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The following was submitted by Susan . Thank you Susan for obtaining permission from Dianne O'Connell and for sharing your info.
by D. O'Connell and other researchers
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Jacob, William, Henry and Peter Moyers arrived in America from Switzerland around 1742. The four brothers came with their widowed mother. All were natives of Switzerland, but the year previous to their migration, they had been guests of connections in Germany where the family had originally resided. They had been driven into exile by the State Reformed Church, or Calvinists. Peter is the ancestor of our line. Born in 1723, he settled in Springfield township of what was then Bucks Co. PA. The brothers and their families were prominent in Bucks, Berk, and Lehigh counties. Peter served in the Revolutionary War and afterwards settled near Woodstock, Shenandoah Valley Co., VA. He had brought his bride from Germany. Her name may have been Catherine. The couple had five sons: John, PETER, JR., Henry, Samuel, and Jacob. In later years, the family evidently followed Peter Jr.'s migration to Tennessee. John didn't like it in Tennessee and moved back to Virginia. Jacob went on to California. The elder Moyers (Peter and Catherine) died in Tennessee within a few years of one another: Peter in 1825 at the age of 101 years, and Catherine a little later at the age of 105 years. During their lifetimes, they had amassed some property and, in one Virginia census, were listed as owning two slaves. Served in American Revolution, 1776, 1777, and 1778. He applied for a pension in 1832. He said at the time that he was born in Berks Co., PA, sometime in December of 1752. Following the War, Peter Jr. returned to Berks County for about five years and then moved to Maryland, where he lived about six years. He left Maryland for Winchester, VA, and lived in Winchester for 22 or 23 years and others parts of Virginia for another three. He finally settled down in Lincoln Co., TN. Peter Jr. was more that 80 years old at the time he applied for his pension. He died four years later on 3 OCT 1836. Family sources say that Peter Jr. had travelled to Illinois and proved up on some land before moving back to Lincoln Co., TN. His eldest son George Wiley Moyers made som improvements on the Illinois land and later sold it. The mother of George Wiley Moyers is a mystery. George was born in 1784 in Pennsylvania-this would be when his father Peter had returned to Berks County following his military service. Peter married an Elizabeth Connel of Nashville, TN, and had five children: Matilda, Isaac, Joel, John C., and William C. George Wiley is not listed - probably because his mother was not Miss Connel, but rather a Pennsylvania girl who may have died while the family was still living in Pennsylvania, Maryland or Virginia. George Wiley Moyers was born in 1784 in Pennsylvania. We do not know the name of his mother. George Wiley married Miss Polly Windle, daughter of Augustin Windle of Woodstock, VA. Polly was bron in the Cedar Creek community, Shenandoah Valley, VA. George W. and Polly moved frist to Lincoln Co., TN, no doubt around the same time as George's father Peter Jr. and family re-located there. It is likely that is was after the family moved to Tennessee that Papa Peter met and married Miss Connel. After his father came home from Illinois, George W. and wife moved to the southern part of the state in 1830. They had 13 children and reared twelve - Juliette dying in infancy. George entered forty acres, erected a temporary log cabin, and not many years later, erected a good and substantial log house, in which the family lived for some 14 years. They sold that farm and bought another on which they lived a short time. Later they bought a third farm of 200 acres, seven miles from Golconda, upon which they both passed their declining years: George dying in 1858 at the age of 74, and Polly dying in 1864 at the age of 72. Both, and maybe even Peter Jr., are supposed to be buried in the old family plot on the farm at Golconda. George and Polly are listed in the 1850 census for Pope Co., IL. He is 65 years old, born in Pennsylvania; and she is 55 years old, born in Virginia. Two sons are listed as living with the couple: Jarbus, age 18; and WILLIAM, age 17 Both young men are later listed in the 1880 census for Eddyville Precinct, Pope County, along with their families. Family research indicates that a daughter Hannah married Franklin Hannah and resided at Fora, Clay County; Ellen J. married James J. Gallamore; and Mary married a Mr. Peter and resided in either Missouri or Arkansas; and son John Alfred married Martha Gavitt and lived in Golconda. William Henry Moyers was born 10 Dec. 1833 in Illinois and went to school but very little as a boy. He learned to read and write