Finding Moores a winding path

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A reader wanted to know about my Moore family, so here’s a bit about a few Moore clans in Maine. Keep in mind that Moore is the ninth most common surname in the United States, so there are lots of us.

In 1977, I started a serious pursuit for my Moores who, my grandmother assured me, were descended from Abraham Moore, the first settler of Abbot in Piscataquis County. Made sense to me. My folks lived there, and my great-grandparents and some of my great-great-grandparents had lived there.

You should always follow your ancestral lines back from yourself. So of course, my husband and I started on the other end – jaunting off to Norridgewock to visit the handsome monument to Maj. John Moor, who served in the American Revolution. He and wife Margaret Goffe Moor of New Hampshire were Abraham’s Scots-Irish parents.

Then I tried to find the link to my Moores – a son of Abraham and wife Betsy (Spaulding) Moore who would need to show up as father to two of my great-great-grandfathers, brothers Gaylan Harrison Moore and John Colby Moore.

The son of Abraham we had our eye on was Jefferson P. Moore, who used to drive the stagecoach to Bangor and lived where my Uncle Carroll lives now. But none of Abraham’s sons proved to be the link.

I don’t recall how we discovered that Gaylan Harrison and John Colby’s parents were Jotham and Lovina Moore – probably from the 1850 census of Parkman. Then a death record led us to look into the town of Mount Vernon near Augusta.

Jotham and Lovina were married there, and some of the children born there. John Colby was born in Mount Vernon, while Gaylan Harrison was born in Parkman.

And Jotham Moore’s birth was in the Mt. Vernon town records at the Maine State Archives. He was on the page with the Timothy Moore family originally from New Hampshire, though a little bit below the other children’s names.

But the birth date fit, so we traced those Moores to New Hampshire, then to Newburyport. Now I had a second Moore family to belong to – except they weren’t mine, either.

It turns out Jotham was born in 1800 to David and Dorcas Moore in York. And David appears to trace back to William Moore, whose roots were in England. Dorcas also was a Moore from York, but we have no idea who her people were.

So I spent literally years looking for the right Moores. Mine aren’t originally from Abbot, though they certainly lived there, nor are they the Milo Moores or the Ellsworth Moores.

Looking back, you can see easily where I went wrong, more than once, but it can be very hard not to chase after the ancestors you really want.

I do want to mention that the grandmother who gave me the Moore line with a wrong turn in it, Ione Bennett Moore, had everything right from Jotham forward, and also gave me perfect information on her two Bennetts back to the Revolutionary War.

Grammie Moore was the starting point for a love of family history that led to this column, my job at the Bangor Daily News and membership in organizations such as the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Speaking of the DAR, I just love what they’re going to do next: dedicate a new grave monument on June 18 in Penobscot for William and Mercy (Wardwell) Hutchings.

Hutchings, who died in 1866, was the last surviving Revolutionary War soldier in New England, having enlisted at 15 for the coastal defense of what is now Maine. On July 4, 1865, he was brought up the Penobscot River to Bangor festivities that day, receiving a 21-gun salute as the boat passed by Fort Knox in Prospect.

The new monument was created with the assistance of Darlene Springer and Dunn Monument in Ellsworth. The grave marking is organized by the Maine DAR. State Regent Donna Dunbar Hoffmann, a member of Ramassoc Chapter in Bucksport, is a descendant of two of the children of William and Mercy Hutchings.

Aside from the 10:30 a.m. marking, activities will center on the Penobscot Historical Society, with a first-day postage cancellation in its old post office; and the Penobscot Community School, where a craft fair begins at 9 a.m. Exhibits will include the DAR Museum Trunk Show from Washington and genealogy information.

A private in a Massachusetts regiment under Col. Samuel McCobb, in Capt. Benjamin Lemont’s company, Hutchings said later that prior to his enlistment, he had been taken prisoner during the Battle of Castine in 1779, but that the British let him go because he was so young.

William and Mercy Hutchings had 16 children, born in Penobscot 1786-1817: Charles, Joseph, William, Capt. Eliakim, Mary or Polly, Tryphenia (Hoffmann’s ancestor), Jesse, Mercy, Abigail, Alfred, Sarah, Jeremiah, Lavinia (also Hoffmann’s ancestor), Harrison, Newell and Charlotte.

William and Mercy raised their family in Penobscot. Mercy died in 1837, and William Hutchings died at 101 in 1866. Mercy, daughter of Daniel and Sarah (Staples) Wardwell, was a descendant of Samuel Wardwell, hanged for witchcraft in 1692 in Salem, Mass.

Parking at the cemetery in Penobscot is extremely limited, Hoffmann explained, so organizers are really hoping that those attending will go by bus.

Tickets include a bus ticket to the site from Penobscot Elementary School, museum admission, barbecue chicken dinner or box lunch with ham hoagie, and program with Hutchings’ story and genealogies. Tickets are $25. Without the program, the price is $20.

Those who purchase tickets should meet at 9:30 a.m. at Penobscot Community School for a bus ride to the cemetery. From Route 1, take Route 15, then a right onto Route 199 to get to the school, which is about 5 miles along Route 199.

Tickets are by advance purchase. Send checks by May 25 to MSODAR Treasurer, Ann Thomas, 52 Newland Ave., Augusta 04330-4113.

Participants are invited to wear Colonial dress.

Two commemorative pins are available, one with a picture of Hutchings, another with a picture of his rocking chair. The pins are $15 each and may be ordered from Donna Hoffmann, P.O. Box 92, Bucksport 04416.

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or send queries by e-mail, familyti@bangordailynews.net.