Bernard Moore (burgess)
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Bernard Moore | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Virginia House of Burgesses for King William County | |
| In office 1761–1765 | |
| Preceded by | Peter Robinson |
| Succeeded by | Henry Gaines |
| In office 1744–1757 Serving with Francis West, John Martin | |
| Preceded by | Thomas West |
| Succeeded by | Peter Robinson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1725 |
| Died | 1775 (aged 49–50) |
| Citizenship | Kingdom of Great Britain |
| Spouse | Ann Catherine Spotswood |
| Relations | Lucy Moore Robinson (sister) |
| Children | 2 daughters, 5 sons including Augustine Moore, Bernard Moore Jr. |
| Parent(s) | Augustine Moore, Elizabeth Todd Seaton |
| Occupation | Planter, militia officer, politician |
Colonel Bernard Moore, Esq., of Chelsea, King William County, Virginia (1720–1775), was a prominent landowner and member of the Virginia House of Burgesses representing King William County.[1] His brother-in-law, powerful speaker John Robinson made unauthorized loans to Moore and other allies, discovered after Robinson's death in 1766, which caused his estate's administrator (and future jurist) Edmund Pendleton and creditors including George Washington to auction Moore's land and 55 slaves.[2]
Moore was born to the former Elizabeth Todd Seaton, second wife of Augustine Moore (1685-1743), who had emigrated from England and become a successful merchant, then tobacco planter in the York River watershed in Virginia. The couple probably married in 1715, since Moore's English-born first wife Mary Gage died in childbirth in 1713.[3] His father's family traced their lineage to Lord Mayor of London Sir Thomas More.[4] His maternal grandfather, Thomas Todd (1660-1724) had a plantation in Gloucester County, Toddsbury. This man's first name honors the surname of his maternal grandfather, William Bernard, a merchant and member of the Governor's Council.[5] His mother's first husband, Henry Seaton (1659-1713) had died, leaving land in Spotsylvania County as well as a King William County estate called Romancoke and a "Brick House", to his infant son George Seaton (1711-1750), so Augustine Moore raised him at his Chelsea plantation, together with his own children.[6] Chelsea is near the Mattaponi River in King William County, about six miles upstream from its junction forming the York River at present day West Point.
Augustine Moore took care that his children married well, so that his descendants became among the First Families of Virginia. His eldest daughter Elizabeth Moore (1716-1779) may have married first Lyonell Lyde or Lloyd (who died in 1737) before she married Col. James Macon (1721-17680) whose daughters Mary and Elizabeth married Burgesses William Aylett and Bartholomew Dandridge.[7] The couple's first son, named Augustine Moore to honor his grandfather, may not have married and definitely died before 1760, when his brothers Bernard and Thomas inherited his lands pursuant to the terms of their late father's will. Bernard Moore was probably born at Chelsea plantation, though accounts differ as to his birth year between 1718 and 1725.[8] Their sister Lucy (1716- circa 1750) married the widower John Robinson, and bore a son and a daughter before her father's death, although she herself died before 1759, when Speaker Robinson married the heiress Susan Chiswell.[9] Little is known of Bernard's younger brother Thomas Moore, other than that he married before 1760, lived in King William County and conveyed land in Spotsylvania County to this Bernard Moore after their brother Augustine died.[10]
Bernard Moore married Ann Catherine Spotswood (1728[11] – c. 1802),[12] the eldest daughter of Governor Alexander Spotswood, and who survived him, and wife Anne Butler Brayne. The couple's eldest son, Augustine married Sarah Rind and served in the Virginia General Assembly. His slightly younger brother Thomas died unmarried. The couple's third son Bernard Moore married Lucy Ann Hebbard Leiper of Chester County, Pennsylvania, whose father was a medical doctor and whose mother's brother was Maryland Governor William Smallwood. The fourth son, John Moore, married his cousin Anna Dandridge; and the youngest brother, Alexander Spotswood Moore (1763-1799), after patriotic military service in 1787 married Elizabeth, the daughter of Col. William Aylett. Their sister Elizabeth Moore Walker (1746-1809) married Dr. John Walker of Albemarle County, Virginia, who also died in 1809, both survived by their children. Ann Butler Moore Carter (1753-1809) married Burgess Charles Hill Carter of Shirley Plantation and their daughter Ann Hill Carter (1771- ) became the second wife of Gen. Henry Lee and the mother of General Robert E. Lee. The youngest daughter, Lucy Moore, married Rev. Henry Skyren.[13]