The Two Farms of Gideon Moore

My most recent article was the first part of a history of the owners of adjacent farms surrounding the old Hart-Taylor Cemetery. Part One ended with the person who owned both farms, Gideon Moore, Sr., who died in 1840, after bequeathing his two farms separately to two of his sons, William H. Moore and Jacob D. Moore.

One thing I neglected to mention in my previous article was the problem of access to the two old cemeteries located on the boundary lines of the two Moore farms. During the 18^th and early 19^th centuries, members of the German Baptist Church of Amwell were buried in the Moore Cemetery. It may be that some of them were also buried in the Hart-Taylor Cemetery. Whenever someone was buried in one of these cemeteries, a procession of horses and wagons would trek across Gideon Moore’s fields. During winter months this could be very damaging.

Toward the end of his life, Gideon Moore had had enough. The Church minutes for April 13, 1839 state: “Agreed to take a lot of Gideon Moore for a burying place.” That lot was nicely located along the road, very close to the church. (I have not found a deed for that conveyance.)

Not long after Gideon Moore’s death, his son Jacob swapped farms with his brother Asa who was living at Sandbrook, so that as of 1843 Asa Moore was the owner of the farm bordering the Sandbrook-Headquarters Road, and his brother William had the adjacent farm on the east.

Asa Moore & Amy White

On February 24, 1828, Asa Moore (1806-1885) and Mary White (1798-1883) were married by Rev. Israel Poulson of the German Baptist Church (see the Poulson Family Tree). 1828 was the year that Peter Fisher sold the farm to Asa’s father Gideon.

Mary was the daughter of John and Elizabeth White who must have had a close friendship with Gideon and Catharine Moore’s family because another daughter, Amy White, married Asa’s brother Jacob D. Moore in 1829.

Before Jacob and Asa Moore officially exchanged properties, Asa Moore had already established himself on his brother’s farm. In 1842 he enlarged the existing house. Here is how Egbert Bush describes it:

“The stone mansion house on this farm has a datestone bearing this inscription: “A. & M. M., 1842.” This means that Asa Moore and Mary, his wife, were the builders. The frame part of the house, which still glories in its exposed overhead beams, is much older. This structure was removed from its old site three or four hundred feet northward, to the far more desirable site of the new building, which commands a pleasant view to the east and southeast.”¹

This suggests that the original house was 300 to 400 feet to the north of the existing one, which would put it much closer to Dunkard Church Road. It would have been very old and could well have been built by Peter Fisher after his father Jacob sold it to him in 1806. If it dated to the 18^th century, it could have been built by William Taylor. But the township’s historic sites survey is vague about the age of the east wing, the “frame part of the house” that Bush referred to.  (I was unable to get a good photograph of the east wing. It is hidden by bushes.)

Note (5/20/2019): Marilyn Cummings brought to my attention that I had reversed the location of the original house, writing that it was south of the present location, when it was actually north of it.

It is interesting that Asa enlarged the house before Jacob conveyed the property to him, almost as if they waited until the work was done to finalize the arrangement. Another example of that practice is the old German Baptist Church at the corner of Sandbrook-Headquarters and Dunkard Church Roads. The lot for that church was conveyed to the church trustees on May 18, 1811 by Rev. Israel Poulson, who owned a farm on that corner. The deed, as quoted by Egbert T. Bush in his article on the church, states that it was the lot “whereon the frame for the said intended meeting house is now standing.”

The detail of the 1851 Cornell map left shows “A. Moore” near Sandbrook, which was the farm he swapped with Jacob Moore. And it also shows “Asa Moore” at the old Fisher farm along Sandbrook-Headquarters Road and “Wm H. Moore” a little to the east. William H. Moore was occupying the homestead farm of Asa and William’s parents, Gideon and Catharine Moore.

Curiously, the Beers Atlas of 1873, below, shows “A. Moore” owning two houses along the Sandbrook-Headquarters Road. Perhaps the more southerly one was where the old house was originally located.

Asa Moore wrote his will on June 21, 1877. Although only two of his four children had survived to this time, the will was a lengthy one, in which he left to his daughter Catherine Johnson, wife of Jacob Johnson, the farm “whereon I now reside during her natural life.” After her death the farm was to go to his son Gideon Moore who was also named sole executor. Asa Moore died on October 6, 1885 at the age of 79, and was buried in the cemetery at Sandbrook. His wife Mary had predeceased him, dying on September 9, 1883, age 85. ²

Who Owned Asa’s Farm After He Died?

