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Sandra Moore Shoffner, 2nd great-granddaughter of Richard Henry and
Sarah Harriet Moore. Photographs by Harry L Shoffner with the permission of
Willard G Moore.
The elusive Moore family Bible belonging to the family of
Richard Henry Moore (son of Portius) and his wife, Sarah Harriet Moore
(daughter of Robert), has recently reappeared after being hidden way for 45+
years. We believe this version of the Bible, with a copyright date of 1891, contains
the marriage, birth, and death dates transcribed from the “original” Bible by
their only surviving daughter, Sarah Jane Moore (1840-1917), and later passed
on to her brother, Dr Henry Fletcher Moore (1849-1934). The consensus is that since
the first entry on the Marriages page below (above the names of Robert and
Sarah Moore) reads: “our grand parents on mamas side,” the names could only
have been transcribed by Sarah Jane (granddaughter of Robert and Sarah/Sallie
[Bailey] Moore). See the following photographs showing the Marriages page:
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| Top of Marriages Page |
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| Detail of Marriages Page (Note Robert's birth date) |
Several Moore kin were very interested in seeing this
version of the Bible to verify the birth date of Robert, eldest son of Lt Col
Stephen Moore, a date that has been disputed and debated by numerous Stephen
Moore family historians and genealogists for decades. Robert’s birth year has
been recorded as 1762 and 1769 in
various Moore family Bibles and histories. You can read all the details
concerning this ongoing debate here on David’s blog, just click to read all
posts labeled Robert 1762 birth date.
His birth date of Nov 5, 1762 is
clearly written on the Marriages page above, but not on the Births page.
Before this Bible was recently discovered, it was last
seen at the home of Mattie Thompson Moore, who took possession of it in 1957, after
the death of her husband, Charles Fletcher Moore, Sr, eldest son of Dr Henry
Fletcher Moore by his second wife, Maggie Davis. Mattie T Moore lived on Anthony
Street in Burlington, and the Bible was seen there by several people (including
me) in the late 1960s.I had the Bible for a few weeks until my father, Richard
Fletcher Moore, insisted I return it, much to my chagrin. I had gotten quite attached
to that Bible, not knowing the importance it would play in my life further down
the road.
The Bible eventually ended up in the possession of Wayne T
Moore after the death of his mother, Mattie T Moore, in 1992. We discovered
this fact after corresponding with Wayne’s brother, Willard G Moore, over a period
of years. It seemed that it had been in Wayne’s attic for quite some time. When
asked about the information that was contained in the Bible, Willard provided us
with a handwritten and a typed transcription done by Wayne and Willard’s older
brother, Dr Charles Fletcher Moore, Jr, sometime before his death in 1994.
My husband, Harry, and I recently decided to give Willard
a call (March 14, 2013) to see if we could visit and present him with a complete
copy of his Moore pedigree along with a copy of the article about our West
Point trip to find the Red House. We also asked if he had had any luck locating
the family Bible and he answered that he had it right there on his coffee
table! Therefore, Harry and I grabbed our cameras and rushed over to Willard’s
house in Gibsonville, NC, and photographed the Bible pages while asking Willard
about his side of the Moore family. Willard has lived in the same house in
Gibsonville since the 1960s, and Wayne recently moved into The Village at
Brookwood, a retirement community in Burlington. Both brothers are doing well
and we want to thank them for sharing the family Bible with us.
Photographs
below: Cover, Title page, Copyright (1891) page, Births page, Deaths page
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| Cover |
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| Title Page |
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| Births Page |
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| Deaths Page |
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