Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Sarah's Surprise, Part 2

Daniel Moore, of Washington County, MD, in his will dated January 1, 1792, bequeathed conditionally (in part) to “ my Daughter Nancy now the wife of John Griffith my said Land containing One Hundred & thirty-Eight Acres as aforesaid & with all its Appurtenances to be entered upon by my said Daughter Nancy after my said Wifes Decease . . . .” [Washington County, Maryland Register of Wills, Will Book A, pp. 279-280].

I wanted to learn of Nancy’s life-path, about where exactly the land lay, and the land’s ownership history.

Just one Daniel Moore was enumerated for 1790 in Washington County, MD. As a land owner, my ancestor probably was the one enumerated here as head of household. The 1783 tax assessment roll for Washington Co., MD also lists just one Daniel Moore. An index to this assessment provided by the Maryland Archives also lists only one Daniel Moore (as “More”). the index states he was assessed on 128 acres in Lower Antietam and Sharpsburg Hundred, on a tract called “More’s Delight.” A Richard More was assessed on 50 acres of a tract, “Hunting the Hare” [Assessment of 1783, Index, MSA S-1437 http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/stagser/s1400/s1437/html/1437wa.html]

A Washington Co., MD deed entry shows Daniel Moore and Mary, his wife, of Washington County, selling 50 acres, part of a tract called “Hunting the Hare,” on April 10, 1790, acknowledged by Daniel and dower released by Mary on the same day [Washington County, Maryland Deeds G-7, pp. 44-46]. This deed is the second, chronologically, giving “Mary” as the wife of this Daniel Moore. No marriage record has yet been found for this Daniel Moore, and no known record states who the mother(s) of Daniel’s children was or were. But at least with these land records we have a first name for Daniel’s wife. Since the name matches the wife’s name in the 1792 will “my loving & faithfull Wife Mary”, the data in this deed is some evidence that it was the same Daniel who died testate within a few months of writing his will. While a wife’s death and Daniel’s remarriage between April 1790 and Jan. 1792 are not impossible, spousal information in Deeds is very useful.

Daniel Moore’s immediate neighbors in the 1790 US Federal Census, as the enumerator’s list runs, were John Hyatt, Richard Moore, Daniel Keedy and Elizabeth Rulett [National Archives, Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29, Washington County, Maryland; National Archives Micropublication 637, Roll 3, Page 2, Image 375]. As “Daniel Gueting” in German script, this neighbor Daniel Keedy appears to have been a witness to Daniel Moore’s will. Ah, another helpful correlation.


But there is no John Griffith listed here or elsewhere in the County, nor nearby in MD or PA for 1790. Possibly he lived in northern VA (for which no Census survives until 1810) or elsewhere.

The 1800 US Federal Census enumeration is more fruitful. A John Griffith was head of household in Lower Antietam Hundred, Washington Co. Listed just before him was Mary Moore (the eldest female in her household aged 45+ years), and following John Griffith’s listing after three Hoffman households was Daniel Getigh, the possible will witness. [National Archives, Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives Micropublication M32, Lower Anteatam Hundred, Washington County, Maryland, Roll 12, Page 134 (stamped; written pp. 40 and 630), Image 143]. John’s household included 1 male under 10, 1 male aged 26-44 and one female aged 26-44.


John Griffith is not listed as head of household in the 1810 U. S. Federal Census enumeration for this part of Maryland. However, the Washington County, Maryland Regional Library has posted images and transcripts of the 1803-1804 Tax Assessment roll, and John Griffith is listed in Lower Antietam Hundred. He is not assessed on land in the County, but on 2 horses, 4 cattle and 7 sheep [Washington County Taxes, 1803-1804, Lower Antietam Hundred, p. 18; http://www.whilbr.org/itemdetail.aspx?idEntry=5151&dtPointer=8, accessed September 10, 2010]. On the next page, Mary Moore is listed as assessed on a tract of 138 acres called “Moore’s Delight.” This tax list is arranged alphabetically by surname initial, so closeup information on neighborhood populations can not be recovered.

One John Griffith was listed head of household in the 1810 enumeration for Kanawha County, (West) Virginia. While this could be Nancy Moore’s husband, I want to continue searching in Western Maryland.

On June 16, 1801, Richard Moore, of Allegany County, Maryland, signed a Power of Attorney to his “well beloved son Daniel Moore, of Washington County” to recover Richard’s interest in the estate of “my father Daniel Moore . . . deceased of Washington County.” The deed was acknowledged the same day by Richard in Washington Co., and brought for recording by Daniel Moore July 3, 1801 [Washington County, MD Deeds N-13:547]. This suggests the possibility that John and Nancy Griffith also may have moved to or bought land in Allegany County.

A search of Allegany County land documents turned up a treasure trove, which will be described in the next chapter of this saga.

3 comments:

  1. Just discovered this. I may be related to this family. The older Daniel Moore may have been the brother of my 5th great grandfather Zebulon Moore. Zebulon was in the Washington County, Maryland area in the mid-1700's. I'm very interested in the "next chapter"!