Asa Moore’s will requires a closer look. He left to his daughter Catherine Johnson, wife of Jacob Johnson, “the use of the farm whereon I now reside during her natural life upon condition she pay to my executor the interest on the sum of $2,000 each and every year, and which my executor is to pay to my said wife Mary during her natural life, and upon the death of my said daughter I give the said farm to my son Gideon Moore during his natural life upon the same terms as my daughter, and upon the death of my son Gideon Moore, I devise the farm to the children of the said Gideon Moore or their legal representatives.”

To his son Gideon he bequeathed “during his natural life the use of the farm whereon he now resides,” again with the stipulation that he pay Asa’s wife Mary $2,000 during her natural life. Then after Gideon’s death, “the said farm and wood lot” were bequeathed to Gideon’s children. The will seems to suggest there were two farms involved, the one that Asa lived on when he died and the one that son Gideon lived on in 1877 when Asa’s will was written. But I cannot say where a separate farm would have been located, but I suspect it was further north in Sandbrook.

Daughter Catherine’s husband Jacob Johnson died on June 29, 1890, and Catherine died on November 5, 1910 when she was 78 years old. At the time of writing his will, Asa’s daughter Catherine and her husband Jacob Johnson were living in Stockton, where they were listed in the 1880 census. It’s hard to say whether they moved to Asa Moore’s farm or not. Perhaps they did so for the two years after Mary Moore died and before Asa Moore died. I could not find evidence that the couple had any children. Also, I could not find Catherine Moore Johnson in the census of 1900, when she would have been a widow.

William P. Moore & Martha Wolverton

William P. Moore, son of Gideon & Catharine Moore and younger brother of Asa Moore, was born April 14, 1814. On September 4, 1834 he was married by Rev. Poulson to Martha Wolverton (1811-1875), daughter of Charles Wolverton and Mary Aller.³ The couple had five children, from 1835 to about 1850.

Like most other religious leaders of the time and location, William H. Moore was both a deacon in the Amwell German Baptist Church and a farmer. He lived on and farmed the middle farm, the one with a cemetery on both its west and east borders.

An aerial view of the property shows how close William Moore’s house was to the old Hart-Taylor Cemetery. (Many thanks to Marilyn Cummings for preparing this map.) The farmhouse had been the home of William’s parents, Gideon and Catharine, who probably built it at the time of their wedding in 1797.

William H. Moore is missing from the 1873 Beers Atlas because he died on August 3, 1866, at the relatively young age of 52. It seem likely that he was suffering from some illness because on December 29, 1865, he wrote his will. In it he made extensive provisions for the support of his wife Martha, many of which depended on his youngest child, son Gideon C. Moore, who was still a minor at the time.

William Moore directed that all his real estate be divided between his five children (Charles W. Moore; Angeline Buchanan, wife of Peter Buchanan; Mary Catharine Horn, wife of Theodore Horn; Elizabeth Fauss wife of Arthur Fauss; and Gideon C. Moore), and if it could not be equitably divided, then to be sold as one piece and the proceeds shared by the children. He named his eldest child, Charles W. Moore, sole executor.

By 1868, Gideon C. Moore had reached adulthood, and on May 1, 1868, his brother Charles as executor of their father’s estate sold the homestead farm of 118.66 acres to Gideon Moore. The deed included half of each of the two cemeteries and a part of the schoolhouse lot. Also included was a lot of 7.87 acres bought from Daniel Williams in 1856. The total cost was $10,750.⁴ The property was described in the Hunterdon Republican as “the Homestead farm of deceased [meaning Wm. H. Moore], containing 126 & 33/100 Acres, more or less, adjoining lands of Asa Moore.”⁵ Gideon C. Moore was not wealthy, and had to raise money by mortgaging the property, which he did, more than once.

A Side-Note:  Daniel Williams, known generally as Dan Williams, has appeared previously here, in the article “Bowne Station.” Egbert T. Bush wrote that Williams had been owned by Dr. John Bowne, but got his freedom earlier than the law required because of Bowne’s high opinion of the man. Williams soon became a property owner, having purchased the 7-acre lot mentioned above from David and Elizabeth Moore⁶, as well as many other properties. He died in 1868, in his 70s.

