Researching a Maiden Name

The first person in the Moor(e) family to come to America in 1715 was William Moor.  I don’t know if he was married when he came or got married after arriving.  His wife was Martha.

Ever since I started researching this family it has been surmised that Martha’s maiden name was Anderson.  I never found a document to prove this fact.  It was stated in the book “Memorial of the Loyalist Families of William Moore, Josiah Hitchings and Robert Livingstone”, compiled by John Elliott Moore in 1898. This book is a great book naming and dating so many families but it has no sources.  The maiden name was also told to me by various other genealogists researching this same line, but no documents.

I was searching on-line recently and found an index at the New Hampshire Archives (www.sos.nh.gov/archives/nhstatepapers.html),  for probate records.  Whenever I find a new database I put in all the names in the family for that area.  I came up with two records, one for Allen Anderson and the other Martha Moor(e) from Londonderry, NH.  That was where the family was living in the early 1700’s.

I e-mailed the archives through the web site and several days later I received a reply that both Allen and Martha are mentioned in the same probate file and did I want a copy.  Of course, I said yes and received it a week later, all 12 pages of it.  There was a cost of $9 but after all these years it was worth a lot more to me.

In Allen Anderson’s will dated 11 September 1755 he says “I Give & Bequeath to my Sister Martha Moores Children George Moore, Allen Moore, Jane Cristey & Eliz Moore One third of all my Estate Either Real or Personal Excepting What is Before Bequeathed to them & their heirs or assigns forever”.

I am sure of the children’s names because in William Moor(e)’s will he bequeaths to his wife Martha and his sons George Moor, Thomas Moor, Allen Moor and William Moor.  He also mentions his daughter Betty Moor and daughter Mary Moor.  It is signed 6 November 1739 naming Allen and Samuel Anderson his only and sole Executors.  It is proved 26 Aug 1741.

I believe this confirms that Martha's maiden name is Anderson and Allen was her brother and that she was married to William Moor all of Londonderry, New Hampshire. 

His son William Moor eventually migrated to New Brunswick, Canada and founded the town of Moores Mills.