Tag Archives: DeMoss

Uncovering Family History: Discoveries in Virginia and Beyond

22 Sunday Feb 2026

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A couple interesting developments happened this week. About a month ago, I found a newspaper article from 1934 stating documentation about Colonel Isaac Cox had been donated to Transylvania University since he had been an early trustee of the institution. I wrote to them to see if they had said documents. I received a response back from their Archivist and Special Collections Librarian this week. She thanked me for the newspaper article, but stated the documents are no longer in possession of the university. She was kind enough to suggest some other repositories which may have received the documents at a later date. After thinking on it, they could have also made their way to the Filson Club since Rogers Clark Thruston was such a big deal there. She did provide me with a link to a book available online that listed Isaac as a trustee up until 1788 when he was listed as “resigned”. It was surprising, because the date of his resignation was just after the date his estate was entered into probate. At any rate, I have additional places to visit when I make a research trip to Kentucky, at some yet undetermined date.

The second cool thing that happened this week was discovering a YouTube video made by a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution titled “The Legend of Jean Marie Cardinal“. Cardinal is my grandmother’s maiden name so I was excited to check it out. It is well done and I highly recommend it. I won’t give away any spoilers, but as it turns out Jean Marie is my eighth cousin 2 times removed.

As I planned last week, I am working through Evelyn Adams’ “Coxes of Cox Creek” and her cited references. The focus of the narrative is Isaac’s family since they solely were the ones who migrated to Kentucky and established Cox’s Station. There is some information on Gabriel and Friend Cox who are postulated to be brothers of the older Isaac, sometimes labeled as “Isaac the Immigrant”. There are documents putting the three men in the same locations which would lend to that theory. Individual family units did not relocate by themselves during that era. They moved in larger groups, if for nothing else safety reasons. Also, there seems to be some commonality with names of children.

I felt it was important for historical accuracy to identify the state at the time the events took place, not the current day state. West Virginia did not separate from Virginia until 1863.

For Gabriel Cox (c1718-1778), I have located the following documents:

  • Recorded land survey report dated January 30, 1762 in Hampshire County, Virginia.
  • A series of land transfer deeds from June 9, 1767 in Hampshire County, Virginia, identifying Eleanor as Gabriel’s wife.
  • A list of men who took and subscribed to the Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity to the Commonwealth of Virginia on October 6, 1777, in Ohio County, Virginia, included Gabriel Cox and his three sons–David Cox, Israel Cox, and Peter Cox.
  • His Last Will and Testament dated June 6, 1778 from Ohio County, Virginia.
  • The Administrator’s Document dated August 3, 1778 in Ohio County, Virginia. This names Eleanor, the widow, and Israel, his son. This document also narrows down when Gabriel died.
  • The estate inventory dated February 24, 1779, in Ohio County, Virginia.

I also had some scheduled library time this week and focused first on the Hampshire County, (West) Virginia records available.

  • A rather useful book I had at my disposal is Early Records: Hampshire County, Virginia, a compilation by Clara McCormack Sage ad Laura Sage Jones that was originally published in 1939. It was reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Company in 1969 and later again in 1976. It is basically an index of early records. There were several land transfers involving Cox family members as well as several entries where a Cox individual served as a witness. The original has been digitized and is on the FamilySearch website. It is restricted from downloading.

Moving on to Frederick County, Virginia books, I found some limited information in the following book:

  • Frederick County, Virginia: Settlement and Some First Families of Back Creek Valley 1730-1830, by Wilmer L Kerns. There was mention of Friend Cox in George Washington’s papers from 1756. Unfortunately, the papers of our first president are not available digitally. There is a copy of the volume I need at the Arizona State University Library. If I am feeling adventurous, I might take a trip across town to check it out.

Interestingly, I also checked for possible DeMosses in both counties while I was at it. Several entries suggested that DeMosses lived in the same general area that the Coxes did.

There are many books on Virginia in general that I still need to check. I can leave that for a future library day. I will continue checking Ms. Adams’ citations to better understand the conclusions she has drawn. I think I am finished for this week.

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 4903 errors in the tree–382 possible duplicates, 4074 with no documents, 447 other errors.