The Two Gideons

The brothers Asa and William Moore, who lived on the two farms previously owned by their father Gideon, each had a son named Gideon, and both of these Gideons came into ownership of their fathers’ farms. Having first cousins with the same name living next to each other at the same time is very problematic for a researcher. Here is my attempt at tracing their histories.

Gideon C. Moore, son of William & Martha

Gideon C. Moore was born May 23, 1854, the youngest child of Deacon William and wife Martha. In the records, he is not always named Gideon C. Moore, sometimes he is just Gideon, which makes it especially difficult to distinguish him from his cousin. However, his father used the middle initial in his will, so I think it is safe to say that the man named Gideon C. Moore was the son of William while the man simply named Gideon Moore is usually (but not always) the son of Asa Moore. As for what the middle initial stands for, I cannot say. I’ve never seen the name spelled out. Perhaps it was Carrell, after a prominent neighbor of the Moore family, John Arnwine Carrell (1810-1895).

Gideon C. Moore married Amy Carrell (1850-after 1920), who was the second youngest daughter of the eleven children of James A. Carrell and Amy Myers, on May 8, 1869. All but one of her siblings reached adulthood (see The Carrell Family Tree and The Arwnine Family Tree). The wedding ceremony took place at the break-away “Moorite” church in Sandbrook. Officiating was Gideon’s uncle, Elder John P. Moore.

The children of Amy and Gideon were Elizabeth Carrell Moore (1870 – after 1955) who married Edward Niece Danley in 1887; John William Moore (1871-?); and Charles Wolverton Moore (1878-1903) who was only 25 when he died. John W. must have moved away from Hunterdon County because I could find no other record of him.

As mentioned above, on May 1, 1868, William Moore’s executor, Charles W. Moore, sold the homestead farm to Gideon C. Moore of Delaware twp. for $10,750.⁷ Just three weeks after purchasing the farm, Gideon Moore mortgaged the property to Joseph G. Bowne for $3,000 and to Charles W. Moore for $3500.⁸

It is unclear whether there was a flaw in the sale or if Gideon failed to make mortgage payments, because two years later, on June 2, 1870, Charles W. Moore, executor of William H. Moore, deceased, advertised the sale of “two Farms or Plantations and premises of the said deceased,” as if the property had never been conveyed to Gideon C. Moore. On offer was first, “the Homestead farm of deceased, containing 126 & 33/100 Acres, more or less, adjoining lands of Asa Moore, John P. Moore and others and is about 1 mile from the Flemington & Lambertville Railroad and now occupied by Gideon C. Moore.” The other property was a tract of 61 acres bordering Hiram Moore and Daniel B. Ege and located about a mile away near Sandbrook. The sale was to be held on July 2, 1870.

It seems that the public sale never took place, because on July 7, 1870, Charles W. Moore again conveyed the same farm of 126.33 acres to Gideon C. Moore, for the same amount as before, $10,750.⁹ But it was all for naught. On September 22, 1870, Gideon C. Moore himself advertised for sale in the Hunterdon Republican, “the farm on which he now resides (known as the Gideon Moore farm),” on “the road from Sergeantsville to Ringoes,” “adjoining lands of Asa Moore, John P. Moore, Alburtus [sic] K. Wagoner and others, containing about 126 Acres of Land, fifteen of which is wood land.”

The sale was to be held on October 1, 1870, but once again, it probably did not take place because the next spring, on March 25, 1871, John A. Carrell (Amy Moore’s father) bought the farm for $12,317.¹⁰

It seems likely that Gideon and Amy Moore remained on the property after John A. Carrell purchased it. There is no record of a land purchase by Gideon C. Moore until 1880, for a farm of 80.5 acres in the vicinity of Rosemont from Abraham K. Quick. However, he sold this farm shortly afterwards to Wilson H. Swallow.¹¹

Gideon C. Moore was an active farmer. The Hunterdon Republican reported in 1877 that he had harvested a hog weighing 637 pounds. And in 1880, it was declared that he owned three pairs of twin heifers, “all of his own raising.” Then on April 14, 1881, this item appeared:

The Well known Trotting Stallion, “Kingwood Pilot,” will stand for service at the stable of Gideon C. Moore, 1/2 mile East of Headquarters on the road to Ringoes, at $10 to insure a living colt.

