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Archiver > MOORE > 2003-07 > 1057200666


From: "lewmark" <>
Subject: [MOORE-L] Wm. DEMPSEY MOORE/AMELIA A. MOORE JOLLY
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 19:51:13 -0700


My husband and I recently visited the restored gold rush town of Columbia located on historic highway 49 in the Sierra Nevada of CA.

My internal system gears up whenever I am within close proximity of an old graveyard - that's what they were called when I was a child - and I cling to that designation. So when we saw "Boot Hill" , I headed up at a goodly pace.

I spent some time reading stones and learning a bit of history about the illnesses, accidents and mysteries that took place in the mid to late 1800's.



The following caught my attention. Dempsey MOORE and his wife Polly ELDER, and seven children were in second District, McNairy Co., TN., in the 1850 census. His age is listed as shown as 60 years, with his wife Polly listed as age 57, both born in NC.

A son William is shown as 35 years, a constable, born in TN.

A daughter Ann is shown as age 17 years, no occupation, born in TN.



The following is information from a monument at the cemetery in Columbia, CA. The name JOLLY is in large letters at the top of the stone, and the following are listed below.



1823 John JOLLY 1899

1835 Amelia A. MOORE JOLLY 1909

1861 Emma J. JOLLY RUSHING 1892

1865 John Wm. JOLLY 1882

1833 Wm Dempsey MOORE (no death date shown)

1881 Chester A. SCOTT 1937

Was Wm Dempsey the son of Dempsey and Polly, who came west seeking to strike it rich and make his fortune??

Did Amelia A. marry John Jolly, and then the couple follow her brother to the gold fields?

Hopefully this information will help someone fill in some of the blanks in their line.



There was a time when I thought Dempsey was related to my gr. grandfather Jessie Lee MOORE, b. North Carolina, 1828, marr. Roina Blake HARDIN, Mar 4, 1844, Knox Co., TN. They were the parents of John Wilkie, Edward Wade, Elizabeth Frances, (my grandmother), William Lindsey, Mary Jane, Rozeta T., and Jesse Lee.

There are several versions of Jessie's death, but we do know that he died at the hands of others, June 11, 1863 in Hot Spring Co., AR. I have no information on his parents. Have you heard of him and his kinfolks? "So many questions, so few answers!"



Marketta Pimentel in Madera. Geographical center of CA.

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