  • A distant cousin needing sources. Gotta love the California Birth Index! I was also able to find sources for a couple siblings as well.
  • A husband of a distant cousin needed a first name and a source. He was a second husband and luckily I found their marriage record.
  • The last error to clear up was a repeat that I had already resolved. She was a twin who died at age 10 in 1918. While the newspaper did not say, I have to wonder if it wasn’t from the Spanish flu. Kansas death certificates are not available online, so I likely will never know. I was able to narrow down when a sibling died using several of the family obituaries.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,092 people
End of Week: 27,135 people
Change = +43 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
  • Review Coxes of Cox Creek
  • Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
  • Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
  • Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky

2025 Week 31

03 Sunday Aug 2025

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I made it to the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City! We have a group of about 20 ladies here researching for the week.

Day 1: The first task I’m tackling is looking at restricted access books from their catalog. The first is “DeMoss Family History” by Jo Ann Robertson Hornby written in 1998. She did an awesome job of citing her sources and even providing some document images. One detail that I definitely need to explore is that my line might be descended from William DeMoss and not Louis DeMoss. He is postulated to be a brother to Louis and lived in the vicinity of Louis in Maryland. He also moved to Orange County, Virginia around the same time Louis did. He had two children, one of which was a son named Thomas. This will be worth researching further.

Also worth exploring further are the purported children of Louis DeMoss (1715-1749) and Margaret Ramsey. Their children were listed in “Ancestors of John G Fee, Matilda H Fee, and John G Hanson” by Richard Sears, however, it does not appear to be sourced. They would have been the correct age to have parented my William DeMoss (1773-1815). Children: Peter, John, James, Louis, William, Mary and Elizabeth. Hornby only assigns one child, a daughter Christian, to this couple.

Day 2: Today I’m hanging out on the 3rd floor where all the US and Canada books are. First up is a book of marriage bond abstracts for Fleming Co, KY compiled by Gareth Mark. It does provide some useful information with respect to the Thomas DeMosses in Fleming County. A marriage bond for Thomas DeMoss and Mary Snediger (sic) dated 1823 named Lewis DeMoss as the father of this Thomas DeMoss. A separate bond from 1824 named a Thomas DeMoss as the bondsman for Elizabeth DeMoss who married Michael Hedrick. It’s possible that this is a second Thomas who lived in the county at the same time and is a brother to Elizabeth. This could also be the Thomas who married Rebecca Morrow and that I have DNA matches through.

A number of DeMosses born in the 1770s and residing in the Fleming County area in the early 1800s lead me to believe they were probably siblings: James, William, Mary, and Lewis. The marriage bond records for Mary to Thomas Lock in 1795 Mason County, Kentucky, indicated that her mother’s name was also Mary. The fact that her mother gave her permission would suggest her father was deceased. Part of Mason County became Fleming County in 1798. I’ll need to keep looking for the connection between this generation and the next.

Day 3: I think I have exhausted all sources for the DeMosses at this point in time. When I get home, I will need to review what is already in my manuscript for this line and make any updates based on what I have found. I did do a little research on my George Winkler line which will be the next after the Coxes. I found the divorce proceedings for his marriage to Katie Bean which barely lasted a couple months. Now I am back working on Susannah Cox Ballard’s extensive family.

James and Susannah’s son Bland, named for his grandfather, was fairly straight forward to research. He served as a federal circuit court judge under President Abraham Lincoln. Their son Josephus died as an infant. I also located a transcription of a family bible for the Ballard family which confirms the dates of their vitals. With that, I am finished with Susannah!

Moving on to Isaac Cox, the fifth child of Benjamin and Sarah Piety Cox. Isaac resided in Clark County, Indiana. His sons were river boat pilots on the Ohio River.

Day 4: Last day at the library. Today I am hanging out on the 3rd floor again and going thru the surname books. I seem to have found some good stuff on my Bunnell/Bonnell line. There are three books that chronicle the earliest parts of this family for me. “The Bunnell/Bonnell Family in America” by WIlliam R Austin happens to be on Internet Archive so I can refer back to it often at home.

There is useful information regarding the service of Benjamin Bunnell in the Revolutionary War that might be found in “A Village at War, Chatham, NJ and the American Revolution” by Donald Wallace White. I’ll need to check that out. I might be able to get another Patriot or two out of it. Digging further I was able to find the service source and proof of residency for Benjamin Bunnell so I will be preparing that DAR supplemental application when I get home. I’ve only been wanting to submit that one since 2019!

