Pennsylvania brick wall
Hello, all. If anyone is willing, I would really like to ask for help breaking down the brick wall in my family tree (I've been trying to for years). I have the high school autograph book of my great great grandmother, Virginia Moore b. 1860 (signatures are mostly from 1873-1880), and I have her mother in my tree - Mildred Ann Jones - but I'm unable to find Virginia's father. Her mother married Zeb Dexter in 1873 in Virginia City, which is where Virginia was raised. However, Virginia list her birthplace and her father's birthplace on a document as Pennsylvania. Because of the time frame I've searched Civil war records for her father, but nothing. A kind lady helped me find out this much a few years ago and made a tree "for JJJH" on Ancestry, which I'm extremely appreciative of or I wouldn't know this much, however I think she gave up on trying to find Virginia's father a few years ago. For this reason I can't find anyone else to help me break down the brick wall that is the identity of Virginia's father, and I've tried for years but cannot do it myself. I wondered if there's anyone out there who may be interested in Civil War era Pennsylvania or Silver mining Virginia City (Virginia's step father was a miner during the height of mining in Virginia City)? I know a great deal about my family, I have a lot of records on my grandmother's paternal side, but not so much on her maternal side except for this high school autograph book (which is why it's so important to me). Virginia's married name is Cleator, and her daughter Cora's married name is Roberts. Thank you for any help.
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Good morning @HMidwesterner
According to this marriage record, "Mrs A Moore" and Zeb Dexter were married on 10 September 1876, rather than 1873. Sometimes that little bit of difference in your searches can be useful. Since Virginia Moore was born about 1860 and her mother married in 1876, we have a more accurate window for researching Virginia's father.
I also see, in the FS tree, that Virginia's mother is listed by both her married names, Mildred Ann Moore Dexter. Recommended practice is to use her maiden name, Mildred Ann Jones, as her primary name, with married names as alternate. In that way, the hinting system has a better chance of finding and suggesting any relevant records.
For anyone else jumping in to help, the profiles are GV38-L8X for Mildred Ann Moore Dexter and LTCW-1FC for Virginia Moore.2 -
Thank you! I originally stated all of her last names in the hopes that it may help locate a missing record for her daughter Virginia's birth, though I've changed it to her maiden Mildred Ann Jones. I also attached a source, via ancestry, of Mildred's mother's (Mary Jones) death that states their relationship.
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Searching Nevada newspapers for evidence of the death of Mr. Moore, I see a death notice from Gold Hill in 1874, for "Mrs. Mattie Moore, a native of Pennsylvania, aged 72 years." She would likely be of the right approximate age to be Virginia's grandmother. Perhaps a clue.
I also see references to "Virginia Moore" being on the school honor roll in Gold Hill between 1872 and 1874.
Have you acquired Virginia's 1929 California Death Certificate? Any clues there on the given name of her father?1 -
Possibly also of interest - the death of an infant of "A. P. and Anna Moore" age 3 in 1874.
https://www.genealogybank.com/nbshare/AC01100711225640281771750634996
The death notice for Mattie Moore: https://www.newspapers.com/article/gold-hill-daily-news-1874-mattie-moore-d/175074525/1 -
Thank you so much for searching!!
Virginia did go to high school in Gold Hill, and upon graduation she sat for a teaching test. I have her marriage license but she didn't list her father's name. I've forgotten the exact year (possibly around 1903), but Virginia and her husband Robert Cleator moved to San Diego where she died in 1929. She was also in a car accident in San Diego with her adult daughter Cora and her husband William Roberts. Virginia's husband Robert Cleator's business was called Cleator Boot and Shoe Store (originally his store was called Philadelphia Boot and Shoe, and I've wondered if there's a clue in that somewhere because his wife was born in Pennsylvania). I have Virginia's San Diego death certificate, but her father's name wasn't listed there either. She also writes her middle initial as "E." in her autograph book, though I've never found out what E stands for, and I've never found her middle name listed on any record. One other hint may be that I've seen some court documents from Virginia City that record her buying a silver mine and she says her name as Jennie Dexter. I'm sure that's her because some of her classmates in her autograph book addressed her as Jennie, and Zeb Dexter was her step father. But I've never found anything with the identity of her true father listed.