Things did not always run smoothly on Gideon C. Moore’s farm. On August 25, 1881, the Republican reported that Gideon’s dog had attacked Charles Poulson of Brooklyn, NY, who was visiting the Moores. “The dog was killed and medical treatment was obtained for Mr. Poulson.” This must have put a strain on the relationship. Charles Poulson (1848 – 1930) was the grandson of the Rev. Israel Poulson, Sr. and Lucy Opdycke.

Sometime in the mid 1890s, Gideon C. Moore got a job as a deputy at the NJ State Prison in Trenton. The Moores moved to Trenton, but kept their Delaware Township farm. On May 25, 1903, the Trenton Evening Times reported that “Gideon Moore of Trenton is beautifying his country home near this place [Sergeantsville].” On September 10^th of that year, the paper reported on “Changes At State Prison.” “Gideon C. Moore, who has been doing night duty during the past nine years, was promoted to day duty and will be assigned to one of the towers.” So that tells us that Moore began work at the prison around 1894.

An interesting incident occurred in 1899. Gideon C. Moore was walking down South Broad Street in Trenton when he was “knocked down . . . rendered unconscious and robbed of $80, his month’s salary.”¹² Apparently the crime remained unsolved. In 1903, it became a subject of interest again because more than Moore’s salary was concerned. On September 13, 1903, the Trenton Evening Times reported the following:

“Who Owns This Purse of $40?

“The pocketbook containing over $40 that was found in the old lumber yard on South Broad street a week ago last Friday by a number of boys is now in possession of Captain Cleary at police headquarters. At the time it was thought to have been the property of Gideon C. Moore, a State Prison deputy, but he denies ownership. The parents of the lads who found the money wanted, it is said, to divide the spoils, but this was not done. Owen Maguire of South Broad street, father of one of the boys who found the purse, held the money until yesterday, when he turned it over to Captain Cleary. The captain advertises to-day in another column for its owner.”

And in the same issue, the Times reported:

“Deputy Moore Doesn’t Claim Money”

“Gideon C. Moore, night deputy at the State Prison, stated to a “Sunday Advertiser” representative that he lays no claim whatever to the money found by the boys near where he was assaulted and robbed three years ago. He says the money found does not correspond in denomination to that lost by him. He had his month’s pay with him, of which he was relieved—eight ten-dollar bills. Mr. Moore has been night deputy from Hunterdon for nine years, and until recently resided in Trenton. He now lives at Sergeantsville. Last Tuesday he was appointed to a day position, and he and his wife will probably reside in this city this winter, as in his new position he cannot commute daily to his home as he is now doing.”

The paper failed to report on what happened to that money. It probably got absorbed into the police department’s budget.

Note that the second story mentioned that Moore was living “at Sergeantsville” and commuting to Trenton. By 1907 or 1908, Moore had retired from his prison job and lived continually at his home “midway between [Stockton] and Sergeantsville.”¹³

Gideon C. Moore died on June 15, 1920, age 66, and wife Amy sometime afterward. I have not been able to locate their burial places. Their only surviving child was Elizabeth C. Danley.

Elizabeth Carrell

Writing of the Moore Cemetery, Mr. Bush stated that it was located on a farm owned by Elizabeth Carrell (1842-1929). This was the farm purchased by her father John A. Carrell from Gideon C. Moore and Elizabeth’s sister Amy Carrell Moore.

In 1889, John A. Carrell wrote his will leaving his real property to be divided among the surviving nine of his 11 children. He died on October 31, 1895 at the age of 85, and was buried in the Lower Amwell Old Yard, next to his wife Amy Myers Carrell, who had died on October 18, 1888, age 75.

Elizabeth Carrell, who had been living with her parents up until the death of her father in 1895, purchased the Gideon C. Moore farm from her father’s executors on March 4, 1897 for $4,042.56, which was about a third of what her father paid for it.¹⁴ It was described as a farm of 118.66 acres, bordering two graveyards, lands of Asa Moore, John P. Moore, Mrs. A. K. Wagoner, the road from Sergeantsville to Ringoes (Route 604) and the road to Barber’s Station (the Lambertville-Headquarters Road).