Back to my research on the Cox family. I have cleaned up Isaac Cox who resided in Jeffersonville, Indiana and am moving on to Joseph Cox, born ca 1790. According to most previously published family histories, he did not marry. However, I have several DNA matches that might say otherwise. Once I sort this out next week, I will elaborate.

This week Ancestry gave me three new errors to resolve. I have 5243 errors in the tree–378 possible duplicates, 4261 with no documents, 604 other errors.

  • John Watson is a floater. I have deleted him.
  • A stepson of husband of wife of distant cousin. He is outside of my lines so I deleted him too.
  • A 6th cousin 1x removed has no documentation. I found his marriage record.

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines the week ahead.
375 years ago – birth of Susanna Whitehead (10th ggm)
360 years ago – birth of Louise Arrivee (8th ggm)
346 years ago – birth of Abigail Fowle (8th ggm)
346 years ago – death of Simon Cardinal (9th ggf)
285 years ago – marriage of Elizabeth Quincy (7th ggm) and Rev William Smith (7th ggf)
216 years ago – Elihu Puckett (4th ggf)
69 years ago – marriage of August Cardinal (ggf) to his second wife Jessie Shackelford

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,609 people
End of Week: 27,630 people
Change = +21 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Focus on Joseph Cox who may have married Elizabeth Smith
  • Review the information in The Other Polks to see if there is anything I don’t already have
  • Continue data mining on Ben Cox and Sarah Piety
  • Confirm the data from Polk Family and Kinsmen has been added for this family and page numbers are noted for easier citation adding
  • Review Coxes of Cox Creek

2025 Week 1

05 Sunday Jan 2025

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I do this every year. Resolve to blog regularly and then it falls to the wayside. Let’s see how long I stick with it this year. I’ll start with a summary of what I accomplished last year and move on from there.

I’m continuing to work on the ancestry of my paternal grandfather, Samuel Thomas DeMoss, Sr. I moved on from the DeMoss line to the Cox line in 2024. With the release of the Full Text Search functionality on FamilySearch last year, I have found some interesting details about the family of my 4th great grandparents William J. DeMoss and Elizabeth Lowe DeMoss. Divorce records and land deed records cleared up several details that were still out there for me. Their son Isaac (my 3rd great grandfather) has a ton of land deed transactions on the books in both Knox and Daviess Counties. Every month or so I will do a quick follow up search to see if anything new and exciting pops up.

I put the DeMoss line on pause with my 4th great grandparents. The documentation currently available for Fleming County, Kentucky, in the early 1800s doesn’t amount to much for William and Polly DeMoss. It doesn’t appear that he was too involved in local politics or was at odds with the law, but it’s not clear exactly who he descends from or where he was prior to Fleming County. At this time, the only thing that might solve this riddle is if we had Y DNA results from my male cousin or his male descendants.

I’m about a year into my research on the Cox line. I am cleaning up what I already had and filling in the branches downward. My 2nd great grandfather Frank Cox lived quite the life and I continue to find more documents on him every time I search. He’s now up to four (4) wives! I’m still looking for definitive proof that John S Cox (my 3rd great grandfather) is the son of Gabriel and Nancy Cox. There is a lot of circumstantial evidence that needs to be sorted through before I can feel confident in this parental assignment.

I am currently building out the descendants of Martha Ann Cox who married Luke Cassidy. I have six confirmed DNA matches through Martha. Luke and Martha had six known children and resided in Perry County, Indiana. Some of their descendants still live in the general area in south central Indiana, while others have migrated to the Pacific Northwest. This week I am specifically working on the family of Martha Henrietta Cassidy Rhodes and discovering my “5th cousins”. She and Sylvester had six children that I am aware of. I’m currently working on daughter #2. I expect the Rhodes family will take me a month to complete, depending on how much basic information I can find.

There were two individuals that stood out to me this week. These are usually younger individuals that catch my attention. The first was a 30 year old male in the late 1940s who died of a stabbing to his femoral artery. According to the man who ultimately was convicted of manslaughter, the victim had tried to rob him and he was merely acting in self-defense. The other was a 23 year old woman who was driving to work at a hospital in Evansville. Apparently the roads were slick and she was trying to pass another vehicle on or near a bridge. She lost control and died instantly from her injuries.

Unrelated to my Cox research, I had one new DNA match that I was able to place in my tree down my Roderick branch.