    Daniel Moore
    Tigard, Oregon
    mooredan@suncup.net

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  2. Thank you for this valuable informaiton about Daniel Moore. I'm interested in his ties to my ancestor Griffith James. On 4 Sept. 1763, Joseph Chapline made an agreement (Frederick Co., MD, DB J, 798-802) with Samuel Beall Jr., David Ross, and Richard Henderson to set up their Antietam ironworks. The agreement states that Chapline was excluding from the land belonging to the ironworks 215 acres he had sold to Daniel Moore and Griffith James.

    What was the relationship between Daniel and Griffith? I have not found a deed for this 215-acre tract. I do know that Griffith lived on a tract called the Pough, which he purchased from Chapline's heirs. Court records also tell me that Griffith and Daniel were neighbors living close to each other. Beverly Peoples, an outstanding research of this James family and its intermarried Dean family, thinks that Daniel Moore may have married Mary, a daughter of Richard Dean and wife Priscilla. Griffith James' daughter Gwendolyn married Samuel Dean, a son of Richard and Priscilla. Beverly speaks about the possible connection of Daniel Moore to the Dean family here: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ladeanxx/richarddeane.htm

    The "Hunting the Hare" tract you mention above was owned — at least in part — by Richard and Priscilla Dean before their deaths. Do you have any information about Daniel Moore's connection to Griffith James and that 215-acre tract Daniel and Griffith seem to have co-owned by 1763?

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    Replies
    1. William, thanks for your message.

      I have not established a relationship between some Deans or Griffith James
      and Daniel Moore or Mary, his wife.

      I should point out that the 215 acres reserved to Daniel and Griffith within the Antietam
      Iron Works tract was acreage, not necessarily a single tract. I do not know of a different
      conveyance of land to Griffith James. I am aware of Beverly Peoples' theory.
      You say that Chapline's heirs conveyed the tract "Pough" to Griffith James.

      Before formation of the Iron Works tract, in Aug. 1754 Joseph Chapline wrote a Bond for Deed,
      promising that Joseph would convey 138 acres to Daniel Moore adjacent to the plantation
      where Daniel "now liveth." I believe this was
      part of the 215-acres that was said to have been sold by Chapline to Daniel Moore and Griffith James.
      This is stated within the 1763 deed establishing the Iron Works partnership [Frederick Co. Deed J:798-802,
      on p. J:799]. Chapline never issued a separate conveyance deed to Daniel, and the
      Bond For Deed was not recorded until 1805 [Washington County, MD Deed R:181-2]. Daniel had
      disposed of the 138 acres in his 1792 will, without stating provenance for it.

      My record of the tract Hunting the Hare is incomplete. A patent of 250 acres by this name was
      issued by MD to Joseph Chapline 13 Nov 1747; it was then in Prince George's County. By 4 Frederick Co.
      deeds in Jan. 1748, Chapline and wife Ruhamah sold 50-acre parts of this tract. None of these deeds
      was to Daniel Moore, Griffith James or Richard Deane.

      However, Beverly states she found a 1747 Prince George's County deed for 50 acres of this tract,
      Chapline to Richard Deane [no citation given; dated and recorded before Chapline's patent was issued].
      She says, "The Frederick County Debt Books of 1756 show Richard as owner of part of Hunting the Hare
      with 50 acres. The 1783 tax assessment continues to show him with the same 50 acres and 2 horses
      and 4 black cows."

      I have not found
      a Chapline deed for the remaining 50 acres, but believe this remainder was the plantation on which
      Daniel Moore then lived according to the 1754 Bond for Deed. However the 1783 MD tax list assessed
      a Richard More on 50 acres called Hunt the Hare, then in Lower Antietam and Sharpsburg Hundred,
      Washington County. In addition to Richard Deane's assessment on 50 acres by this name, the
      1783 assessment lists Robert Huffman with 50 acres and Jacob Gardenour with 104 acres, all with
      part of "Hunt the Hare." These entries add up to the complete tract patented to Joseph Chapline.
      Since Richard More [sic] is probably the son by this name of Daniel Moore [d. 1792], it does
      not appear that Daniel Moore acquired Deane's piece of "Hunt [sic] the Hare."

      On 17 Apr. 1790, Daniel Moore and Mary h/w sold 50 acres, part of “Hunting the
      Hare,” in Washington Co. MD to Henry Keedy [Washington Co., MD Deeds G-7:44-46]. Daniel does not in
      the sale deed state how he obtained this.

      Beverly mentions Daniel Moore's 1761 sale of a tract "Moore's Delight," with Mary, his wife.
      This was on Seneca Creek in Montgomery Co., MD although then in Frederick Co. [Frederick Co.
      Deeds G:360-362]. It was patented to Daniel Moore 17 Mar 1749 as 100 acres.

      I do not know of a genealogical connection between any Zebulon and Daniel Moore. Their names
      are both on a militia list, and their names are both in a supersedeas entry, and that's it.





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