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Jane was born on 6 November 1786 in South Carolina, USA. Her birth date is essentially unsourced in the myriad family trees in which they appear; however, given its pre-Internet presence, it's possible that it was inscribed on her headstone (now lost).
The source for Jane as a "Moore" or her frequent link to the "Waxhaw District" is unknown. She did give daughter Mary the middle name of "Moore", her son Daniel gave his daughter Martha the middle name of "Moore", she lived next door to a John Moore in the 1850 census, and was involved in land transactions with .Alexander and Henderson Moore (sons of John) in 1852.[1]. Furthermore, her granddaughter Mary through son Charles married a Samuel Moore, son of Andrew and Nancy Moore of Tennessee.[2] Any or all of these Moores may be connected to Jane some way.
See DNA Research Notes below for further discussion.
The marriage date of "about 1803" and place of "Tennessee" are estimated based on the birth of the couple's first child.
Almost all of Jane and Thomas McCray's children are named in the documents surrounding the auction and sale of Thomas' land[3], in the family history notes of close descendant Sarah Watson Literal[4], or inferred through Jane naming her grandchild (see "A Gift of a Horse" below) Charles, son of Jane McCray (the younger), as well as living with Charles and/or the daughter Jane through the various censuses.
Lawrence County, Missouri, records for September 1868[10] show that Jane McCray "in consideration of the mutual affection and love which I have and bear unto my beloved grandson Charles M. Gillbreat" (sic) and "also for his obedient service to me" gave Charles "a chestnut sorrel mare with white specks on her hips". The horse was described as eighteen and a half hands high and "eight or nine" years old.
Charles and his sister Isabella were enumerated with their widowed mother in the household of Jane and Thomas in 1850 and then on their own with Jane and Thomas in the 1860 census after their mother remarried. It's possible that Jane and Charles formed a special bond as a result. Charles also lived next door to Jane (who was sharing a home with his again-widowed mother and her minor children from the second marriage) in the 1870 census.
Jane is said to have passed away on 20 January 1874 in Lawrence County, Missouri, USA. [11]
From Patricia Pickering, 2 April 2021:
Although there are not currently found any sources for Jane's maiden name of Moore other than the compiled marriage record, this historian has been able to confirm an mtDNA genetic connection (with a genetic distance of 1) between myself (5th Great Granddaughter of Elizabeth Moore) and a female direct descendant of Jane (Moore) McCray, giving credence to them being sisters. It is my understanding that it has been established previously that Jane and Mary (there is an actual marriage record with photographs of the documents for Mary MORE and Henrey McCray) were sisters through genetic research, according to the descendant of Jane Moore McCray. It has also been reported that there was also a brother (possibly James) who was reportedly married in Washington County, Tennessee in 1806. There has been no source confirmation to date, but an mtDNA genetic connection (genetic distance 1) was made yesterday (4/1/2021) between myself and a female descendant of Dora Mae Moore Fletcher (born about 1890), indicating to me that a brother of Elizabeth, Mary and Jane could be likely. Research will continue.
This week's connection theme is Monsters! Jane is 12 degrees from Lon Chaney, 21 degrees from James Aurness, 15 degrees from Ricou Browning, 22 degrees from Warwick Davis, 22 degrees from Michael J. Fox, 16 degrees from Kevin Hall, 23 degrees from William Pratt, 20 degrees from Elsa Lanchester, 17 degrees from Bela Lugosi, 21 degrees from Maila Nurmi, 17 degrees from Vincent Price and 24 degrees from Claude Rains on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.