The Deed to Elizabeth Carrell

Up until this time, the conveyances for farms bordering the two cemeteries included them as part of the properties being sold. But this deed of 1897 was the first in which the cemeteries were excluded from the conveyance. This left them as orphan properties, which has created problems for future owners of the three farms involved. Currently, the Moore Cemetery has been accepted by Delaware Township and efforts are being made to have the township also take ownership of the Hart-Taylor Cemetery.

A note of warning to those who may be interested in visiting these plots. Because they are not easily accessible, permission is needed from the Delaware Township Historic Advisory Committee who can arrange for access with the surrounding landowners and provide a tour.

Nothing was said in the deed about whether Elizabeth’s sister Amy and brother-in-law Gideon C. Moore were living on the farm at the time. In 1897, Gideon C. Moore was still employed at the State Prison, and did not retire until about ten year later.

About a month after purchasing the farm, Elizabeth sold it to Henry C. Higgins of Delaware Township for $4,421.55.¹⁵ Higgins was actually a resident of East Amwell Township, as all the census records he appeared in, from 1870 through 1915, were for East Amwell.

Henry C. Higgins

Henry C. Higgins was born in 1852 to Asher Higgins of East Amwell and his first wife Sarah M. Conover. On December 16, 1874, he married Sallie (Sarah Ann) Drake of Montgomery Township, Somerset County daughter of William and Achsah Drake.

After his father’s death in 1902, Henry C. Higgins bought the family farm in East Amwell of 179+ acres for $4,489. This probably explains why he decided to sell the Carrell farm back to Elizabeth Carrell, which he did in 1905. The price as only $3,971.55 (which meant a loss for Elizabeth of $450).¹⁶

I am going to do some speculating here. I am guessing that Elizabeth Carrell had remained for a time on her parents’ farm, now known as the Kurzenberger farm, at the corner of Lambert Road and Sandbrook-Headquarters Road, after her father’s death in 1895. But in the mid 1900s, Gideon C. Moore was planning to retire, so Elizabeth bought the farm back and went to live there with her sister Amy and brother-in-law Gideon C. Moore.

I have absolutely no proof of that. Much to my frustration I have not been able to locate Elizabeth Carrell in the 1900, 1910 or 1920 census records for Delaware Township. I wanted to see if anyone shared the household with her, which might tell me where she was living. In the 1900 and 1905 censuses, Gideon and Amy Moore were counted in Trenton, and in 1910 in Delaware Township. But Elizabeth Carrell was not counted with them. That was also the case in 1920.

It is very odd that she should be missing, because Elizabeth remained in possession of this farm for the rest of her life. She died on October 3, 1929 at the age of 87. The date of her death comes not from Find-a-Grave, but rather from a reference in a deed which also refers to her will.¹⁷

Elizabeth Carrell’s will was very succinct. After ordering that all her just debts and funeral expenses be paid, she left the entire “rest and residue” to her niece Elizabeth Carrell Moore, wife of Edward Niece Danley. Elizabeth Carrell also named her niece her sole executor. Elizabeth M. Danley was the daughter of Elizabeth Carrell’s sister Amy Carrell Moore and husband Gideon C. Moore.

In 1938, Elizabeth C. Danley and husband Edward, residents of Delaware Township, sold the farm of 118.46 acres plus the woodlot of 7.87 acres to the Hunterdon County National Bank, at which point the farm finally passed out of the Moore family. Shortly afterwards, the Bank sold part of the property, 101.1 acres, plus the 7.87-acre lot, to Margaret K. Pizzini of Newark.¹⁸ This deed made note of the “rights of present tenants, Mr. Emery and Mr. Burenga, in the growing of wheat and oats crops.” I would also like to note that Mrs. Pizzini’s husband’s name was Bernard Winthrop Pizzini.

1938 must have been a difficult year for the Danleys, being the height of the Depression. Only about a month after selling the Carrell farm, they also sold a property on Route 523 south of Sergeantsville, long known as the Lawshe Tan Yard, that Elizabeth Hunt had sold to Elizabeth Danley in 1902.¹⁹

Gideon, son of Asa and Mary Moore

Returning to Asa and Mary White Moore, their only son Gideon was born in 1837, making him about ten years older than his cousin Gideon C. Moore.²⁰ On December 25, 1863, he married Elizabeth Besson Sutton (c.1835-1891), daughter of Jonas Sutton and Mary Besson, whose farm was northeast of Sandbrook (see The Sutton Farm). Of their six children, only two survived to adulthood, Theodore and Mary.

