Skip to content

Local figure

Maurice Moore

Maurice Moore Jr. was one of the three justices summoned to Hillsborough on 30 May 1771 who sentenced to death twelve Regulators taken at the Battle of Alamance, six of whom were executed. He was a delegate to the Provincial Congress that met at Hillsborough in August 1775.

Source: NCpedia: Moore, Maurice, Jr.

1735–1777 · Dates from the Library of Congress · Library of Congress authority record ↗

5 works about Maurice Moore are indexed here.

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

StorylineHugh McAden, Henry Pattillo and the first Presbyterian congregations, 1753–17901753–1790 · 19 events · Orange County's Presbyterian settlers had congregations before they had ministers. Hugh McAden preached on the Eno and at the Hawfields in 1755 and 1756, and the settlements asked Hanover Presbytery for preachers, but none came regularly until Henry Pattillo became pastor of the Hawfields, Eno and Little River churches in 1765. Pattillo and his fellow ministers condemned the Regulators in 1768 and he preached to Tryon's troops; in 1770 they formed Orange Presbytery, which first met at Hawfields. In 1775 the Provincial Congress sent Pattillo to win former Regulators to the American cause, and about 1790 the old Pattillo field was split into two pastoral charges. StorylineThe Hillsborough district superior court, 1767–18061767–1806 · 18 events · The district superior court made Hillsborough a court town, and in the Regulator years it became the place where the Regulators' quarrel with the county officers was fought out. Set at Hillsborough by an act of 1767, it first sat in March 1768. Its September 1768 term tried William Butler and Herman Husband and found Edmund Fanning guilty; later terms threw out the Regulators' bills, and in September 1770 about 150 Regulators broke up the court. Shut by the court-law quarrel after 1772, it sat again on March 24, 1778, and Hillsborough kept its hold on the circuit until the act of 1806. StorylineThe test of allegiance in Orange County, 1775–17821775–1782 · 9 events · During the Revolution, Orange County's new authorities sorted friends from enemies by an oath of allegiance. In 1775 the Provincial Congress at Hillsborough tried persuasion with former Regulators and people of scruple. By 1777 the county court was jailing a man who refused the oath and ordering merchants who had traded with Britain to swear or leave within sixty days. Magistrates tendered the oath district by district in 1778, Loyalist property was inventoried, and in 1782 the Assembly named a commissioner of confiscated estates for the Hillsborough District.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 9 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Chief Justice Martin Howard and two associate justices hold the Hillsborough superior court term Martin Howard, Maurice Moore and Richard Henderson sat at the Hillsborough District Superior Court term in which Edmund Fanning was found guilty and Regulators including William Butler were tried. People: Martin Howard, Maurice Moore, Richard Henderson, Edmund Fanning, William Butler (Regulator), Herman Husband Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Documenting the American South, Colonial and State Records: Minutes of the Hillsborough District Superior Court, September 22 to October 1, 1768
  2. A Hillsborough jury finds Edmund Fanning guilty on an indictment In the same superior court term that tried the Regulator leaders, the King's indictment against Edmund Fanning went to a jury on September 27, which found him guilty. The day before, Herman Husband had surrendered William Butler to the court, and both men entered 500 pound bonds to abide its sentence. People: Edmund Fanning, Herman Husband, William Butler (Regulator), Richard Henderson, Maurice Moore, Martin Howard Place: HillsboroughDocumenting the American South, Colonial and State Records: Minutes of the Hillsborough District Superior Court, September 22 to October 1, 1768
  3. Grand jury indictments for rout against James Hunter are quashed at the Hillsborough superior court The grand jury returned three indictments for rout naming James Hunter with William Butler, Ninian Hamilton and other Regulators. The court quashed all three for an irregular return and ordered the attorney general to prepare new bills. People: James Hunter, William Butler (Regulator), Richard Henderson, Maurice Moore, Martin Howard, Peter Craven Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Ninian HamiltonSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, Minutes of the Hillsborough District Superior Court (Sep 22 to Oct 1, 1768)
  4. A special court at New Bern presents and indicts Husband, Hunter, Butler and Howell for the Hillsborough riot Sitting under Chief Justice Martin Howard with Maurice Moore and Richard Henderson, the special court of oyer and terminer at New Bern received a grand jury presentment against the Regulators who in September last 'broke up that Court' at Hillsborough, and returned indictments for riot against Herman Husband, James Hunter, William Butler and Rednap Howell among others. People: Richard Henderson, Herman Husband, James Hunter, William Butler (Regulator), Maurice Moore, Martin Howard, Rednap Howell Place: New BernDocumenting the American South, Colonial and State Records: Minutes of the New Bern District Court of Oyer and Terminer, including court docket, March 11 to 16, 1771
  5. Tryon's army returns to Hillsborough with its Regulator prisoners The army came back on June 14 and the next day marched through town with drums beating and oak sprigs in their hats before camping a mile east. The special court of oyer and terminer, opened May 30 and adjourned to await the prisoners, then resumed and tried fourteen men for treason. People: William Tryon, Martin Howard, Richard Henderson, Maurice Moore Place: HillsboroughNash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary (1903), p. 23
  6. The Hillsborough superior court holds its first term since the 1770 riot For the first time in a year and a half the district court sat at Hillsborough, with Judges Maurice Moore and Richard Henderson presiding and about 300 cases on its dockets. Thomas Clark qualified as clerk, and a suit by James Few against Francis Nash was entered as abated by the plaintiff's hanging. People: Maurice Moore, Richard Henderson, Francis Nash, James Few Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Thomas ClarkNash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionary (1903), p. 31
  7. The Provincial Congress names Caswell, Moore and Pattillo to win over former Regulators The congress at Hillsborough agreed to protect former Regulators who broke the oath of allegiance forced on them after Alamance, and appointed Richard Caswell, Maurice Moore and Henry Pattillo to persuade them to join the American cause. William L. Saunders later remarked on the irony, since Pattillo had joined in denouncing the Regulators in 1768. People: Richard Caswell, Maurice Moore, Henry Pattillo, William L. Saunders Place: HillsboroughInternet Archive: Durward T. Stokes, "Henry Pattillo in North Carolina", North Carolina Historical Review 44 (1967), p. 384
  8. The Provincial Congress at Hillsborough adopts a test for its members to sign On August 21, 1775 the congress sitting at Hillsborough named Allen Jones to a committee of seven to prepare a Test to be signed by its members. The committee reported on August 23 and the Test was read, approved, ordered entered on the journal and signed. Subscribers professed allegiance to the King while denying that Parliament could tax them. People: Allen Jones, Thomas Burke, William Hooper, Willie Jones, John Penn, Maurice Moore, Robert Howe Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Minutes of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina, August 20 to September 10, 1775
  9. Congress at Hillsborough appoints a committee to address the inhabitants of the province The same day the congress named Maurice Moore, William Hooper, Robert Howe, Richard Caswell and Joseph Hewes to prepare an address to the inhabitants of North Carolina, stating the controversy with Great Britain in plain language and calling on them to unite in defence of American liberty. Doctor Burke was added to the committee on August 24. People: Joseph Hewes, William Hooper, Richard Caswell, Maurice Moore, Robert Howe Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Minutes of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina, August 20 to September 10, 1775

