Pliny Moore (1759 - 1822)

Born 14 Apr 1759 in Sheffield, Berkshire, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Martha Corbin — married Jan 1787 in Bennington, Republic of Vermont

Descendants

Died 18 Aug 1822 at age 63 in Champlain, Clinton, New York, United States [uncertain]

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This profile is part of the Clinton County, New York One Place Study.

Biography

Lieutenant Pliny Moore served with New York during the American Revolution.

Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed October 29, 2017), "Record of Patriot’s Name", Ancestor # A079824. Pliny Moore was born in the western Massachusetts town of Sheffield, served in the American Army during the Revolution under George Clinton, and then was one of the first American settlers in the town of Champlain, New York. He is listed in the DAR records as serving as a lieutenant in service in New York.^[1]

Moore purchased a slave, a five-year-old girl named Phillis, in 1793 in Kinderhook, New York. Phillis appears to have lived with Moore and his wife for the remainder of their lives, including a period after Moore gave her her freedom. "In 1818, Pliny Moore wrote in his will, 'I gave her her freedom many years since'." Moore indicated that Phillis had children, but no record exists of what became of her or her children after Moore's death.^[2]

Obituary in Plattsburgh Republican, September 7, 1822

It is the promise of Jehovah, that the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. It is due to God’s work of grace that we remember the worthy conduct of his children, and endeavour to follow the example of those, who through faith and patience inherit the promises, and at length have gone to their reward. Few examples more justly merit to be remembered and recorded than that of the subject of the following notice. Seldom do we witness an instance in which a family experience a deeper affliction, or society and the Church of God sustains a greater loss, than in the death of the Hon. PLINY MOORE.

As a man, both in public and private life, none have sustained a more unblemished character, and as a Christian, few have been more extensively useful. A brief sketch of his life, therefore, we presume cannot be unacceptable. He was born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, April 14, 1759. His father,[1] a respectable and pious citizen of that place, tho’ in moderate circumstances, so managed as to give his sons an opportunity for education somewhat better than was common at that day -- Pliny, the eldest son, early began to manifest a spirit of enterprise and determined perserverance which characterized him through life. At the age of 17, he entered the American army for a short campaign,[2] & in 1780 at the age of 21, he entered the army as a Lieutenant during the war.[3] At the close of the war when he left the army he made considerable purchases of soldiers rights of land,[4] and among other grants[5] he obtained a tract in the town of Champlain.[6] This in the year 1787 and ‘8, he surveyed and marked out[7] -- in 1789, he moved his family to this then dreary wilderness.[8] With what industry and success he labored to turn this wilderness into a beautiful field, & to form those establishments which are essential to the happiness of man, every traveller [sic] may witness. [9]

Where there nothing beside to perpetuate his memory, the traces of his enterprise which he has left in this flourishing town would be sufficient.

In a public capacity, however, Judge Moore long sustained a very useful & honorable part.[10] When the county was organized, he was chosen assistant Justice;[11] soon after, a judge of the court of Common Pleas; in the year 1805 [or 1807] first Judge, and in this office he continued till by law, his age disqualified him.[12]

In the discharge of his public duties, he manifested that species of candor, and such firm and undeviating integrity, that amidst the fluctuations & contentions of party,[13] he secured the respect and confidence of all who knew him. But it was in private life as a neighbor and a christian, and in the domestic circle that his character alone with its brightest lustre. As a neighbor he was social, kind, and benevolent; to the poor he was a father; the needy never went away from his door empty; and no man, perhaps, was ever more respected & beloved by his domestics, and those who labored in his employ; he never was accused of keeping back by fraud, the hire of the laborers who had reaped down his fields.

In his domestic character, JUDGE MOORE needs no encomium; his uncommon hospitality had exhibited him in this particular to a very extended circle of acquaintance. As a husband and a father, he was second to no man that lives; kind, dignified and affectionate, his house was the abode of peace, cheerfulness and friendship - The government of his family was truly paternal, indulgent and tender, yet was it always efficient, seldom was it necessary he should repeat a command or make a request at the second time.

There were, however, both in his public and private character, some traits which, to a superficial genius might appear to savour [sic] somewhat of a rigid and unyielding disposition, but which, in truth, are traits as excellent as they are rare. Those who knew him will readily perceive that reference is here made to his method of doing business, & also of making up his opinions on important subjects. He transacted business with great exactness; every thing with him was systematized.

