James Moon, the son of James and Joan Burgess Moon, was born in 1669 in England, exact location not verified. He was a teenager when he and his family emigrated to Pennsylvania, and settled in Bucks County. He was a Quaker who married twice. His first wife is Mary, commonly believed to be Mary Wilsford, the daughter of John and Alice Towle Wilsford. I have found no documentation for this and the older Wilsfords lived in Burlington County, New Jersey, which would have been quite a distance away. If this is his first wife, how did they meet? His second wife is Agnes Priestly, the daughter of John and Agnes Carne Priestly. James died in 1755 in Falls Township, Bucks County.
James and Mary had several children but the exact number is still up for discussion. There was at least one other Moon family in Bucks County and it is possible that some of the children have been assigned to the wrong family. And as I'm finding so often, information is lacking on some of them.
Their first child was John born in 1698 and died in 1700, mourned by his parents and paternal grandparents.
Simon was born next, in 1700. He married Louretha Humphrey, the daughter of Hugh and Elizabeth Lowry Humphrey. Their children are Anna, Richard, Jacob, John, Mary, Margaret, Hannah, Malachi, James, and Rachel. Simon died in 1748 in what is now Franklin County, Virginia, although it was Lunenburg County at the time, and Brunswick County when he likely arrived there. I will write more of this family in my next blog post.
Thomas was born in 1701 and may have died as early as 1731. He is said to have married Elizabeth in 1714, although clearly a thirteen year old boy would not have married that early. He married Mary H Cowan about 1725. Thomas had at least three children, possibly all of them with Mary, but perhaps the son Thomas was born to Elizabeth. His birthdate is shown on some trees as 1720, and Thomas didn't marry Mary until 1725. The children he had with Mary are John and Mary. I'd like to find records showing Thomas married Elizabeth, either before or after his marriage to Mary!
I have seen Jacob and James assigned to this family, each with a death date of 1717. I do not know whether there is any kind of record to indicate that these are James's children, nor do I know where the death date comes from. Consider them only as possibilities.
Lastly, there is Sarah, born in 1709, I have seen a death date of 1755 for her but I haven't been able to pin that down. The only supposed husband I've seen wasn't born until 1775 so clearly that is not the right man. Was there an earlier Daniel Burgess that she married, and was he in any way related to Sarah's grandmother Joan Burgess? Maybe there is someone out there with the answer to these questions.
Mary probably died sometime between 1709 and 1717. James had married Agnes Priestly, and they had one known son, John, born in 1717. He married Mary Farmer, the daughter of Henry and Sarah Ward Farmer. Their children are Thomas, Joseph, John, James, Elizabeth, Jemmy (was he the same as James?), Johnney, (identified as a female, and Rachel.
Undoubtedly there are stories here waiting to be found and told, dramas that we no nothing about, and tragedies, too. I hope there are also some good tales of joyful survival and good times with family members. We are grateful for this Moon family, glad to know this little bit about them, and hoping for more information.
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