after attaining manhood. William lived with his parents until his marriage to Miss Parmelia Morse on 22 MAR 1857 in Pope County. He was 23 years old; Parmelia was about 14 years old. Parmelia died in December of 1858. Her son John W. (our ancestor) was raised by his maternal Morse grandparents for a period of time. John W., age one, is listed in the 1860 census as a member of his grandparents household. His father, William H., now 25, is listed alone in a separate household. In the 1870 census, William H., now 37, has re-married and is living in Eddyville, Pope Co., with his wife Louisa, age 31. Three children are listed with the couple: John, age 11 (William's son) Charles, age 7 (Louisa's son) and Nora, age two (William and Louisa's daughter.) The 1880 Eddyville Pct., Pope Co., census lists the family as: W.H. Moyers, 45; Louisa, 43; Charley, 18 (step-son); Nora, 13; and Mary, 6 Our John is not listed. Uncle Jarvis, 44, is listed, however. He is married with eight children and one granddaughter at home. Returning to William H., we find that after the death of Parmelia, William enlisted in Company E, 120th Illinois Infantry in 1862, under the command of William S. Hodge. He served about three years as duty sergeant. William was at Andersonville Prison ten months, and was released at the close of the war in 1865. He recalled the ten month, eleven day, imprisonment as a living death in filth and starvation. Being a man of great strength and endurance, according to the records, he rallied from the effects of his prison life at Andersonville, but would not have lived through it had he not bartered for and bought extra food. William was discharged at Springfield, Il., 29 MAY 1865. He married Mrs. Louisa Jenkins, a widow, on 5 NOV 1866. The couple eventually had three children: Leonora (Nora); Mary; and William C. As we have seen, William's oldest son, John, and Louisa's son, Charley, also were part of this family. William purchased 100 acres of land for $700 in 1865. He later added 75 more acres. At the close of his life, he was assisted in his general farming because of a heart condition which rendered him an invalid. He was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church; had been a constable and school director; and was politically a Republican. He died 8 AUG 1895. William H. Moyers is buried at Boulden Cemetery, Township 11 south range 5 east section 36, Pope County, IL., with second wife Louisa E. (b. 13 JUN 1838;d. 8 AUG 1931). An infant son (1870) of this couple is buried in the same plot, along with "Claudie" and "Hurley" Moyers, no dates given. See father William Henry Moyer's notes for John Windell's early years. John Windell Moyers married Miss Alice Augusta Davis. The couple were said to have farmed in the Glendale precinct of Pope Co., IL., and were the parents of two sons and two daughters. A review of the 1880 and 1900 censuses did not reveal a "Glendale" precinct, nor references to this family, but this does not necessarily mean they weren't there. Family sources indicate that John Windell died 15 SEPT 1903. We know of three of John Windell Moyers' children: - son John Burnett Moyers of Baltimore, MD, is responsible for the extensive research done on the Moyers and Davis families; - daughter Nola became Mrs. Nola Moyers Jones of Metropolis, IL; and - daughter Isabel (Belle) Moyers is the young woman who married Henry Lee Anderson in 1910 at Metropolis. The names and birthdates of her children come from Belle Anderson's Bible. Belle was born in Pope Co., IL., The daughter of John and Alice Augusta (Davis) Moyers. Her first husband (Mr. Mural), allegedly an acquaintance of Jesse James, was shot dead while sleeping in a tent. The couple had no children. Additional information regarding Belle is, of course, contained under the notes for her husband Lee Anderson. Belle Moyers considered herself of German and American Indian descent. On her death certificate, Belle is listed by her children as "German/Indian". We have no clue as to which of Belle's ancestors was the Indian. We don't know if this lineage is on her mother's or father's side. We do know that many Cherokee Indians left the Trail of Tears - the forced march from the Southeastern United States to Oklahoma during the winter of 1838-1839 - and found refuge in Illinois and Missouri and other areas. The entire Indian migration took from about 1820 to 1842. Many southern Illinois families believe a Cherokee Indian from this migration was one of their ancestors. Unfortunately for family historians, Indians who left the tribe took Christian names and were carried on all legal documents as such. They often did not acknowledge their own Indian ancestry, at least publicly. Though, we do not know the Indian, but we have no such trouble with Belle Moyer's German roots. |
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