Welcome to... My Darling Emma 1857
If you are NEW HERE be sure to read the beginning of the journey I am on transcribing my family's 19th century letter collection!
Susanna J. Chiles Moore
(1801-1862)
Emma’s paternal aunt. There is one single correspondence from Susanna in my letter collection and she wrote it to her brother (Emma’s father) Griffin Childs in 1856. Susanna writes to her brother:
""I am informed you have married the third wife. I would like to hear who the woman was that you married and how you and your wife and the children is getting along and tell me about your welfare and if you enjoy good health dear brother and where are about you live in. What part of Virginia you live in. I have not heard how [brother] Mordecai is coming on."
-Susanna J. (Chiles) Moore Ohio 1856
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WAIT! Is it Childs or Chiles?
Did you notice the name changed to Chiles? This spelling variation seemed to be more commonly used by the families in the west. Why? Well, thats a Childs/Chiles family mystery...
Out of Emma's five brothers, all their tombstones read "Childs" except her ONE brother who moved to Texas and his tombstone read "Chiles." In corresponding with a distant cousin, their theory was "they became tired of telling people it's "Chiles" not "Childs" and just gave in to it." But again that will be forever a mystery...
At the age of 20, Susanna married William Black Moore in Highland County, Ohio. The couple had several children and raised their family in Ohio. Susanna passed away at the age of 61 from small pox and Susanna's husband William went on to live to be some 91 years old.
Although Susanna had many children with William, their marriage was NOT the love story young ladies dream of. To tell about Susanna, you must first do a dive into the Moore family, more specifically the Moore men.
Let's start with William's father Lieutenant John Thomas Moore. In 1752, John was born in Delaware, but his journey would lead him all the way to Kentucky. It has been written that John's father (Thomas Preston Moore) was very "severe" with him. So at 17, he left home & worked for a neighboring farmer, but his father collected his wages.
John left the state when he was 19 & went to Virginia. Before marrying wife Margaret Black, John had fought in both The Lord Dunmore's War in 1774 and The Battle of Point Pleasant which some consider this the "First Battle of the Revolutionary War."
While living in Virginia, John worked hard and was able to acquire a considerable amount of property. In the winter of 1784-85, John and (father-in-law) James Black, sold their possessions (taking their payment in Old Congress Script/Continental Currency) and left for Kentucky. In addition to the money that John Moore & James Black had, they also took along a large number of brood mares.
On the way to Kentucky, they were attacked by Native Americans and all but 2 of the mares were driven away, including a mare that had baby William strapped to it. Fortunately, the mare was found the next day grazing along a stream bank, with William safe & still strapped to the mares back.
Fear of another attack forced the family to live in the fort at Lexington for the next 2 years. The Congress Script broke & the family was then penniless. John leased some timber land from a Mr. Bowman, for whom he had great respect, even naming one of his sons Abraham Bowman Moore.
After leaving the fort, John Moore & James Black settled near what is now called Cane Ridge, Bourbon county, Kentucky. John & Margaret, after losing their money, rented land where Lexington, Kentucky now stands. Farming, a mill, as well as a small distillery were there. While a distillery was not objectionable at that time, Margaret did not like to see her boys go to the distillery & get drunk. Thus, when the distillery mysteriously burned down, it was generally understood by the family & the neighbors, that Margaret Moore had done the deed.
John Moore then quit the distillery business & took up a land claim in Bourbon County, Kentucky, near Millersburg, where he remained until his death in 1830. John Moore was "a man of more than ordinary ability, of great firmness of character & a very industrious, hard working man." He acquired a large amount of property in Kentucky and gave his children a good start in life. He was a man of christian character & at one time, was an elder in the Presbyterian church.
...The Moore family land ownership & its complexities are GRAND!
According to an old deed dated 1816, John T. Moore deeded to William B. Moore 500 acres "to be lain off at the lower side of said tract (No.2970) and being the same where on the said William (and Susanna) now lives."
In 1833 William paid $127.65 for taxes on 886 acres of land in two tracts in survey No. 2970 and for 6 horses and 2 cattle. In 1822 he had paid $149.65 on the same acreage. Yet John T. Moore had deeded his son John Moore one hundred acres in the survey who in turn deeded it to William B. Moore in l829. And when he died in 1830 John T. Moore bequeathed 400 acres "that I own in Highland (Clinton) County" to two Kentucky grandsons.
In a quit claim deed of 1848 the twelve heirs and legal representatives of John T. Moore in consideration of one thousand dollars paid to them by William B. Moore conveyed their interest in the remaining acreage after removing the above 500 acres. (This evidently was to pay for the land he had been deeded in 1816.)
In the 1850 census, the value of his real estate was listed as $12,045. Still between 1856 and 1868 he conveyed nearly 900 acres of land to his children including the home place of 125 acres to (youngest son) Samuel J. in 1861 where William & Susanna continued to live...
Backing up to 1835, after 14 years of marriage, Susanna had sued William for divorce stating that ever since the tenth day of December of 1822 he had treated her "with extreme cruelty, by beating her with his fists, accompanied with profane, vulgar and obscene language, has not furnished her necessary food and clothing, medical aid in sickness and when in common and delicate situations and now is a habitual drunkard" (underlined in the original).
She further says that she has 6 children now living and William "has and still does neglect, not only the necessary support of said children in food and clothing but makes no method for their moral improvement and mental cultivation, exhibiting in their presence and hearing the language above described and actions equally disgusting and libidinous and cruelly treats them."
Susanna stated that she has no property beyond her dowry and that she would not be able to support and educate the children while William is "seized and possessor of 800 acres of land worth about $700, has twelve head of horses, twenty cows, six sheep and seven hogs all worth about $500 and his household goods are worth about $50 and is debt in various places about $300."
Filed on 4 February 1835, served on William on 10 February 1835 and it was dismissed for lack of prosecution by Susanna in June. This was probably because she was now expecting Abraham and one can guess William made some amends. She had THREE more children during the next 7 years and William & Susanna never got that divorce.
In 1838 William deeded 1 acre for the erection of a one room school, which stood about one and three quarters miles north of the family homestead in Clifton County, Ohio. He raised mules and often drove them to Kentucky for sale where he attended the fair. He lived to see all his children grown and settled around him. He was a "man of industrious habits, and of strict integrity. In politics he was a Whig, and afterwards as staunch Republican. A FRIEND."
Gravestone of William B. Moore & Susanna J. Chiles
photo by ejeCarman posted on FinaGrave.com Feb 2013
One last interesting bit I read about Susanna's family happened LONG after her death. Her son, William Wesley Moore, was k!lled by his own son, Austin Elwood Moore, in 1891. Austin served 10 years in prison for man-slaughter for k!lling his father according to newspaper articles. I should add that I read a comment online by an ancestor that said this shoot-ing was “allegedly in self defense.” Austin was 20 years when he ended his father's life, who was around 90-91 years old. Read some VERY interesting articles I found online of the "incident" below.
Till the next one folks!
Sincerely,
CT
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The News-Herald (Hillsboro, Ohio · April 09, 1891)
Highland Weekly News (Hillsboro, Ohio · June 03, 1875)
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