James Moore

In a document titled the "Early Moore History" by George Miles Moore, we learn of the existence of the family bible inscribed with James birth date - April 22 or 23, 1753.

We are also told that James' father was a loyalist. However, there's a contradiction as to his name (Francis or Enoch Moore). In either case, the story continues, stating that "Only 40% of the colonists were revolutionist. When the war broke out, he (James' father) would not fight against his King and his countrymen. He sold and disposed of all his possessions here and with part of his family went back to England leaving James and some other members of his family in the vicinity of Amboy, NJ."

In May, 1776, James enlisted for the Revolutionary War in the First Pennsylvania Continentals Regiment of Regulars in James Parr's Company. His regiment was made up of frontiersmen and sharpshooters and saw much service on Long Island, at Saratoga on the Hudson, in New Jersey, South Carolina, and Virginia.

The story of his demise isn't clear. In a 2005 article in the Bucknell {College} World titled James Moore II - Master Bridge Builder, about James II's father James it says that "He was killed during the retreat from the Carolinas in 1781". However, the "Early Moore History" poses a more complex scenario - that his wife Mary got word that her husband died a prisoner of war, that she waited several years to marry a Benjamin Kelly, only years later to hear that her long lost husband James had been seen around their old home in Jersey. The story continues that this was "too much for her and she faded away passing to her rest April 28, 1828."

According to Israel O'Brien, a 5th grandson of James Moore II, James and Mary had 4 children altogether with James II being the youngest, and the family was Quaker.