Archer "Archie" Stephen(?) Moon is my current brick wall. I have several questions about him below this bio. I am a newer member in the process of building up my tree, so he does not yet have a profile (But will, soon!) The links below are what exists of my research. This is re-posted from elsewhere, thus the tone. I have primarily used Ancestry and Family Search--my branch of the Moon family were poor and illiterate prior to 1900, so there doesn't seem to be much interest in them. (But I'm curious!)
He was born on November 13, 1834 to a Boles Moon and a woman by the maiden name Branger, per Archie’s 1909 death certificate. We find Archie in the 1860 Census as “A S T Moon”, where he states that both of his parents hail from Georgia. He’s listed with a Jeremiah Moon, who I believe to be his sister-in-law, and a May Moon, who I believe to be his mother. Note: There's a Bolar/Boler Moon on the Cherokee land rolls as someone who received Cherokee land in Jackson Co. from the 1830s Georgia land lottery. However, I can't find documentation to link my Archie to this Bolar/Boler.
(Quick note about Archie's wife: Eliza Combs(3). Born ca 1838 in Georgia to a Philip Combs and a Lucinda/Susannah Waller, Eliza marries a William Jefferson Bishop (Sometimes erroneously reported as William T Bishop.) in 1855 at the age of 17. They have a son, also named William Jefferson, just prior to William’s enlistment in the Georgia Infantry, 7th Regiment, Company C. William Senior is discharged from the Infantry in 1862 due to injury. Where does he return? No one knows! Could this be his last will and testament? If so, he died ca. 1864. Eliza doesn’t show up again until the 1880 Census, where she’s living with a Stephen Moon, son William Bishop, and several of hers and Archie's kids--including my 2nd great grandmother, Minnie (Moon) Trunick Doubet--in Indiana.)
Come 1861, Archie joins the Georgia Infantry, 7th Regiment, Company C, around the same time as our above-mentioned buddy, Wills. Per Archie’s Fold3 records (I unsubbed once I had his info, but all screenshots of his records are on an external hard drive not formatted for my Windows laptop.), he spends most of 1861-1864 alternately fighting and contracting diarrhea. In February or March 1864, he decides he’s had enough of war and deserts. To where, though? It’s anyone’s guess, though he ultimately ends up in Clark County, Ind.
The records are pretty light until the 1880 U.S. Census. (4). Here, we find Archie married to an Eliza J Combs (or Eliza R Combs) of Georgia, both living in Clark Co., Indiana. One record (Perhaps Robert Moon’s marriage record to Pearl Sinkhorn or one of the censi) mentions Archie and Eliza’s 1865 wedding, of which I’ve found no official record. (5) Archie has also decided to go by his middle name, Stephen, and begin telling everyone that his father was from Germany and his mother was from Scotland. (In fact, his son Robert relays the same info when reporting Archie’s death in 1909.)
Archie and Eliza’s lives appear to be relatively uneventful from here on--he’s a laborer during the late 1800s (See 1880 Census), then a “Root and Herb Peddler” in the 1900 U.S. Census. The two move into town by 1909 to 1012 Vincennes Ave. Archie sadly dies on April 19, 1909 at 1749 Shelby St, of exhaustion/heart disease. Death notices here and here. His widow Eliza ends up moving in with her son, Robert, eventually dying from complications of dementia in May 1922 at 952 Betts St. in Cincinnati, OH.
Questions:
- Who was Archie's mother? (Georgia did not require BCs until 1895 and I’m unable to locate anything besides his death certificate that would corroborate his parents’ names.) Also...can’t find the 1850 U.S. Census records for Boles and fam, nor a marriage certificate between a Boles Moon and a woman by the last name of Bronger/Branger/Brangier. Could Boles Moon be William B Moon? Boler/Bolar Moon?
- Where is Archie and Eliza’s marriage certificate? I spent Sunday afternoon searching for it in Georgia (state of birth), Tennessee (from where Archie deserted), Kentucky (Louisville was a popular marriage destination for my Hoosier ancestors, and one of the U.S. Gretna Greens), and Indiana (Where the two ended up.) Nothing. My mother supposes that the two never got married, only living as husband and wife once they moved hundreds of miles from Georgia.
- Looks like the 1880 Census was the first time someone stated that Archie's parents were from Germany and Scotland. Is this a mistake? How could it have been made? Was the government punishing Confederate deserters in 1880? Why go back to his first name from 1880 on? Keep in mind--Archie didn’t go by Stephen in any other official record I’ve found, unless we find a marriage license with that name. I could not find immigration records for a Boles/Bolar/Boler Moon, if that helps.
Any help (Especially with Archie's parents names) would be incredibly helpful.
