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Neuman, Sue Moore and Moore, Ruth Walker, Compilers. Penelope's Papers: Letters and Papers of the William and Penelope Moore Family Covering the Years 1803-1874. Glen Mills (Pennsylvania)/Cedar Grove (North Carolina): Neuman and Moore, 2000.
So, who is Penelope?
She is Penelope Cobb (c.1785-1872) who married William Elias (Bill) Moore (c.1777-1847). Here is how Sue Neuman Moore described the find that resulted in the publication:
"In 1975, Bill Moore had reached the point that he had to go into a nursing home. His wife Mandy had died and he was not able to care for himself. His children, in clearing up his possessions, opened a trunk that was known as 'Aunt Penny's' trunk. In this was a small pine box about the size of a business envelope and two inches deep. The box had probably remained unopened for almost one-hundred years. It contained letters and papers that had been saved by Penelope Moore, spanning three-quarters of the nineteenth century. Although there are many descendants of this couple in Person County, NC this is the only source showing all of their children. A history of the family could be written using just these papers. With the addition of marriage, deed, and estate records, an almost complete story can be told."
Neuman, Sue Moore. "William and Penelope Cobb Moore" in Mikat, Eileen M., Ph.D., Chair Book Committee. The Heritage of Person County Volume III 2001. Winston-Salem: Jostens Publishing Company, 2001, pp. 163-164.
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In 1975, Bill Moore had reached the point that he had to go into a nursing home. His wife Mandy had died and he was not able to care for himself. His children, in clearing up his possessions, opened a trunk that was known as "Aunt Penny's" trunk. In this was a small pine box about the size of a business envelope and two inches deep. The box had probably remained unopened for almost one-hundred years. It contained letters and papers that had been saved by Penelope Moore, spanning three-quarters of the nineteenth century. Although there are many descendants of this couple in Person County, NC this is the only source showing all of their children. A history of the family could be written using just these papers. With the addition of marriage, deed, and estate records, an almost complete story can be told.
William was the son of Abraham and Jean Moore, probably the second son born in VA about 1776. Penelope, called Ellie, was the daughter of Robert Cobb. She was born in Chatham County, NC in 1874 in the neighborhood where William's grandparents, John and Elizabeth Farrar, moved before 1795. The two probably met when William was visiting these grandparents. Although no record has been found of the marriage, they were probably married in 1801-02 as the first child was born in 1803.
William began buying land in 1803. Deeds for two of his purchases were found in the box. By the time of his death in 1847, he owned close to nine-hundred acres of land. Ellie's dower portion at that time included the family home located on what is now Long Road at the headwaters of the South Fork of Flat River, Person Co., NC.
The family was comfortably well-off. One of the items found in the box was an account of purchases made by the couple at James Williamson's store for the year 1806. They were buying items such as spices and jewelry that would not have been purchased by people of less means. They probably never had a large house. My father, John Moore, born in 1907, said that the house they lived in was still standing when he was a boy. It was a large log cabin with a full second floor and kitchen separate from the house. A side room was attached to the cabin. It is not known if they built the house or if it was built by a previous owner. It was probably not the first house they lived in but was the place where Ellie lived for many years and died in 1872.
Children in families were usually named for parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and friends. To avoid confusion, they were given nicknames. Frequently the original name was even forgotten. I was told that Penelope was called Ellie, so her name was probably Elizabeth. Only the pine box gave me the name Penelope. She has descendants named Penny, Nelly, Ellen, and Penelope. William was called Bill. Descendants have names such as Bill and Willie, as well as William.
Billy and Ellie's first child was born in 1803 and the last one in 1830. By the time the last was born, the first ones were already married or moving westward for new opportunities. The Moores and relatives by 1830 were moving to TN and MS. The movement of the Moores and their relatives is a history of migration in the United States.
Although Billy and Ellie were not shown as members, the family worshipped at Flat River and Wheeler's Primitive Baptist Churches, Person Co., NC. Some of the children became members of Wheeler's, an arm of Flat River formed by families living in the neighborhood. Descendants are still part of these churches as well as Surl Church, Person Co., NC, organized by another relative, David R. Moore, in the late 1800's.
Perhaps the most important piece of paper in the pine box was a beautifully written list naming all the children and giving their birth dates. With this list, it has been possible to name all of them.
Elizabeth was born August 3, 1802 married William Drake about 1821. . . .
Abraham Moore born June 22, 1805 married Elizabeth Blalock, daughter of Robert Blalock. Children of this family were included in Volume I of Person County Heritage Book.
Robert Moore born June 12, 1809 was the first of the children to leave Person County. . . .
Silas Moore was born June 12, 1809. The family of his wife Priscilla has not been identified. . . .
Sally Moore was born December 6, 1812 married Green Washington Brown, a shoe-maker. . . .
Jane Farrar Moore, called Jinny, was born on November 13, 1815. Around 1830, she married Robert Anakin Smith. Soon after 1850 this family left for Dallas County, AR. The children born in Person County, NC were Mary Penelope, Phillip Moore, Sandy, William, Richard, Robert, Sarah and Martha Ellen. Born in AR were Julia, James Buchanan, and Joseph Alexander. Making Tracks The Story of an Arkansas Farm Family, written by a descendant Lee Ann Smith-Trafzer, tells about tis child and her descendants.
Bathsheba born August 3, 1819 married Thomas Rimmer. . . .
Penelope born August 31, 1824 married Arbert Blalock, son of Hastin Blalock, on June 3, 1851. Arbert was lost in the Civil War. Penny and her children lived with her mother after the war. The Blalock children were William, Anne, Mandy, Barcia, and Janet Margaret. Penelope's brother, William, born August 27, 1828 married anther of Hastin Blalock's children, Lucy Blalock. A separate article tells her story. The families were very close. Grandchildren of Bill and his sister Penelope, Mandy Cates and William Andrew "Bill" Moore, married in 1921. It was this couple who preserved the trunk containing Penelope's papers.
John Moore, the baby, was born on September 2, 1830. He married Emily chandler on July 20, 1852. John joined the Confederate Army and served as a Lieutenant for a short while but was discharged because of a chronic back injury. He and Emilyleft for Benton County, TN after the War ended. Three children were born before 1860: Hassell, Sarah A., and Ellen. Genora was born about 1867. In the last letter to his mother, John says that he is probably going to look for land in Carroll County, TN. I have found no trace of them since. John seems to have been themost literate of the children. His letters were intelligent and informative.
Following the war, Ellie wrote a letter to her son Robert and never mailed it. It remained in the pine box, a heartbreaking testimony to losses in the Civil War. She died in 1872 with children and grandchildren dead or scattered. Although I have seen the tombstone for Bill, the family was so wrecked by th war, none was erected for Ellie. However, she left a record that tells her story better than a tombstone ever could.
Sources: Family papers, Person County, NC deeds, marriage and estate records and censuses.
--- Written by: Sue Moore Neuman
Neuman, Sue Moore. "William and Penelope Cobb Moore" in Mikat, Eileen M., Ph.D., Chair Book Committee. The Heritage of Person County Volume III 2001. Winston-Salem: Jostens Publishing Company, 2001, pp. 163-164.
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