And in forming his judgement on important subjects, he proceeded with the same cautious deliberation. With a mind at once strong and clear, he arrived at his conclusions by the sure and careful process of induction, and when his opinions were this formed, he was not hasty in changing them. If he suspected himself in error in his conclusions, he would carefully retrace the steps by which he came to those conclusions, and if he discovered error, no man was more ingenuous to acknowledge it, but if not, he remained by his former opinion, and all the arts of sophistry, nor all the charm of eloquence could induce him to alter his Judgement or change his purpose.

He exhibited this trait of character in a very strong point of view, when forming his opinions of the doctrines of the Bible. He received his first serious impressions on religion, & as he hoped was brought to embrace the Saviour as he is proffered in the Gospel, under the preaching of a Methodist clergyman and seldom having an opportunity of hearing any other, he became strongly attached to that denomination; but before receiving the ordinances he thought it necessary to have his opinions made up on the doctrines of the Bible, and especially those doctrines which are sometimes controverted. For this purpose he had recourse almost incessantly to the Bible; the result was, after some months investigation he became fully and clearly convinced that the system of truth taught by the orthodox congregationalists and presbyterians is the system of truth taught in the Holy Scriptures, accordingly when the first congregational church was organized in Champlain, he united as a member, & remained till his death strongly & conscientiously attached to the doctrines of that Church. [14]

As a Christian, we can say of the subject of this notice, what it would be well if we could say of all who profess to be disciples of Christ, his life was uniform; he held a steady and consistent course onward -- his path appeared to be that of the just which shineth more and more to the perfect day. He was indeed a steady, conscientious, warm-hearted christian. It may be said of the christian with stricter propriety than any other individual, that his character is not established by a few extraordinary feats; but by the unnumbered and every day occurrences of a whole life; grace in the heart is not like the volcano which only now and then bursts with heat -- but it is like the perennial spring, which constantly sends forth its healthful and reviving waters. The example of Judge Moore, after he became pious was always salutary; always unequivocally on the side of religious. From his extensive acquaintance & known hospitality, his house was the resort of much company, and doubtless to a man [sometimes to a mind][15] less impressed with the importance of religious duties, the performance of those duties might have been a great cross. Especially was this the case during the last war,[16] when his house was frequented by the first officers of the army, but never has he been known in a single instance to omit religious duties in his family, or to neglect meeting with the children of God on the Sabbath if his circumstances would possibly admit -- he took a lively interest in the great exertions of the present day to extend the privilege of the gospel to the heathens and the destitute of our own country[17] -- and he witnessed with great delight the rapid progress of the cause of truth and the blessings which God is granting to the efforts of his people. And to the efforts of others he willingly united his own, he never turned a deaf ear to the calls of christian benevolence -- he had the ability and the willing mind.

For more than a year past his health had been on a decline, he appeared to realize the monitions of approaching dissolution; and the effect which these circumstances apparently produced on his mind was most salutary. His affections appeared to be more and more taken from the world and placed on things above -- he gave up the cares of business, and seemed to stand with his loins girded and his lamp trimmed & burning. His deep humility before God, his child like submission to the divine dispensations, and his full conviction of his entire dependence on the merits of Jesus Christ for acceptance with God were every day more strongly exemplified. He conversed frequently on death and seemed to make it a subject of frequent and steady contemplation; and though to his family, it came suddenly while they were not suspecting its immediate approach, yet they have every reason to believe it found him watching. Saturday evening, at a late hour, after spending the evening in reading and silent meditation he retired to rest, and a little after one on Sabbath morning 18th August, he ceased to breath. [18] Let me die the death of the righteous, & let my last end be like his.

Sources

1. ↑ Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed August 31, 2017), "Record of Pliny Moore", Ancestor # A079824.
2. ↑ “'A Negro girl five Years old named Phillis': Slavery in Northern New York," published on the Alice T. Miner Museum website, February 28, 2017 [1]

• Find A Grave: Memorial #101279137
• "United States Census, 1790," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHKP-4YD : accessed 22 May 2019), Pliny Moor, Champlain, Clinton, New York, United States; citing p. 182, NARA microfilm publication M637, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 6; FHL microfilm 568,146.
• Moorsfield Press collection of documents related to Pliny Moore, including an article from the Plattsburgh Sentinel dated January 16, 1891[2]
• The Moore Family page on the Moorsfield Press website[3]
• The obituary of Pliny Moore published in the Plattsburgh Republican, September 7, 1822, published as part of the Moorsfield Press collection of Pliny Moore's papers in 12929, reproduced on the Moorsfield Press website[4]
• [5] History of Clinton and Franklin Counties