Moore-Preece Genealogy Pages

Reconnecting with our American, Welsh, and Scots-Irish Roots**

James Harvey Preece & Daughter, "Joanner" (Preece) Hall Moore Blackburn

James Harvey Preece was born 29 April 1855 and died on 25 October 1937 in Martin County, Kentucky. He married Winnie Moore (1856-1919) on 9 October 1874 in Martin County, Kentucky. James was the son of William Boone Preece (1829-between 1862 & 1870) and Tabitha Ann Maynard (1834-1900).

Welcome!

It's finally here! This has been on my bucket list for quite a long time, as many of you know from annual reunions, emails and the family Facebook page. Every time I get a new DNA match--especially from overseas, the topic of our tree comes up. Well, this week, we have a new match from near Londonderry in Northern Ireland, so, if you're reading this William, this one's for you! William's connection would likely come from Ann Houston who married John Walker. Samuel Moore (1814-1893) (Sampson Moore & Jane Porter-4, Samuel Porter and Mary Alley-3, Patrick Porter & Susanna Walker-2, John Walker and Ann Houston-1) John Walker (1705-1778) was the son of John Walker and Katherine Rutherford. This line needs to be further documented, but John Walker (senior) was said to be from Wigton, Scotland and was part of the Nottingham Meeting House (Society of Friends, aka Quakers) in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Several folks have reportedly documented the line, but I need to pull the original records referenced in secondary sources to confirm. For those of you who have been patiently waiting for this site, I hope you will find it has been worth the wait. For those of you who just stumbled on this site, our family lines have been in the southwest Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia border counties since the fort houses in the late 1700s. The bulk of this effort has been focused on two lines: (1)First, the descendants and ancestors of Samuel Moore (or his siblings), who was born in 1814 in present-day Scott County, Virginia and who died in about 1892 in Martin County, Kentucky. He had 17 children, over 150 grandchildren and over 500 great grandchildren. (2) Second, descendants and ancestors of Alexander Boone Preece (1794-1873) and Lovina Stratton. Alexander Boone Preece descended from Rees Prees (aka Rees ap Rees), who arrived in 1684 in Philadelphia as part of the second wave of Quakers in William Penn's colony. This name is derived from the Welsh name Rhys. Rees ap Rees is buried under the Arch Street Meeting House, where it stands today in Philly.

Please note that this site is a work in progress. I have over 2000 images to upload and lots more work to do on the descendant lines. I began pruning and cleaning up our tree over five years ago. At that time, I lost a number of records online and had to recreate them in new software offline. The product you see here is not perfect. There are citations that didn't pull into the program exactly as they were originally written; please note that if it looks like part of the citation is missing, it is! It's one of the challenges of using multiple software programs to get the tree from my computer onto a web-based platform. The fields don't populate the same way.

Anyhow, enough of that! Here are some navigation tips:

(1) If you click on the surnames at the bottom of this page, it will open a list of individuals with that surname. From there, you can select individuals to view. Alternatively, if you don't see the surname you are looking for, you can use the search feature at the upper right corner of the page. From there, you can search broadly on a surname or more specifically on a full name. Be advised, there are lots of people in the database with the same names. Vital dates will help to narrow your search. LIVING DESCENDANTS are blocked from view for privacy reasons. So, you need to look for your most recent deceased ancestor to find your connection in the database.

(2) Wherever you see a camera icon, there will eventually be an image. If you see a thumbnail, there should already be an image to view. If there isn't, it is because I uploaded some documents as images and I have to reupload those as documents in order for you to view them!

(3) If you see a small pedigree icon next to a name, you may use that to see that person's pedigree, either by ancestry or descendants.

NOTE: I have inserted a few descendants of another Moore line into this tree. Not all the Moores in this database are related. 90% of them are. If you want to know for sure, please click on the "Ancestors" tab from the person's page. If it doesn't show a connection back to Samuel Moore (1814-1893) or Sampson Moore (1790-1858) or William and Sarah Moore (parents of Sampson Moore), they aren't related. An example of an unrelated Moore is Aaron Moore (b. 1815), who married Lydia Elswick.

**WHERE DO WE COME FROM? Not all lines have been traced back across the pond. However, here's the gyst:

PREECE: All Preece lines from eastern Kentucky descend from Rees ap Rees who immigrated from WALES in 1684 in the second wave of Quakers.

CRUM (Krumm) lines were GERMAN from Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.

SMITH lines of Myrtle Mae (Smith) Moore (1898-1958), second wife of Henry Albert Moore (1878-1957). I am working a lead that is included here on the Smith line that takes us back to SWEDEN and GERMANY on one of the maternal lines. Perhaps, this will finally explain part of the reason why my Moore first cousins and I are nearly a quarter Scandinavian on DNA; migration patterns explain the rest. ADDITIONALLY, if you descend from Myrtle Mae (Smith) Moore, the second wife of Henry Albert Moore (1878-1857), you are a part of the McCOYS from the Hatfield and McCoy feud as Myrtle's mother was a McCoy.

We also have quite a bit of Irish in our DNA, but we haven't made the paper connection yet. It is more likely than not that our folks were Scots-Irish.

As my dad used to say, keep coming back! This is the beginning. There are lots of documents, pictures and events in the lives of our ancestors that will be added over the coming weeks. In the meantime, enjoy! Don't forget to send me your feedback. Go to the upper right dropdown menu that says "Info"; in that list, you will find "Contact us."

Henry Albert & Myrtle Mae (Smith) Moore

Henry Albert Moore was born in 1878 in Martin County, Kentucky; he died on 6 October 1957 in Martin County, Kentucky. He married Myrtle Mae Smith (1898-1958) on 12 June 1918 in McClure, Kentucky. Albert was the youngest son of Samuel Moore (1814-ca. 1892) and his second wife, Mary Elizabeth Maynard (1837-1915).