Union County, Georgia                                                              The GAGenWeb Project

THROUGH MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of Union County, Georgia

Their Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements

Lifting the Mists of History on Their Way of Life

By:  Ethelene Dyer Jones

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 17^th 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.   

[Ethelene Dyer Jones is a retired educator, freelance writer, poet, and historian.  She may be reached at e-mail edj0513@windstream.net; phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA 31061-2411.]

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