Progress: Tree contains 26,821 people
Goal: Add 50 new people this week

Corporal Isaac DeMoss

25 Thursday Jan 2024

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Week 4 of the 52 Ancestors Challenge finds us exploring the topic “Witness to History”. There are so many individuals I could write about under this topic, most having served and fought for the freedoms we currently enjoy. Many of those same individuals I have already written about, but I haven’t yet focused my attention on my third great-grandfather Isaac DeMoss.

Isaac was born in Fleming County, Kentucky on March 13, 1833 to William DeMoss and Elizabeth “Betsey” Lowe.1 He is believed to be the fourth of ten children born to the couple. While still in diapers, his parents, along with several of his father’s siblings’ families, packed up the family and journeyed westward into Indiana, settling in southeastern Daviess County, Indiana.  

Isaac remained on the family farm until the early to mid-1850s. He set out to make his own way, heading further westward, settling along the White River which separated Daviess County from Knox County to the west. On December 8, 1855, at the age of twenty-two, he married sixteen year old Louisa Reeve, daughter of Joseph Reeve and Sarah Ireland Reeve. The following June, Isaac acquired a land patent (certificate 39184) for thirty-three acres of land along the White River bottoms. 

Isaac and Louisa did not waste time starting a family. Samuel T was born in October 1856 and Marion followed four years later. Life as a farmer was then interrupted when the Civil War broke out. Isaac, Louisa’s brother Samuel, and many of their friends and neighbors enlisted for a three year stint in the Union Army, becoming a private of Company C of the 80th Indiana Infantry. They mustered in on September 8, 1862 at Princeton, Indiana, and marched to Covington, Kentucky, where they joined forces with several units from Ohio. The first year of service was spent mostly in Kentucky. Notable campaigns included fighting Confederate forces at Perryville led by Major General Braxton Bragg. The Regiment had movements in Tennessee before engaging in a number of battles in Georgia in 1864. They circled back through Alabama to Tennessee once more before heading east to North Carolina in 1865. The 80th finished their tour of duty in Salisbury until they mustered out on June 22, 1865, returning home to Indiana. Isaac left the military with the rank of corporal.2

Unfortunately, when Isaac did return to Edwardsport, he did so as a widow. Louisa passed away on April 18, 1864. The cause is currently unknown, however, both Louisa’s mother Sarah and her mother-in-law Betsey also died within months of Louisa. It is not known if their deaths are related or merely coincidental. A year later, young Marion also died of an unknown cause, not having reached his sixth birthday.

At the age of thirty-three, Isaac married sixteen year old Laura Johnson. Within a year she gave him another son, William, however he died a week later. Isaac continued to amass his land holdings and in 1872, he and Laura welcomed another son John Franklin DeMoss. Personal accounts provided by various family members referred to John as Richard or “Dickie Popcorn”.3 

Unlike some of his brothers-in-law (Louisa’s brothers), Isaac focused on farming and did not appear to branch into other trades or skills. He did, however, amass a sizeable amount of land in and around Vigo Township, mostly along the river. Much of this farmland was transferred to Samuel and Richard in the 1890s, as reported in the Vincennes papers.

Isaac took ill in the summer of 1900, contracting Rheumatic Fever. He suffered from this affliction for nearly three months, succumbing on October 19, 1900 at the age of sixty-seven.

  1. Biography of Samuel T. DeMoss, History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, IN, George E. Greene, 1911, p. 271. ↩︎
  2. Battle Unit Details, 80th Regiment, Indiana Infantry. National Parks Service website. ↩︎
  3. Reeve and Hulen Families, Helen E. Reeve, 1974.  ↩︎

Where did I come from?

07 Sunday Jan 2024

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Our 52 Ancestors prompt this week is “Origins”. Origins are simply beginnings.

I’m currently focusing on my dad’s side of the family. As I continue to dig deeper, it has occurred to me that Dad’s ancestors haven’t really concentrated in any one area for any length of time. To get a feel for his origins, I decided to plot birth locations for his ancestors going back to the Revolutionary War.

The yellow pins are the locations where ancestors from my grandfather’s line (my dad’s dad, the DeMosses) were born. The pink pins are where my ancestors from my grandmother’s line (my dad’s mom, the Fieldens) were born. These are only my direct ancestors–no aunts, uncles, or distant cousins. Each pin represents a location, not necessarily a person. Some pins may represent more than one person. I did not connect the pins because I wasn’t necessarily trying to track how they migrated, although it was clearly east to west.