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Maurice Moore, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Show 8 more

Indexed works

Works about or by Maurice Moore. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

Dispatches from William Tryon to the Earl of Hillsborough numbered 59-67, enclosing documents concerning the Regulators

2019 · Adam Matthew Digital

Numbered dispatches 59 through 67 from Governor William Tryon to the Earl of Hillsborough, with enclosures about the Regulators, whose protests broke into riot at Hillsborough in 1770. Reproduced by Adam Matthew Digital in 2019 from Colonial Office CO 5/302. The papers touch on the council and assembly, naval stores and trade, oaths, militia and provincial troops, judges, sheriffs and juries, voting, currency, Cherokee affairs, clergy, quitrents and land, and name officials such as Richard Caswell, Richard Henderson, Maurice Moore and Hugh Waddell.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Moore, Maurice.

Letters and Dispatches from Josiah Martin to the Earl of Hillsborough and the Lords Commissioners

2019 · Adam Matthew Digital

Dispatches from Josiah Martin, the last royal governor of North Carolina, to Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough, the secretary of state for the colonies for whom the Orange County seat is named, and to the Lords Commissioners in London. Adam Matthew Digital reproduced the file, Colonial Office CO 5/303 part 1, in 2019. Topics include women, medicine and health, land grants, the courts and litigation, German and Protestant migration to the frontier, the Regulators, riot and treason, salt and alcohol imports, Spanish shipping and crime.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Moore, Maurice.

Letters from William Tryon to the Lords Commissioners, enclosing legislation and accounts of the ship 'Brigantine Fox'

2019 · Adam Matthew Digital

Letters from Governor William Tryon to the Lords Commissioners in London, with enclosed legislation and the accounts of the ship Brigantine Fox, reproduced by Adam Matthew Digital in 2019 from Colonial Office file CO 5/300. They show the range of a governor's business: council appointments, judges and courts, assembly acts, cotton manufacturing, poverty, naval stores, rice, tobacco and indigo, currency, the Tuscarora, education, marriage, debt and customs. Hillsborough is among the places named, and people include William Johnston, Richard Henderson, Cornelius Harnett and Samuel Strudwick.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Moore, Maurice.

Hillsborough District: Minute Docket Superior Court Part 1, 1768-1788

United States. District Court (North Carolina: Hillsborough District) · 1768

Minute docket, part 1, of the Superior Court for the Hillsborough District, 1768 to 1788, spanning the late colonial court and the state courts set up after the 1776 constitution. Cases involve debt, estates, theft, horse stealing, murder, treason and slavery, and names include William Tryon, Richard Henderson, Maurice Moore and Richard Caswell. 234 images.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Digital Collections record: Moore, Maurice, 1735-1777.

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Orders of His Excellency for the troops under orders to march to Hillsborough, and proceedings and resolutions of the Council of War held at Hillsborough camp

1768

Marching orders of 1768 for troops sent to Hillsborough, with the proceedings and resolutions of the Council of War at the Hillsborough camp. Artillery, supplies, transport, food, weaponry, quartering and troop movements are subjects, with references to John Abraham Collet, Maurice Moore, Robert Palmer, John Rutherford, Rowan County, Salisbury and Halifax. One online resource in Colonial Office series CO 5/312.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Moore, Maurice.

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.

Records of the time 7

Show all 7

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Maurice Moore Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

Local help

Search further

Search other catalogs and collections for this name. Results may include other people with the same name and have not been reviewed by the Friends.

Books about Maurice Moore

Find copies at other libraries

Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

Catalog searches use the Library of Congress name heading: Moore, Maurice, 1735-1777. Historical-record searches use the person’s name and may include namesakes. Links open in a new tab.

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

More to discover

Keep Reading Local

The Friends connect people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.

Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026