Mystery Normans and Source Citations – Part 7

In the last “Mystery Normans” post I said that my next stop would be WorldConnect to sort out the Moore families for which Sarah Jane Norman and (her probable sister) Nancy Norman worked as domestic servants. That’s not quite accurate; before doing that, I checked in again at Findagrave to find the maiden name of John L. Moore’s wife Rebecca and, sure enough, the information was there: she was Rebecca Lucinda Wacaster. This information should pull up something in WorldConnect. Michael T. P. Moore, head of the household where Nancy worked, was also there.

The Puzzle Piece

Several hits came up for John Lawrence Moore and Rebecca Lucinda Wacaster; the children listed for them varied, and I looked among the sons for one that might have married Sarah Jane Norman or had a child by her. Among the married sons I did not see any connection made, though there was one son, Sanford Ezelelar Moore, who was said to have died young. Perhaps he was the father of Sarah's son Thomas Moore? Michael T. P. also showed up in these lists; he was married to Mary Catherine Kinsey. His name was spelled out: Michael Thomas Peter Moore. And one or two of the hits, the ones with the most complete and precise information, gave his name as it had probably actually been spelled – a rather unusual variant – Michael Thomas Peater Moore. Tom Peat Moore. That was the name of Jane’s older son as given on his tombstone.

There was probably a connection. Michael Thomas Peater Moore may have been Tom Peat Moore’s father. I thought this the most likely scenario, although it is possible that some other Moore male had been the father and the baby had been named for Michael T. P. Moore.

These indications that one or both of Sarah Jane Norman’s sons may have been illegitimate made me curious to learn about her mother, Louisiana Norman. Was it Joseph Madison Carroll Norman’s sister Louisiana Norman? Since I was fairly sure Norman was Sarah Jane’s maiden name, and the blog article on Zera Lucerne Cotton had mentioned that she came from Montgomery County, Arkansas I decided to check for Sarah Jane Norman on the 1870 and 1860 censuses and see who was listed as her mother.

The Source (for the spelling of the name)

David Beardsley, Moore-Brumley Family, Rootsweb’s WorldConnect Project, online, http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:1737204&id=I81218217; entry for MIchael Thomas Peater Moore, accessed 20 Feb 2010.