It’s quite the scattering of locations. My grandmother’s ancestors tended to be more to the south, with a higher concentration of locations in the Carolinas and into Tennessee. There really isn’t a distinct concentration of locations in any one area. They seemed to always be moving. Considering the terrain of North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, it would seem logical that they continued to look for better opportunities.

My grandfather’s people seem to have come from two different areas and converged on the southwestern portion of Indiana. One grouping appears to have originated from the New Jersey/Eastern Pennsylvania area, while the other was from the North Carolina/Virginia area before migrating north and westward. When the DeMoss ancestors arrived in Indiana, they must have found what they were looking for. The large cluster of yellow pins represent several generations who put down some serious roots, at least for a while.

The data represents five almost complete generations and a partial of the sixth generation, starting with my grandparents. Birthdates of those included ranged from the 1770s to about 1920. 

If nothing else, the data plot gives me insight into the areas of the country I should delve deeper into when the opportunity arises.

Map created using Google Earth application.

The “Red-headed Stepchild”

31 Sunday Dec 2023

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The first prompt for 52 Ancestors in 2024 is “Family Lore”. This prompt reminded me of a story my dad mentioned about his younger brother Jim.

 As the story goes, Jim had red hair. I don’t believe it was flaming red like Carrot Top or Little Orphan Annie, but probably closer to a strawberry blonde. It was definitely a contrast to the black hair that my dad, his sister and my grandmother were blessed with. Dad said he teased his brother and told him he was switched at the hospital. Somehow I doubt there was a baby swap, but it makes for a good story. I personally do not have first hand knowledge of the color of Uncle Jim’s hair. I wasn’t even two years old when he died at age twenty-one in an automobile accident. The few pictures we still have of him are black and white. I did attempt to colorize this photo using Fotor. Maybe there is a little red in there. It’s difficult to say for sure.

Photo of James D. DeMoss (1949-1971).

The fact that Uncle Jim had reddish colored hair isn’t really that far fetched. My niece is a strawberry blonde. Jim’s father (my grandfather) was described as having blonde hair on his draft card for World War II. Maybe it had a little red mixed in that wasn’t noted. My Ancestry DNA results have significant levels of Scottish (21%) and Irish (10%) origins, all apparently from my paternal line. We’ve even got some obvious Irish and Scottish surnames peppered in there–McCullough, McLees, McAllister–as well as the family Ireland (I’m assuming they came from Ireland!). My grandmother may also have had a tad bit of Irish or Scottish blood in her veins from the Caseys and Heaths in her line.

“The expression is from mixed Italian-Irish families in the late 19th century. The red-haired stepchildren would be seen as evil. Also, red hair would underscore that the child is not related to the stepparent, as seen by the physical difference.”

–tvtropes.org
Photo of Tom and Jim DeMoss taken late 1960s.

So was my uncle Jim a red-headed stepchild? I seriously doubt it based on this photograph of him with my dad. The few memories my dad shared of his younger brother were good ones. I can only imagine what kind of crazy trouble they would have gotten up to together if Jim had lived a few decades longer.

Polly DeMoss Harmon (ca 1795-ca 1840)

06 Sunday Nov 2022

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A likely candidate for a sibling to William DeMoss is Polly DeMoss Harmon. Marriage records from Fleming County, Kentucky have Polly marrying Thomas Harmon in 1814. The family resided in Fleming County until the early 1830s at which time they migrated to Daviess County, Indiana. This is the same time period that William DeMoss’s family also relocated out of Kentucky. Polly is believed to have died sometime between 1839 when her daughter Fannie was born and 1843 when Thomas married Rachel Baker Gibson. A line by line search of the 1840 US Census did not find an entry for Thomas Harmon which would have provided some insight for a more exact date of death for Polly.

Old Union Church and Cemetery, Reeve Township, Daviess County, Indiana. Several members of this family are buried here.

Polly and Thomas had at least seven children during their time together. It’s possible that there were a few more as there is a large gap between William (b. 1819) and Matilda (b. 1829). According to the 1830 Census, there could be two daughters born in the 1820s that have not been accounted for. The children that have been documented are:

  • Elizabeth (1814-) m. Alexander Moren/Moran/Morin
  • Hannah (1816-1902) m. Jacob Hedrick
  • William (1819-1884) m. Indiana Alford
  • Matilda (1829-1860) m. Lewis Isham
  • Rebecca (1831-1859) m. William Edwards
  • David (1836-1870) m. Lavina Hedrick
  • Fannie (1839-1920) m. William Edwards

Thomas remarried in 1843 to Rachel Baker Gibson and added three more children to the family, Lavina, Robert and Lucinda. In 1860, Thomas is living with William’s family in St. Clair County, Missouri. The younger children are not living with them and Rachel cannot be located.

