Thomas Moon is the subject of this last post about the Moon family. He was born in 1756 in Arden, Berkeley County, Virginia (later West Virginia), a very short distance south from Pennsylvania and Maryland, and a very short distance north from Virginia. He is the son of Jacob and Jane Rees Moon, and he certainly saw a lot of history in his day. Most of his siblings stayed in the general area of the homestead, but Thomas had a bit of adventure in him. He died in 1824 in Green Township, Fayette County, Ohio, which is about 400 miles from "home". Two of his sons were also there in the 1820 census.
Thomas married Jean Gray, the daughter of John and Jean Wardrop Gray and they had at least 9 children together, all apparently born in Berkeley County, Virginia/West Virginia. As usual, I've found that some of the children are researched more thoroughly than others, and the "others" have pretty gaping holes in their stories.
James was the first born, in 1779, which presents a bit of a problem because Thomas and Jean were not married until 1780. I am accepting the information as given, with a bit of hesitancy on the date of James's birth. There is of course a possibility that one or the other of his parents had a previous relationship or marriage, but no evidence to support that, that I know of. James married Elizabeth Pine the daughter of James and Martha Gatliff Pine. I have located just two children for them, George and James. James died in 1841 in Highland County, Ohio.
Jacob was next, born in 1781. He married Leah Rees, the daughter of Thomas and Margaret Bowen Rees (we will see this couple mentioned more than once in this blog post. Three Moon children married three Rees children.) Their children include Albert, Jane, Thomas, Reese, and Margaret. Jacob died in 1852 in Livingston, Madison County, Illinois, so he was also a bit of a traveling man.
John is one of those who are giving me a research headache. I have a birth year of 1784 for him, and a death date of 1871, with no location found. There is a John Moon who was a prisoner of war in the War of 1812, but I've not been able to determine whether or not this is our John Moon. Any help would be most gratefully appreciated.
Christian or Christy Ann is giving me another headache. Which is her name? She seems to have been born about 1785, and there is a will in Fayette County for someone by that name in 1843. It is Christian Moon in the will, which gives her residence as Green Township, Fayette County, Ohio, and Christiana Moon in the appraisal of her estate. The only fly in the ointment here is that trees that list her at all show her as having married a Mr. Jones. If she married him, there must have been a divorce, for her to be using her maiden name. The marriage information, such as it is, may be totally incorrect, or may apply to another Christian Moon.
We are on slightly firmer ground with Martha, born in 1786. She married Daniel Rees, the son of Thomas and Margaret Bowen Rees (second marriage of Moon sibling to Rees sibling). Their children are Margaret and Christiann. Daniel seems to have died in 1817 and in 1822, Martha Moon is recorded as being married to John Draper, the son of David Draper. Was it a simple mistake that she was referred to as Martha Moon and not Martha Rees? Perhaps. If this is the correct Martha, her children with John are Wesley, Martha, and John. After John's death, Martha went west to Tipton County, Indiana, where Rees and Moon family members lived, and died in 1869 near Kempton.
David was born in 1788 and died in 1871 in Greenfield, Highland County, Ohio. He married Mary Ellen Ellis, , known as Polly. the daughter of Thomas and Margaret Rees Ellis. (Margaret was the daughter of Morris and Sarah Rees, and a cousin to other Rees family members mentioned in this post.) Their children are Eliza, Margaret, Thomas, Jane, James, and Mary.
William was born about 1790 and died in 1854 in Fayette County, Ohio. He seems to have had three wives. The first is Margaret Chew, the daughter of Colbey and Rebecca Rees Chew. (I have not traced Rebecca Rees with any degree of certainty, but it is my very strong hunch that she is going to tie into some of these other Rees families at some point). They had at least one child together, Herbert. He next married Nancy Dunn, the daughter of Robert and Ann Strawbridge Dunn. Their children are Sarah, Jane, Mary Ann, Matilda, and Lavinia. His third marriage was to Delilah Taylor, the daughter of Zachariah and Mary Taylor Taylor (not a typo). Their children are WIlliam, Victoria, and James.
Margaret Ellen was born in 1794 and died in 1876 in Kempton, Tipton County, Indiana. She married Owen Traveler Rees, the son of Solomon and Ann McNeil or Neal Rees. Solomon was the son of Thomas and Margaret Bowen Rees, so we are now down a generation. Their children are Christina, Thomas, Ann, Isabella, Andrew, Eliza Matilda, Margaret, and Albert. I have written of this family earlier.
Finally, Thomas was born in 1796, and died in 1871 in Fayette County, Ohio. He married Frances Irion,. the daughter of Robert and Nancy Ballentine Irion. Their children are Nancy, Eliza, Mary, Francis, Albert, Margaret, Christina, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Thomas. There is a possibility there was another son, James.
William is sometimes listed as another son, but his birth year is 1805 and his purported mother would have been nearly 50 at the time. In addition, there was already a William, alive and well, in this family. I am not including him as a son of Thomas and Jean, but he may well be a nephew.
As noted, most of these children died in or around Fayette County, Ohio, with two in Tipton County, Indiana and one in Madison County, Illinois. The Moon family had roots in Ohio, then Virginia, and finally Pennsylvania, but by the 1860s and beyond, the Moons were on the move, but this is as far as my study will take them. As always, corrections and additions are welcome!