Deacon James Moore

  General Notes:

According to several genealogists James was born in Ireland and left there sometime in the year 1727 and arrived Boston, New World 1727...Carter states he was "born in Northern Ireland of Scottish descent....he spent one year in Concord and then went to Londonderry, NH. On a tour of inspection he securred refusal of the right of Joseph Farrar in Suncook, NH June 5, 1729 and a deed November 24th 1729...Moor claimed his family was the second family to settle in town. He built the first framed house in modified form lately occupied by his great grandson (Samuel Emery Moore)..."
McClintock tells us that Farrar was a cordwainer (shoemaker) and James a laborer and that both of them lived in Concord, MA. Farrar had granted Power of Attorney to Moor to represent him in the matter and had somehow deeded him some land. The selling price of the land was 24 pounds and it "securred 365 acres, possible of the best land in the township"...the land was referred to as LOVEWELL'S TOWNSHIP and was granted by the General Court to Captain Lovewell and his company of soldiers who had earlier (1725) fought off the Indians at Pequawket (Pigwacket), Maine...now known as Fryeburg and located on the border of the two states..LOVEWELL'S TOWNSHIP became SUNCOOK which in time was divided into smaller hamlets, one of which was PEMBROKE.
Moor's deed is recorded in the office of the registar of deeds for Middlesex County in MA. (The boundary lines between MA and NH were not finalized until 1740) McClintock tells us that active settlement took place in the summer of 1729...Francis Doyen/Doyne was thought to be the first settler and Moor the second..the town was not incorporated until November 1, 1759. (America was still under British rule at this time and James died (1773) before the Colonies saw independence.)
Cutter claims that James was born in Co Tyrone, Ulster Province, Northern Ireland in the year 1702 and married before he came to America to Agnes Colbreth/Colbreath/Culbreth/Galbraith...They had 10 children that we know of...6 sons and 4 daughters.(His Will does not reflect this)
James was a Deacon in the church and very active in the affairs of the town as it grew. He died in Pembroke and was buried there in the Pembroke St. Cemetery (March 11, 1773). He was 71 yrs old.
His grave is marked with a large headstone upon which there is a long inscription of a religious nature [Here lyes the body of Deacon James Moore Who departed this life March 11th 1773 In the 71 years of his...]the rest is not legible for the stone is not in good condition. There is a growth of moss and encrustation that has occured over the years and about all that can be deciphered is his name and his date of death and age. Also the stone must have fallen over for it is split into three sections which have been cemented together rather roughly. His two sons (Robert and Daniel) are buried nearby [over time someone has decipered the encrusted area of the stone and found his wife Agnes' name and dates there]
The family home was passed on to his children and the last known family member to have lived there may have been his great grandson who died in 1893. In 1992 when I visted the town I was told the house no longer stood and I was unable to even locate the site..the name Moor(e) is no longer common to the town.

Notes: NEW ENGLAND FAMILIES GENEALOGY AND MEMORIAL by William Cutter A.M. Third Series, Lewis Pub Co, New York, c 1915
HISTORY OF PEMBROKE, John McClintock (no publisher and no reprints)
PEMBROKE NEW HAMPSHIRE GENEALOGY 1730-1895 vols I and II by Rev. N.F. Carter
100 ACRES OR MORE, The History of the Land and Peoples of Bow, NH, David Bundy, Phoenis Pub, Canaan, NH c 1975
NEW HAMPSHIRE ARCHIVES

July 2000: received via e-mail from Ralph S. Moore courtesy of Gene Carter the following probate records of Deacon James Moor :
JAMES MOOR 1773 OF PEMBROKE
We the subscribers Heirs of the Estate of James Moor late of Pembroke Deceased are Desirous that the estate should be settled in the following manner viz. The home place and a part of the lot known by the name of the School Lot, to be settled on Robert Moor and the remainder of the afore mentioned School Lot together with a certain tract of land purchased of Mr. Ephraim Blunt laying on the west side of the main road leading from Pembroke to Concord to be settled on John Moor. and the personal and movable estate excepting our mother's third, to be equally divided among us Wilm Moor, John Moor, Daniel Moor, James Moor, Ephriam Moor, Mary Kelsey and Hannah Foster. The above is our desire, together with the desire of our mother, that our Brother Robert Moor should be Administrator.
March 15th 1773
Signed...Agness Moor widow, William Moor, John Moor, James Moor, Ephraim Moor, Daniel Moor, Ephraim Foster, Robert Kellse.

Find a Grave Memorial 148441568

  Events

• Alt. Birth: Alt. Birth, Abt 1702.

James married Agnes Colbreath, daughter of John Colbreath and Unknown Hollonshead, circa 1721 in Ireland (Or England). (Agnes Colbreath was born in 1706 in Ulster, Ireland, died after Mar 1773 in Probably Pembroke, NH and was buried in Pembroke Street Cemetery in Pembroke, Merrimack County, NH.)