William Moore: The Last Word For Now……….Part II

Another view of the Little Scotland area of Blackrod today. The Moore’s never lived in houses like this!


To make matters even “Moore” interesting, I just happened to see a Mary Moor (sic Moore) in both the 1841 census and 1851 census that lived in Blackrod. She was born in 1771! She could very well be the mother of William who may have been born around 1795. She would have been around 24 in 1795. The problem is that the 1851 census has strange dates for the people living with her.

1841: Mary Moore is living is living in Scotland a part of Blackrod, Bolton Le Moors in Lancashire County. She is listed as 70. Her daughter Elizabeth 40 is living with her. Elizabeth is a weaver. Mary Moore is also in the home. She is 20 and also a weaver. A Valentine Walls is in the home is 12 and a collier All were born in Lancashire county England. She lives next to Richard Moore. They are on the same page of the census. The ages were rounded in the 1841 census. (1841census. A summary is held by Paul Moore.)

30 Mar 1851: Mary Moor (sic Moore) is living Little Scotland, Blackrod, Lancashire, England. She is 80 years old and widower. She is living with her daughter Betty (Elizabeth) who is 37 and unmarried. Thomas Moor is also living in the house. He is 23 and a widower. He is listed as a son. I find it hard to believe he is a son of Mary. She would have been 48 when she had him. If he was a son of Elizabeth, she would have been 14 when she had him which is possible. He is not in the home in 1841 when he would have been just 13. Also in the home are a Betty Farryman who is 22 and works as a pit brow worker and her 5 month old son William Farryman. They are lodgers. (1851Census. A summary is held by Paul Moore.)

18 Jul 1850: Mary (21) as buried according to the Bolton Death Index on FreeBMD. She was a papist. At first I thought this Mary was the 80 year old. Then I found out she was only 20 when she died in 1850. The Moore’s were Roman Catholic. http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Blackrod/stkatharine/burials_1839-1853.html.

There were seven families of Moore’s living in Blackrod in 1841 through 1851. Although I can’t prove it 100%, I believe these families are all related to each other in some way with the matriarch being Mary Moore born in 1771.

So when I began this blog the earliest known Moore was William Moore who lived in the first three decades of the nineteenth century as a collier in a little town called Blackrod in Lancashire County England. As the week concluded I believe now we can say (although not with 100% certainty) that oldest known Moore was a little 80 year old lady who lived in the last quarter of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century in Blackrod. We have a now Moore living in 1771.