Enoch Moore (Loyalist turned rebel)

Enoch Moore (April 16, 1779 in New York City, New York - August, 1841, in Rockford, Illinois)) married Elizabeth Smith, daughter of James Smith and Hannah Hawksworth, on March 30, 1803 in Old Holy Trinity Church, Lower Middleton, Annapolis, Nova Scotia. Elizabeth was born on April 18, 1784 in Wilmot Township, NS, died on March 3, 1871 and was buried in New Milford Cemetery, Winnebago Co., IL.

Enoch’s political alignment seemed to swing from one extreme to the other throughout his lifetime. He was born in a Loyalist refugee camp in New York City and was evacuated with his Quaker family, [Moore, C.. The Loyalists. p.81, Toronto: Macmillan of Canada. ISBN 0-7715-9781-9 (1984)] about 1784, to the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. He moved to Upper Canada about 1811, where he served as a dispatch rider in the Canadian militia during the War of 1812 against the Americans. His commanding officer was Col. Joseph Ryerson. By 1830, Enoch Moore, had gained the respectable status of school trustee. [Norfolk County Land Registry, Memorial No. 1783, Registered in Book F ,pages 573,574.] One of the teachers in his employ was Egerton Ryerson [Owen, A.E., Pioneer Sketches of Long Point Settlement, p. 125, Toronto: William Briggs. ISBN 0-919302-29-7 (Mika reprint 1972)] who became the founder of the public school system in Ontario and the son of Col. Joseph Ryerson. Enoch's first son, James Moore, is buried beside Col. Joseph Ryerson in the Methodist cemetery in Woodhouse Township, Norfolk County, Ontario.

Even though he was raised in a Loyalist and Quaker home , Enoch was elected Captain of the rebels at Malahide, Ontario during the Rebellions of 1837. Enoch and his brothers comprised one of the most active Loyalist families to join the rebels. [Fryer, M.B.(ed.), Loyal She Remains, p.228, Toronto: The United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada. ISBN 0-9691566-1-8 (1984)] Court records show that Enoch was arrested and jailed in London on Dec. 21, 1837, convicted of high treason, sentenced to death, then reprieved on May 19, 1838. His sentence was first commuted to transportation to a penal colony on Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) for life, and then relaxed to fourteen years of penal servitude [Read, C., The Rising in Western Upper Canada 1837-8, p.150, Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-6495-7 (1982)] but he was eventually pardoned and released on a peace bond [Read, C., p.152] on Oct. 5, 1838. His brother, Elias Moore, was released after a short stay in jail because the key witness absconded. Elias then returned to his seat in the 13th Parliament of Upper Canada.

Enoch and his wife and 9 of their eleven children emigrated July, 1840, to Ogle County, Illinois, U.S.A. where he died the next year.

His brother, John Moore, built a fine home in Sparta, Ontario that is still standing. See John Moore House.

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