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Another hint which I've tried to follow to no avail, is that there are records of her entire family being Masons. EVERYONE is a Mason, so I thought maybe her father is too but I can't find any record of that.
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I had noticed that Robert Cleator was in the shoe business. In the 1871 city directory for Gold Hill, there is a John Moore, shoemaker, and a James Moore, harness maker.
We often see trades following generations - women marrying sons of their fathers' colleagues, for example.
Also, there is a newspaper advertisement in 1876 showing Mrs. A Moore selling her furniture, just before her marriage to Zeb Dexter. The address of that advertisement might hold some clues.
There was also Solomon Moore in Storey County, and he was born in Pennsylvania. He died in 1890. He married in California, and had at least one daughter, Nina. I added a few sources to his profile. And I noticed that he was buried with Masonic honors.
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Yes! I have thought that they would be in the same profession as well! That's amazing. That's also why I think Cleator shoe store, once Philadelphia shoe store, may be a clue - since Virginia was born in Pennsylvania, I thought the shoe store may be something her real father owned first and that's how her husband came in possession of it.
The 1876 furniture ad is amazing! Thank you for finding it - I haven't seen it!
Unfortunately, I don't think Solomon Moore is connected because the family names aren't the same (I've noticed that first names tend to repeat in this family), but it reminds me of an ad I once noticed in a directory of 1870s Virginia City businesses in which a silver dealer with the last name of Moore was listed (I can't remember the exact name of his profession). I didn't save the ad so something must have assured me at the time that he couldn't be who I'm looking for. Also, if Mildred Anne wasn't lying on her documents, she was a widow at the time she married Zeb Dexter.
Ironically, Robert Cleator, Virginia's husband, immigrated from the Isle of Man - and there's an actual place there called Cleator Moor. I'm wondering if Moore was actually spelled differently.
I can't thank you enough for helping me, truly.
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II wasn't suggesting Solomon was Virginia's father. Only thought someone with the same surname and same generation, from the same place, in the same town, might be a relative. Working sideways, known as collateral research, is often helpful.
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I looked back through the years of ads in Gold Hill for Philadelphia Boot. Before R Cleator signed the ads, the names were Benkert, M Gundlach, M Martin, and G Stockle.
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Thank you! Yes, absolutely! That's how we found Mildred's brother David Jones, who died in a mining accident in Virginia City. I never thought about searching for any Moore there, other than Virginia's father - that's wonderful. Equally amazing are the previous owners of the shoe store. Do you think it would be useful to research them, for a family connection? Thank you so much for helping me!!
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David Jones was the next name I had planned to mention so I'm glad you brought him up.
The mining accident when he died was in 1889.
Mary's obituary mentions him (not saying deceased) in 1890.
Another David Jones is mentioned in the chronicles, from Wales and dying in 1914. I think he would be worth researching to be sure.0 -
If their father's name is John Jones and born in Wales as Mildred states on a document, I've been completely unable to find anything out about him. I've seen references to Maryland for David, though (they all seem to have been in Maryland at some point before Virginia City). But since I haven't seen anything about John Jones, I wonder if earlier generations went by a different name, such as Jonas, as I've wondered if Moore could have been Moor or Mure. This is why it's such a brick wall for me, I'm blocked on Mildred's parents as well as Virginia's father. Thank you again for helping.
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I've got this for David, which seems to be just a picture because it won't let me save the intact document, however the source is:
Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
1880 United States Federal Census
[database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA
Name
David Jones
Age
34
Birth Date
Abt 1846
Birthplace
England
Home in 1880
Virginia City, Storey, Nevada, USA
Street
South C Street
House Number
265
Dwelling Number
284
Race
White
Gender
Male
Relation to Head of House
Self (Head)
Marital Status
Married
Spouse's Name
Elisabath Jones
Father's Birthplace
England
Mother's Birthplace
England
Occupation
Miner
Months Not Employed
2
Neighbors
View others on page
Household members Name
Age
David Jones
34
Elisabath Jones
27
Benjamin Jones
7
Elisebath Jones
4
Jones
3/12
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Have you tried researching:
To find more of her family, you may need to consult immigration records or passenger lists from that time period. Have you tried marriage records in Pennsylvania. If Virginia has no siblings, it is possible they never married. Also, there are many research hints and how To's on Roots Tech. There is a new search engine on family search, when you first go in it is on the opening page. I hope this helps you.