Asa Moore wrote his will on June 21, 1877, bequeathing to son Gideon “the use of the farm where he now resides.” This was a life-estate, and the farm would go to Gideon’s children after his death. “G. Moore” does not appear in that area on the 1873 Beers Atlas. Presumably, Asa’s son Gideon resided in one of the two houses shown on the map for “A. Moore.”

Despite the 17-year age difference, distinguishing between the activities of this Gideon Moore and his cousin Gideon C. Moore was quite a challenge. The odd thing is that despite being the older of the two, Gideon Moore did not get legal possession of his farm until after his sister Catharine Johnson had passed away in 1910, although he was no doubt living there from the time his father acquired it in 1843. His cousin Gideon C. Moore took possession of his father’s farm in 1868 and left for Trenton about 1894.

1870 is the first census year that Gideon Moore, son of Asa, was counted as head of household. Asa was listed in a separate household, next on line in the census return. Both Gideon and Elizabeth were 34. Their two children were Theodore S., age 3, and Mary, 2 months old. Robert Thompson 19 was working on the farm, and Sarah J. Kline 19 was probably working as a domestic servant.

That same year, Gideon’s cousin Gideon C. Moore was 23 years old, his wife Amy was 20, and their daughter Elizabeth C. Moore was 8 months. Gideon’s mother Martha Moore was living with them, age 59, and also Asa Hartpence, age 18, who was working on the farm.

In 1880, Gideon Moore, son of Asa, was 43 years old and wife Elizabeth was 44. Their two children, Theodore S., age 13, and Mary E. 10 were at school. Also in the household was Amanda Shepherd 17, servant, and Gideon’s brother-in-law William Sutton 39, laborer.

Gideon C. Moore was then a 30-year-old farmer, wife Amy was 27, and daughter Lizzie was 10, attending school. Two more children had arrived: John W., age 9, and Charles W., age 2.

Looking for other differences between the two Gideons, I collected mentions of them in local newspapers. Here is the history of Gideon, son of Asa & Mary, as best I can tell.²¹

In 1860 when he was only 23 years old and not yet married, Gideon Moore was named “Town Superintendent” for Delaware Township. This was the equivalent of a township administrator, and a position he held for only one year. In 1868, when he was 31 years old, he was nominated to run for the Assembly as a Republican from the First District.

He was also very active in promoting agriculture and good farming practices. He was a member of the Delaware Valley Farmers’ and Mechanics’ Agricultural Society and was active with the Delaware Livestock Insurance Co. and the Delaware Horse & Mule Mutual Insurance Co.

He served as treasurer for the “Union Farmers’ Club,” which would meet and hear some of its members deliver papers on agricultural topics. In 1872, Moore was assigned the subject: “Which is the best and cheapest mode of gathering our grain harvest?”

In addition to his farming activities, in 1874 he was named “Surveyor, Conveyancer and Commissioner of Deeds” for Delaware Township and was elected one of the Directors of the Delaware-Flemington Railroad Company.²²

The Sandbrook Church Cemetery

In 1897, as executor of his father Asa’s estate, Gideon Moore conveyed a half-acre lot to trustees of the Baptist Church of Sand Brook.²³

This church was the spin-off church in Sandbrook, sometimes called the Sand Brook German Baptist Church. The church was founded in 1848, and described by Egbert T. Bush in his article “Sand Brook Had a Tavern Close By.”²⁴

Though only a mile from the “Lower Dunkard Church,” as called of old, Sand Brook has had a church of its own, with accompanying cemetery, for over 80 years. Miss Rachel Fauss, a resident of the hamlet, holds the curious original deed for the church grounds. It is from Hiram Moore and Amanda, his wife, to Asa Moore, and is dated October 3, 1849, conveying one-half acre of ground, neither stating nor in any way indicating the purpose to which it is conveyed, or mentioning the new organization.

I do wonder if Miss Fauss had the right deed, because on April 2, 1851, Hiram & Amanda Moore of Delaware Township conveyed to William Moore and Jacob Fauss, “trustees of the Christian Church,” for $50, a lot of a half acre bordering Reading Moore and Hiram Moore.²⁵ The earlier deed to Asa Moore did not identify him as a church trustee, and he kept the lot until his death in 1885.

