William “The Opportunist” Moseley, III, of Old Rappahonack

Biography

From https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Moseley-404

NOTE B: This William MOSELEY (the "Opportunist") is cataloged by Warren Forsythe as ID no. I16; see http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=moseley2&...

The tale of this William MOSELEY (commonly known as the "Opportunist", for reasons that will become evident) is complex and -- as described below -- has been carefully pieced together through the work of several genealogists. The tale is well thought through but (at least for some) is not 100% compelling. Whether some of the missing information that would make it 100% compelling will ever be found (nearly 300 years later) is becoming less and less likely by the day, so we will present the tale that is widely considered to be at least 95% accurate.

William MOSELEY the Opportunist was quite certainly born in c. 1692, in Old Rappahannock or Essex County, Virginia. He was a son of Col. William MOSELEY (b. 1660) and Hannah HAWKINS Moseley (b. 1663) and a grandson of the Capt. William MOSELEY who came to Virginia from England in 1650 and first settled in Old Rappahannock County in the Northern Neck of Virginia.

William the Opportunist was also a first cousin to the two children of his father's brother, Benjamin MOSELEY, and his wife Elizabeth THOMPSON Catlett Moseley: yet another William MOSELEY (1699 - 1731) and his sister Mary MOSELEY (1698 - 1748).

Benjamin MOSELEY died in 1709, leaving most of his estate on Occupation Creek in Essex County, Virginia, in the temporary care of his wife, Elizabeth THOMPSON Catlett Moseley, to be inherited, to all intents and purposes, by whichever of his two minor children reached adulthood, with the son, William, having the priority. However, Elizabeth herself died in the following year. The two children appear to have been brought up by THOMPSON relatives of their mother. Benjamin's will had also stipulated that, should neither of his children live to inherit the estate, it should then pass to his two living nephews (William the Opportunist and his brother John MOSELEY)

Both of Benjamin's children did, in fact, reach adulthood, and appear to have both inherited some parts of their father Benjamin's estate, which may have been as much as 400 acres in extent, but the documentation is less than completely transparent. However, Benjamin's son William died in 1731 without having married or leaving an heir, and Benjamin's daughter Mary then died in 1748, also without leaving any living children (despite having had three husbands along the way).

On Mary's death in 1748, William the Opportunist stepped in and filed claims in Essex County as the rightful inheritor of the estate on the basis of his uncle Benjamin's will. He then promptly sold the land to one Robert BROOKE who lived nearby to the land in Essex County. By moving quickly (and probably in close collaboration with Robert BROOKE), the Opportunist appears to have managed to acquire the property and sell it before anyone could raise awkward questions about whether others might have rights to the inheritance, which was certainly arguable.

It would be wrong to think of William the Opportunist as being a "bad" person seeking to gain from the misfortunes of others. At a time when ownership of land was a crucial factor to status and "worth", William would probably have argued (a) that he was merely ensuring that the value associated with his uncle's estate remained in the family, and (b) that since neither of his cousins had left an heir to inherit and his brother John had died in 1717, he was indeed the valid inheritor under the terms of his uncle Benjamin's will. No other close member of the family appears to have been living in Essex County by 1748, so it is not as though there was another close family member who would have wanted the land for its own sake.

During the 40 years between the death of his uncle Benjamin and his successful claim to the land on Occupation Creek, William the Opportunist had married to a woman called Elizabeth (potentially in either Essex County or Surry County, Virginia, some time prior to November 21, 1721) and had gradually moved himself (and then his family) from Essex County to Goochland County in Virginia and down into Beaufort County, North Carolina.

The origins of William's wife Elizabeth are obscure. We can only infer that she must have been born in c. 1705. However, Forsythe suggests that she may be Elizabeth BROOKE, a sister of the Robert BROOKE with whom William MOSELEY worked closely to ensure acquisition of the land in Essex County when his cousin Mary died in 1748.

Between 1724 and 1737, William and Elizabeth are believed to have had at least six children, and details about those children can be found through links on the following web page of the Ancestry web site:

http://person.ancestry.com/tree/88372580/person/46583171018/facts

When he filed the lawsuit in Essex County claiming to be the rightful heir to the estate of his uncle Benjamin (on March 20, 1749), William the Opportunist was living in Beaufort County, North Carolina. If nothing else, this lawsuit indicates the degree of sophistication already achieved by the mid-18th Century related to property law, and the lengths people would go to to ensure the appropriate inheritance of family property (from the best part of 200 or so miles away). The other thing that it indicates is the communication and networking skills of William the Opportunist, who, despite multiple moves over that 40-year period, had carefully kept in close touch with family members and others to ensure that, should the chance of his inheriting his uncle's property occur, he would be ready to do so promptly.

William the Opportunist is believed to have died some 20 years later (c. 1769), after moving yet again to the southern side of the Tarr River, along Buffalo Creek, in what was then Bute County, and is now Franklin County, North Carolina. There do remain some questions about whether the William MOSELEY found in Beaufort County in 1749 and the William MOSELEY who died in Bute County are actually the same person. For the known details we refer interested readers to the data accumulated by Warren Forsythe and referenced above.

Almost immediately after William MOSELEY died, most of his children moved again -- southward into South Carolina and Georgia.

Sources

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:33BR-J91 : accessed 2016-03-24), entry for William The Opportunist /Moseley/.
• Source: #S629 Data: Text: Marriage date: 1689 Marriage place: Old Rappahannoch and Essex Counties
• Source: #S629 Data: Text: Marriage date: 1689 Marriage place: Old Rappahannoch and Essex Counties
• Source: #S633 Page: Database online. Data: Text: Record for Hannah Hawkins
• Source: #S633 Page: Database online. Data: Text: Record for Hannah Hawkins
• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 01 February 2018, 21:33), entry for William Moseley III(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:LXQV-NLJ); contributed by various users.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:9W6N-MDM : accessed 2016-07-06), entry for William Mosley, submitted by kboudreaux2762250.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:3SS7-LQJ : accessed 2016-07-07), entry for William /Mosley/ III.
• 1755 Tax list Pitt, NC
• Moseley Genealogy, Book 2 of 2, Appendix to Book 1 -- but see also Warren Forsythe's MOSELEY database 2 on Rootsweb, which is a continuously updated version of Book 2 of the Moseley Genealogy from 2000 to 2017, when Forsythe died (see https://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=moseley2... for updated information about this specific William Moseley, the Opportunist) William I, II & III Rappahannock, Essex, Virginia Jamestown Society approved Edited by Forsythe WL. Moseley, Mosley, etc. Families (Book 2 of 2): Genealogical Appendix (privately printed in 2000; see pp. 45-52); also available on line at https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE989467
• Electronic version of above book as continuously updated (2000 - 2017) on Rootsweb; see *https://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=moseley2...