Rutherfordiana/Source Material Extracts/Extract from Howe, 1845

This is taken from Howe, 1845:489 as given in Google Books:

Extract: ''From a worthy pastor of a church in the Shenandoah valley, we have received the following account of the captivity and destruction of the Moore family, by the Indians, a few years after the close of the revolution:

James Moore, Jr. was a lineal descedant of the Rev. Samuel Rutherford, of Scotland; the latter being a descendant of the Rev. Joseph Alleine, the author of the "Alarm to the Unconverted." Mr. Moore's parents were among those who, during the persecutions under Charles I, emigrated from Scotland to the north of Ireland, the descendants of whom in this country, come under the genral name of "Scotch Irish". From Ireland he emigated to Virginia, and settled in what is now Rockbridge county on Walkers creek. Ther he married Jane Walker, and there James Moore, the subject of the sketch, was born. When the latter frew up he married Martha Podge [sic Poague, probably a scanning error] of the same county, and settled near the natural Bridge, at a place long known as "Newels Tavern". There his three oldest children, John, James, and joseph were born. About the year 1775 he removed to what is now Tazewell county, and seetled in Abb's valley on the waters of Blue Stone, a branch of New River.''

Commentary:The "worthy pastor" cited in line 1 is undoubtedly the Rev. William McPheeters. (See McPheeters, 1842), and MS. left by Rev. William McPheeters. There is some confusion in McPheeters accounting. Here he says that James Moore, Jr. descended from Rev. Samuel Rutherford, and that Rev. Samuel descended from Rev. Joseph Alleine. This is not possible. Rutherford and Alleine were almost exact contemporaries and even if related could not have been father and son. Given Alleine's history and provenance, it is hard to see how the two could be even remotely related.

In McPheeter's MS dated 1842, he presents these relations somewhat differently:


 * I have derived the following information as to the Ancestors of my Maternal Grandmother, whose maiden name was Jane Walker. [Her grandfather,] John Rutherford of Scotland, married a wife who was of the family of the Rev. Joseph Alleine - Author of the Alarm. Her maiden name - unknown.

It is difficult to reconcile these two descriptions provided by the same man within a few years of each other. In the version provided to Howe he has James Moore descended from Rev. Joseph Alleine by way of Rev. Samuel Rutherford. In his own MS he draws the connection though James Moore's wife, Jane Walker, daughter of Katherine Rutherford (c1682-1738), daughter of John Rutherford (?-?), (related to Samuel Rutherford) and a woman whose maiden name is unknown, but said to be of the family of Rev. Joseph Alleine. The later version is broadly accepted, albeit an unproven connection.