John Moore was my 4th Great Grandfather. He was born in 1739 and married Dinah Pettit of Hackettstown around 1763. He was a hat maker and apparently ran a prosperous business as he sold his wares by traveling up and down the river and through the various tributaries.
John Moore owned 2 lots of land in New Jersey. One lot was quartered and shared by three friends: Amos Pettit, Adam Green and Archibald Stewart. This lot was unfenced and on Jenny Jump Mountain which is now a National Park.
John Moore and his family, like many Loyalist families, headed out on the long, dangerous journey to British North American (Canada) and lost half of their furniture and property along the way.
Initially the family settled at Newark but moved onto The Forty and settled by the Lakeshore. A love relationship developed between Elizabeth Moore and Robert Nelles. In 1788, after about a year they married. The story is kept in the Nelles family papers as described by Charles Nelles in his book, Niagara – Volume 2. A receipt for the wedding ring and some wedding lace can be found in the Canadian Archives. John Moore’s name can be found on the 1788 Petition for Food and on the 1790 Subscription List for the Building of the First St. Andrew’s Church.
John Moore and his friends founded the first municipal council in Upper Canada, in 1780. It was held at John Green’s home, John Moore was secretary and the other council members were John Pettit, John Beamer and Levi Lewis.
John Moore died in 1803 and his wife Dinah died the following year. Both were buried by the lakeshore but the graves were later moved to the churchyard at St. Andrew’s. John Moore’s sons: Jonathan, Peirce, William and Charles all fought in the War of 1812 as well as his sons-in-law Alan Nixon, Robert Nelles and Henry Hixon.
Submitted by Judith Nuttall