The Migration of Lewis DeMoss’s Descendants

05 Saturday Nov 2022

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As I make my way through the families, it is important to keep track of where they are going and where they have been. We’ve already looked at where William J DeMoss’s offspring settled. Since the first sibling I researched was Lewis, we’ll breakdown where his descendants went to see if there is any overlaps.

As we have discussed previously, Lewis DeMoss married Mary Cox in Fleming County, Kentucky in 1822. Mary and Lewis had the following children:

  • John W (1825-1912)
  • Samuel (1829-?)
  • James (1831-?)
  • Mary Margaret (1833-1877)
  • Joshua (1835-?)
  • Martha (1838-1875)
  • Thomas (1841-1928)
  • Milton William (1843-1940)

It is reasonable to assume all of these children were born in Fleming County where the family remained until shortly after 1850. They were in Platte County, Missouri just north of Kansas City by 1854 when John and Mary married Tritt siblings. We will now break down where each child’s family went from

John W DeMoss and Caroline Tritt settled in northern Platte County near Edgerton and remained there until their deaths in 1912 and 1923, respectively. Their six children all remained in the Edgerton area with the exception of Sarah. Sarah and her husband James P. Chaney resided in nearby St. Joseph. John and Caroline’s grandchildren remained in the general area as well, expanding into St. Joseph and Atchison, Kansas areas.

Mary Margaret DeMoss and Ira Tritt also settled in Platte County where their five children were born. Mary died in 1877 at the age of 43. In the mid-1880s, Ira and three of their children relocated to Logan County, Arkansas, just east of Fort Smith. Sons Thomas and William remained in the greater Kansas City area.

Martha DeMoss married Asa Reeves in 1868. They, too, remained in the northwestern Missouri area. Their son Louis Reeves migrated a bit further west and settled in Kansas. The Reeves were in Fleming County, Kentucky in 1850 and it’s highly probable that the families traveled to Missouri together.

Thomas DeMoss and Nancy Elizabeth Foster were married in 1871 and raised their family of four children in the Platte County area as well. After Nancy’s death in 1912, the entire family migrated to Delaware County, Oklahoma, located on the eastern border of that state with both Missouri and Arkansas. Thomas’s daughter Mary and her husband George Holtzclaw returned north about a decade later, landing in Ray County, Missouri. Thomas Jr and his wife Mary Pyle followed suit, living out their days in the Clay County area with their ten children.

Milton DeMoss and his wife Lucy Reeves settled in the Buchanan County, Missouri area as did their only daughter Susan and her husband William Jackson.

So far, there aren’t any overlaps in where the families of Lewis and William settled. As more of the siblings are added to the equation, there is likely to be some similarities which would strengthen the idea that they are kin.

Royal Ellis Moran (1884-1966)

04 Friday Nov 2022

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With the 2022 World Series wrapping up this weekend, I thought it would be appropriate to pay homage to a distant cousin who actually played in the Major Leagues.

Royal Ellis Moran was born September 17, 1884 in Vincennes, Indiana1 to James P Moran2 and Lenora Deem. Roy, also known as “Deedle”, began his baseball career with Vincennes in the Kitty League prior to 1907. His official professional baseball career as an outfielder started at Peoria, Illinois in 1907 before moving to the Jacksonville club in Iowa. In 1908, and for a large portion of his 12 year career, he played for the Atlanta Crackers of the Class A Southern Association. He had one stint in the Major Leagues in September 1912 playing 7 games for the Washington Senators. In 22 plate appearances, he had 2 hits, 8 walks, 4 strikeouts and 3 stolen bases. He scored 1 run.1

In his private life, Roy was married twice. His first marriage was to Vera Young on September 24, 1907 in Lawrenceville, Illinois3. Vera was a young local actress and the elopement was a surprise to most everyone. The marriage was short lived, however, as Vera filed for divorce in Knox County Court the following February4 citing that she had not yet been sixteen at the time of the nuptials and that he was cruel and inhumane. The divorce was granted in April 19085.