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Thank you for your suggestions! I've suspected that Virginia's parents were not married because neither she, nor her mother, write his name on any of the documents. She says that her father was born in Pennsylvania, as was she, but nothing more about him. Because she was born in 1860, we've searched military records too and haven't found anything. I also think it's before the marriage records in Pennsylvania, possibly. Virginia's mother Mildred immigrated to America from Wales in the 1840s, and I don't know if the rest of her siblings or her parents immigrated at the same time or where they arrived.
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Another clue could be that FTDNA says I have an mtDNA Maryland footprint, and this is my maternal line.
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Not finding a marriage record that early is not sufficient reason to suspect a couple was not married. Lots of burned courthouses and churches, in a time of open fires and wooden buildings.
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I was told this in 2023: "Consideration was given to the identity of Virginia Moore’s father (Mildred’s daughter) during this research. The available sources were searched for a potential marriage or reference, but as it appears highly likely that Mildred had married in the US and not in Wales, and as the US sources were limited to the collections available online, via familysearch.org and ancestry.com, no potential record could be traced during this research. It would therefore be advisable to consult a researcher who can access records available in the US and the relevant potential states (in particular Maryland and Pennsylvania)."
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Hi @HMidwesterner.
Did you see that there was a Jones family in Storey with some similarities? They came from Wales about late 1840s to Pennsylvania, and then to Gold Hill by the late 1860s. Coincidentally, one of their daughters, who was born in PA about 1859, was also named Virginia. Probably just a red herring, but maybe something to look into?
Also, I saw you had mentioned maternal DNA. Did you try autosomal as well? I know there are groups/software that can help untangle some of that.
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Thank you @GFre ! I did look and I'm actually related to Virginia's husband! I'm really amazed. Also, my Virginia (Moore) and this newly discovered Virginia (Jones) both have parents born in Wales and the middle initial E. But the difference is big, in that my Virginia was married to Robert Cleator, lots of documentation for that. I'll be researching her though - thank you so much. Yes, I did do the autosomal test from several different companies, but I'm unsure how to use it to find Virginia Moore's father
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I'm glad that helps. :) If the two families prove to be related somewhere on the Jones line, hopefully it gives you some leads or helpful information.
I'm not an expert, but my understanding is that, on average, ~6% of our DNA comes from each 2nd great-grandparent. So, there's a chance it could help in your search.
You might try searching for videos about sorting out DNA matches. There's many different methods and ways of going about that. You could even try searching by place and surname on the DNA sites. Matching trees with Moore families living in PA around the 1850s or 1860s might produce a lead, but I'm not sure about the clarity of the results.
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@GFre
The odd thing about this though, is that the other Moore's that I'm related to, including these Jones (that you found), are connected to my father's ancestry, and I'm trying to find the Moore's and Jones' on my maternal side so I can locate Virginia Moore's father. This divergence happens several times in my family lines.
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@HMidwesterner Hmm. That's interesting. Well, that's probably not be the lead we were hoping for then.
There's a popular software called "DNA Painter" which might help decipher how you're related to any unknown maternal matches. There's also genetic genealogists who do just that—untangle matches—but I imagine that's expensive.
The only other thing I can think of is to also thoroughly research Mildred's siblings, because one of their documents or newspaper articles might also have clues for Mildred and Virginia.
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@GFre If you scroll back through this thread, you'll see that I did a few deep newspaper dives on the siblings and other collaterals.
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@Áine Ní Donnghaile—very thorough research, as always! :) I was just thinking that one of Virginia's aunts or uncle might have a clue hidden in their obituaries, like where they were born.
@HMidwesterner, I did find one article about Virginia's mother's funeral. It mentioned she was a member of the 'Colfax Rebekah lodge'. Though the chances are slim, it still might be worth asking how far back their records go: https://odd-fellows.org/history/genealogy-research/
Here's another article where Mildred is listed as a member of the Colfax Lodge:
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@GFre Thank you so much for your suggestions, they're truly appreciated!
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