh and Rebecca, but this is looking very promising, indeed.

I want to get my hands on the actual probate record instead of the index. I also find how John Crabb is related to the Moore family, if at all.

[Update 1]

After doing a search for marriage records in Jackson County during this era, I found that Laura Moore married John Crabb on 18 Sep 1839. Thus, the John Crabb mentioned in the court record cited above would have been Thomas' brother-in-law (Laura being sister of Thomas).

[Update 2]

In doing further research on the early settlers of Jackson County, Indiana, I found the following page containing transcribed text from the book, 1886: History of Jackson County, Indiana. Brant and Fuller.

The settlers of this township, knowing the advantages of an education, were not slow in providing their children with the means of learning the rudiments of reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic, to the single rule of three, which at that day seemed to be the limit of every teacher's knowledge. The first were subscription schools, and the pay was to be in wheat, corn, venison hams, and sometimes a little money, with the further provision that the teacher should board among the scholars. The first to try his pedagogical skill on the firstborn of Grassy Fork Township was a man by the name of Ellison. This school was kept in an old log house that stood near Hezekiah Applegate's. This house was provided with a dirt floor, puncheon seats and greased paper windows. It is said that the grease gave the paper its translucency. Hugh Moore succeeded Ellison, and next came James Martin. The first schoolhouse erected was on the land of David Sturgeon; the second on Congress land, now owned by Jacob Wascom, and the third near the old Smith place. The families that sent to these schools were the Burges, Tuells, Applegates, Carters, Smiths and Browns. The development was gradual, and at present the township employs eight teachers, at an average daily compensation of $2.10 each. The school property is valued at $3,500, with an annual expenditure of about $3,100.

This account mentions that Hugh Moore served as a school teacher in the early days of Jackson County. This provides additional support to the theory that Hugh is Thomas' father since Thomas served as a school teacher in Coffee County, Tennessee (evidenced in the 1850 census).

[Update 3]

According to this land patent record filed in March 1851, it appears that Thomas W. Moore may have served as a private in the 3rd Regiment of the Tennessee Volunteers during the Mexican-American war. The land is being assigned to James Harvey Thompson.

This could support a theory that shortly after attending Indiana University, Thomas decided to join the war effort. He may have traveled to Tennessee to join the Tennessee Volunteers. Perhaps, at this time, he may have been introduced to Nancy Ashley (his wife) and/or her brother Simeon Ashley.

After the war, Thomas could have married Nancy and sold his Indiana land patent to James Harvey Thompson in 1851.