Following the 1910 baseball season, Roy married Betty Woodward in Atlanta, Georgia on October 296. Together they had one daughter, Muriel, who was born in 19157. Roy supported his family as a salesman for a variety of businesses through the years7-10. Roy died in Atlanta on July 18, 196611. He was 81 years old.

Roy’s lineage can be traced back to Polly DeMoss and Thomas Harmon who were originally from Fleming County, Kentucky. Polly is believed to be a sibling of my 4th great-grandfather William DeMoss.

References

  1. Baseball Reference website – Roy Moran Statistics
  2. 1900 US Census, Johnson Township, Knox County, Indiana, ED 46, Sheet 2B, HH 33.
  3. Western Sun, Vincennes, Indiana, volume 104, issue 3, 27 September 1907, page 4.
  4. Vincennes Commercial, Vincennes, Indiana, volume 23, issue 264, 18 February 1908, page 4.
  5. Vincennes Commercial, Vincennes, Indiana, volume 24, issue 54, 21 April 1908, page 1.
  6. Georgia, US, Marriage Records from Select Counties, 1828-1978, book Q, 1909-1910, Ancestry.com.
  7. 1920 US Census, Atlanta City Ward 4, Fulton County, Georgia, ED 83, Sheet 1B, HH 10/19.
  8. 1930 US Census, Atlanta District 121, Fulton County, Georgia, ED 61-121, Sheet 8B, HH 170.
  9. 1940 US Census, Atlanta Ward 5, Fulton County, Georgia, ED 160-216, Sheet 8A, HH 176.
  10. 1950 US Census, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, ED 160-433, Sheet 9, HH 95.
  11. Georgia, US, Death Index, 1919-1998, Ancestry.

William J DeMoss and the FAN Club

03 Thursday Nov 2022

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A concept many researchers utilize when trying to trace a particularly family, or any family for that matter, is the FAN Club concept. FAN stands for family, associates and neighbors. Back in the day, it was highly unlikely that a single family would migrate hundreds of miles all by themselves. The number one reason for this was safety. There is safety in numbers and they were heading out into the wilderness where there might not be a lot of other friendly people. If a family migrated to a new location, they would usually go with other family units or neighbors who lived nearby. We can get a feel for who belongs to a particular FAN club if the same names appear in proximity to each other on various documents, the most common being the census records. These families also tend to intermarry so that is another thing to watch for in the documentation.

As I sort through the information on William DeMoss and those who are thought to be his siblings, I will be applying the concept of the FAN club, especially with migration of family units during the 1800s. This first FAN Club post will summarize the migration pattern of William’s descendants. Only those children who are known to have off-spring will be discussed.

Thomas DeMoss (1828-p 1870) – Thomas was one of the two boys listed in the 1830 Census but had moved off the family farm by 1850. He married Mary Gilley and had six children while living in Daviess County, Indiana. Their children remained in the general area spreading into Greene and Knox Counties in Indiana and Wabash County in Illinois. The grandchildren, who were mainly born around the turn of the twentieth century migrated a bit further, landing in the South Bend area. There was also one granddaughter who found her way to Oregon.

Isaac DeMoss (1833-1900) – Isaac was married twice, first to Louisa Reeve then to Laura Johnson. He settled in Edwardsport in Knox County where he lived out his life. His children and grandchildren also remained in the Knox County area.

John DeMoss (1835-1908) – John was married to Sarah Burris and they made their home in Daviess County, Indiana. After her death, John did move down the road to Wheatland in Knox County. Their children seemed to migrate in a westward direction, a few settling here and there along the way. A couple children made their homes in southern Knox County in the Decker area, while a few others continued on to the west, finally making roots in western Illinois and further into Pemiscot County, Missouri. Several of the grandchildren eventually ended up in the Los Angeles, California while others remained in the St Louis area.

William Henry DeMoss (1837-1876) – William’s first wife was Mary Reeve, sister of Isaac’s wife Louisa. William and Mary did attempt to migrate to Missouri, according to family lore, however, they returned after a short period of time. Of their four children, two stayed in the southwestern Indiana area and the other two found their way to the Spokane, Washington area. For the most part, the grandchildren remained in the general areas of their parents.

As I delve into the other possible siblings of William J DeMoss, it will be interesting to see if any/many find their way to St. Louis, Los Angeles, Oregon or Washington. This will help to support possible ties between the various families.