This is a bit of a puzzle. There were definitely burials in the cemetery as early as 1853 (Harriet Buchanan, age 36 unmarried). Other early burials were Samuel B. Rittenhouse, 1856, age 25; Eliza C. Cramer, 1857, age 42; Jacob Moore, 1858, age 76; and Asher T. Heath, 1860, age 20. Be that as it may, most burials took place there after the deed of 1897. As for the church itself, Bush wrote:

This organization, though largely an off-shoot from the Lower Church, did not take the denominational name, but assumed the name of “United Christians.” I distinctly remember hearing the members of the other two organizations, away back in the 50’s ²⁶ and later, always refer to the new congregation as “the Moorites;” and Moorites they appear to have been. Both the grantor and the grantee of the land were Moores. A large proportion of the congregation bore the same name, and a still larger proportion had a liberal share of the Moore blood in their veins. The first pastor was John P. Moore and other Moores followed in his position. The congregations are still separate though holding the same views and worshiping under the ministrations of the same pastor, Rev. Henry T. Horne—severed yet closely united.

The church was sometimes called the United Christian Church. It was Rev. John P. Moore who officiated at the marriage of Gideon C. Moore and Amy Carrell in 1869, although it doesn’t seem that they kept a membership in the church.

The other Gideon was married to his wife Elizabeth Sutton in 1863 by Rev. Kirkpatrick, pastor to the local Presbyterian Churches. And yet, they became members of the Sandbrook Church, and were eventually buried in the cemetery there. Elder or Rev. John P. Moore (1811-1889), the church’s leader, was the uncle of both Gideons.

Gideon Moore Moves to Stockton

Elizabeth Sutton Moore died in 1891, age 55.²⁷ Her death seems to have jolted Gideon Moore out of his normal patterns. He did not sell his farm, but he did leave it, and moved to Stockton. In 1896 he was elected treasurer of the Stockton Republican Club. He ran for postmaster at Stockton, but lost. In 1899 he successfully ran for the Stockton Common Council on “The People’s Ticket.” His opponent was running on “The Citizens’ Ticket.”

Gideon Moore was counted in the Stockton census for 1900. He was then a 63-year-old widower, working as a storekeeper, selling “general merchandise.” Living with him was his sister Catharine Moore Johnson 68, widow of Jacob C. Johnson. Which leaves me to wonder who was living on the old Asa Moore farm. The census does not tell us.

Gideon Moore died in Stockton in 1904, age 68. He died without making a will, so his son Theodore S. Moore applied for administration of the estate, which he was granted on April 21, 1904. Gideon Moore’s only heirs were Theodore S. Moore of Stockton and his sister Mary E. Whitlock of Grover, NJ.

Mary had married Frank Whitlock of Solebury in 1893, and it appears that Frank farmed the property for a time. The 1910 census states that he was renting the farm he worked, although by 1920 he and Mary had moved to Hopewell, where Frank drove a school bus. His brother-in-law Theodore Moore lived in Stockton where he worked as an “artisan well driller.”

Frank & Mary Whitlock left the farm in 1911, because in that year, on March 22, they, together with Theodore & Margaret Moore, as heirs of Gideon Moore, deceased, “late of Stockton,” conveyed to Albert W. Servis of Delaware Township, four tracts of land, including a farm of “100 & 1/5th acres” bordering land formerly Samuel Green, Israel Poulson, a graveyard (with an exception allowing for access), “the road in the old line of the Fisher farm,” land formerly Jacob Moore now David Lawshe, Dr. John Bowne, and David Johnes now W. Wilson Esq.²⁸

It was Albert W. Servis who escorted Egbert T. Bush to the site of the Hart-Taylor cemetery back in 1911, apparently shortly after Servis had acquired the farm. Austin W. Servis was born August 5, 1865, the youngest child of Austin C. Servis and Elizabeth R. Lair. In 1915, he married a woman named either Ida C. Black or Ida C. Foster. Ida Servis died in 1934, and probably soon afterwards, Albert Servis retired from farming and moved to Sergeantsville, where he remained until his death on January 4, 1944, age the age of 78. The couple is buried in the Sandy Ridge Cemetery.

And so ends the saga of two farms owned by Gideon Moore, Sr. and by his two grandsons Gideon that shared ownership of an ancient burying ground, lately rediscovered.

Footnotes: