Favorite Discovery
My favorite discovery as I’ve researched my family tree is
finding Andrew AJ Moore. It began with my search for my Moore great grandfather.
The only thing I knew was that the family had come from New Egypt, NJ before settling
in Camden, NJ. I wasn’t sure of his name although my h brother and father both
were named Charles Shoemaker Moore. When my brother was born my aunt, the
family matriarch wanted him to have that name. My parents settled on a
different name. But the fact that the name meant so much in the family I
decided to search for a great grandfather with that name. Also, he would have
been the right age to have served in the Civil War. I went to the NJ Archives
to search. Surprisingly my guesses were correct, and I found him easily. Census
records for New Egypt led me to find the names of his parents and siblings.
From there I went to the Plumsted, NJ clerk. New Egypt is within Plumsted. I asked
if they had any information on Charles S Moore or his father John Moore. It was
tax time and the clerk said they didn’t have time right now and took my
information and phone number. About six weeks later they called and said someone
else was asking for the same information. If I gave permission they would give
my name and phone number to those people.
Within in a few days I received a call from Jack and Fran
Born. Fran was also a great granddaughter of Charles Moore. We talked on the phone
and they invited me to visit them in Absecon, NJ. They were such nice people,
and we had a pleasant and productive visit. They had Charles’ original Civil
War discharge paper. As we talked the said they family stories said someone
supposedly was in the 7th Calvary. They also heard someone participated
in the Greenwich, NJ tea party before the Revolutionary Way (so far I’ve found
no evidence of that).
I found a book about the 7th Calvary and the men
who served in that regiment. And there was Andrew AJ Moore who had also been in
the census in the John Moore family. About this time there was a program on TV
about the fire at Little Big Horn battlefield. Historians and scientists were
able to study the battlefield forensically as the grass had been burned away
revealing spent shells. They described the progression of the battle and how
individual troopers and Native Americans moved by matching the spent shells. One
of the people was Dr. Wiley who was a professor at a California college. I took
a chance and emailed him. His first reply was the next morning and he said that
he was in the Middle East on an archaeological dig and didn’t have his notes on
the Little Big Horn study. But then he emailed again a few hours later with
information. He studied the medical records of the troopers. He found that
Andrew had malaria while the 7th was in South Carolina but had only
been treated once. He also found records that Andrew had been shot in the
kidneys during the battle and that was his cause of death.
Since I’ve found books that told of Andrew’s movements and
death by name. Later I was able to visit the battlefield. A park ranger looked
up information the Andrew was buried on the riffle line by his buddies during
the battle and a dead horse was put on top of his grave. Because of this his
body was never recovered and buried in the mass grave. It was a moving
experience for me to stand on that rifle line and know I’ve been the only family
visit that grave and remember him.
#Andrew Moore, #52 Ancestors, #Favorite Discovery, #7th
Calvary, #Little Big Horn, #Charles S. Moore
