Joseph Moore (1732 - 1793)

Joseph was trained to be a mariner, but after one voyage at age of 16, decided rather to become a miller. After marrying Christina in 1751, the family requested and became members of the Quaker Woodbridge, Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting in September 1763, in New Jersey. Later in 1766 he and his family joined the Kingwood Monthly Meeting in Amwell, Hunterdon, New Jersey, where he became a notable Minister.

After as he was gaining a reputation for Monthly Meetings held at his residence, from 1771 to 1778, the American Revolutionary War came face to face with his Quaker beliefs. His refusing to take the test of allegiance to the State of New Jersey resulted in confinement to Trenton Jail for six weeks. He was able to pay fines for his release, and some other fees to remain free until the end of the War.

After the war a number of events would catapult Joseph in the public eye, starting with signing the 1783 Quaker Anti-Slavery Petition. He then in 1786 went on a religious mission with an Abraham Gibbons first in Nova Scotia; then the following year to Philadelphia with William Wilson, and then a second time to distribute alms from friends to the loyalist emigrees in Nova Scotia, again meeting his brother Samuel there.

It was at the 1991 Philadelphia Meeting for Sufferings, where this group of well-regarded Quakers started an intervention to prevent violent conflict between the American government and Indian tribes, in the areas to the west, as discord was known to be brewing into more serious outcomes. After the Yearly Meeting of 1992, the friends had strengthened the resolve of the Friends after their Memorial addressed to Congress in 1992. A meeting between Indian Tribes and the US government in Philadelphia resulted in a request by the Indian Tribes for Friends' participation in upcoming negotiations in Sandusky, on the waters of Lake Erie.

Thus it was that 6 Peace Riders ventured to fulfill a mission of peace in these negotiations. Quakers William Savery, Jacob Lindley, and William Hartshorn accompanied government negotiator General Benjamin Lincoln; while government negotiators Colonel Timothy Pickering, and Beverly Randolph rode overland with Quakers John Parish, John Elliott and Joseph Moore. Distrust over American preparations and other misgivings stymied the Indian reproachment, leading to the negotiations coming to naught. Hostilities soon broke out and shortly after the death of Joseph Moore, the issue was finally resolved in the Battle of Fallen Timbers in August 1794.

It was noted in the Kingwood MM that Joseph was going on a religious visit regarding an Indian Treaty Sometime after the Revolutionary War, he and two other Friends were selected by the Government of the United States to accompany Commissioners to Niagara for the purpose of negotiating a Treaty of Peace with the Five Nations of Indians, it being considered by the Government that the presence of three disciples of Penn would insure the Commissioners more safety and better treatment at the hands of the Red Man than a whole regiment of soldiers. Nearly all the distance, from Easton, PA, to the Canada line, was a wild wilderness, inhabited by Indians and wild animals. They traveled the whole way on horseback, carrying their provisions with them, now and then killing some game by the path; and, when approaching an Indian settlement, our Friends were sure to lead the van. The company went through, accomplished their purpose and returned safely. The drab coat and broad rim were to the savage a satisfactory guarantee that their visitors were "friends," and that no harm or injury was intended them. Joseph Moore kept a diary of their travels through the wilderness and their dealings with the Indians, which, after his death, was published in the "Friends Miscellany," a small periodical edited by John Comley, of Bucks County, PA.

According to Shotwell, Joseph died of yellow fever, contracted while attending a Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, at the close of that very wearisome journey to Sandusky, outside of Detroit. He was buried in 1793 at on his plantation in Amwell, Hunterdon, New Jersey, United States.The neighbors were so fearful of his yellow fever that not one of them dared venture near the house. An undertaker in the neighborhood made a coffin and left it in sight of the house to be taken away by some of the family. Joseph's two daughters, with the aid of a colored man, prepared and buried the remains, one neighbor at the last coming forward to render some assistance.

Joseph signed a will on 22DA 2MO 1793 in Amwell, Hunterdon, New Jersey, United States. Wife not mentioned. Sons: Samuel Moore, John Moore, Benjamin Moore. Daughters: Huldah Moore, Anna Moore, Miranda Moore, Sarah King, Rachel Head, Hannah Cary. Also mentioned Sister, Mary DeCamp. See Shotwell below.