BICKLEY   says that Captain James MOORE settled in Abb's Valley in 1772, but I am satisfied he moved there as early as 1770.  BICKLEY relied on tradition to such an extent that he is at fault in fixing most of the dates in connection with the settlements in the present Tazewell County. 

The Moores were of the Scotch-Irish people who lived in Ulster.  James MOORE, the immediate ancestor of the Moore's of Abb's Valley, left Ireland in 1726, and settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania.  He married Jane WALKER, daughter of John WALKER, who was one of the Scotch-Irish emigrants that came from Ireland and settled in Pennsylvania.  After his marriage to Jane WALKER, James MOORE and his father-in-law moved with their families from Pennsylvania to Rockbridge County, Virginia, then a part of Augusta County, and settled near the Jump Mountain.  There MOORE reared a family of five sons and five daughters.   The sixth child and the second son of the James MOORE, of Rockbridge, was Captain James MOORE, who was killed by the Indians in Abb's Valley.  Captain MOORE married Martha POAGE, whose parents then lived in Augusta, on the road between the Natural Bridge and the present town of Lexington.  After their marriage they lived for several years on the same road, at a place which was subsequently known as Newel's Tavern.

Absalom LOONEY, a kinsman of James MOORE, came to this section of Virginia prior to 1770, on a hunting expedition;   and also for the purpose of digging ginseng, which was, even at that time, very valuable for exportation to China and other Asiatic countries.  He discovered the valley which has since been called Abb's Valley, and remained there for more than a year, living in a cave to escape discovery by the Indians.  When LOONEY returned to Rockbridge he told James MOORE of the rich lands and abundance of game that he saw in the valley.  This so impressed MOORE that he made an exploring tour to the place, and found it as described by LOONEY,  "the very paradise of the hunter and grazier."  He was a breeder of fine horses and saw that the abundance of bluegrass would sustain a large herd, and this, together with other attractions, induced him to arrange for moving his family there.  The author of "The Captives of Abbs Valley," who was a grandson of James MOORE, says in his Legend of Frontier Life:

"In making his arrangements to take his family there, he went out in the spring accompanied by some labourers, built a cabin, planted a crop, and left an Englishman named SIMPSON, who had been an indentured servant in his family and was then free, but still remained in his employment, to cultivate the crop and enclose more land during the summer."

In the fall of 1770, James MOORE moved his family out and fixed his residence at the place where the massacre of himself and other members of the family afterwards occurred.  The place has ever since remained in the possession of his descendants, and is now owned by his great-grandson, Oscar MOORE.  Captain MOORE was accompanied by his brother-in-law, Robert POAGE the latter, with his family, locating about one mile from the Moores.  POAGE remained but a few years in the valley.  When the Indians began to attack the settlements in 1774, he moved back to Rockbridge.  This left the Moores completely isolated, their nearest neighbor being ten miles distant from them.

Captain MOORE, though aware of the dangers that threatened him and his family from attacks by the Indians, resolved to remain in the valley and face the dangers.  When he came there with his family be brought out horses and cattle for breading purposes, intending to pursue the life of a grazier and breeder of fine stock.  He found some parts of the valley comparatively free of forest growth, and on these open spots bluegrass and wild pea vine grew in luxurious abundance.  In the summer time his horses and cattle would feed and fatten upon the summer growth of herbage, and even in the winter time they required but little feeding, as there was an abundance of lodged grass to keep them in good condition.   His horses and cattle increased rapidly in numbers, and at the time he was killed he had more than a hundred fine horses.

With the purpose of averting any profitable danger from attacks by the Indians, Captain MOORE converted his cabin into a blockhouse.  The doors were made of heavy timber, too thick for a rifle ball to penetrate, and were secured with heavy bars for inside fastenings.  The windows were small and placed high in the walls, and had heavy wooden shutters, that could be quickly closed.  Like all other frontier houses, this was equipped with loop-holes through which riflement on the inside could shoot at the attacking enemy. 

Ownership of the entire Abb's Valley was one of the fond aspirations of Captain MOORE.  With this in view, he secured all the land he could under settlers' laws then in existence in Virginia, and formulated plans for acquiring the balance of the valley by purchase.  It is said that he was about to bring his cherished plans to a successful conclusion when he was killed by the Indians.

The eager purpose of this brave pioneer to acquire a splendid estate to bequeath to his children did now, however, deter him from a full performance of his duties as a frontier citizen and soldier.  His worth was recognized by both the civil and military authorities, and he quickly became a leader among the hardy pioneers who were industriously engaged in converting the wilderness regions of Tazewell into an agricultural and grazing country that would be surpassed in excellence by none on this continent.

James Moore served as a private in the army tha Colonel Andrew LEWIS marched to the mouth of the Kanawha in the fall of 1774, and did his part in winning victory for the Virginians at the battle of Point Pleasant.  He was commissioned captain of a company of militia "on the aters of Bluestone" on the 3rd of April, 1778;  and in 1781 he led this company, which went with the riflemen from Montgomery and Washington, under command of Colonel William CAMPBELL, to the relief of General GREENE in North Carolina.  In the battle of Guilford Court House, Captain MOORE, with his mountaineer riflemen, met the first charge of the British infantry;  and he and his men won great distinction by their wonderful courage and superior marksmanship.

But three of Captain MOORE's children, James, Mary and Joseph, escaped death at the hands of the Indians.  The latter was not in Abb's Valley at the time the dreadful tragedy was enacted.  A short time prior to the raid made by the Shawnees, Joseph had gone with his father to Rockbridge to visit his grandfather POAGE.  He became sick with measles and his father had to return to Abb's Valley without him.  When James and Mary returned from captivity they found Joseph at their grandfather's in Rockbridge. 

James MOORE, Jr., was captured in 1784 and remained in captivity until the fall of 1789.  In the spring of 1790, he and his sister Mary arrived at their grandfather's in Rockbridge.  On the 16th. of February, 1797, James married Barbara TAYLOR of Rockbridge, and very soon thereafter moved with his wife to Abb's Valley and settled upon the lands where his father had formerly lived.  He had three children by his first wife, James RULIFORD, born in 1799;   Martha POAGE, born in 1800;  and William TAYLOR, born in 1802.  Mrs. MOORE died in 1802, shortly after the birth of her son William.

James Ruliford MOORE moved to Texas with his family after that State was admitted to the Union.  Martha married Rev. STILL, who in 1824 went to Kansas as a missionary to work among the Indians.

William Taylor MOORE settled at the place in Abb's Valley where his grandfather was killed in 1786.  He married twice and had children by each wife.  His first wife was Matilda PEERY, daughter of George PEERY;  and his second wife was Mary BARNS, daughter of William BARNS, of the Cove.

Joseph MOORE, son of Captain James MOORE, married Rhoda NICEWANDER, of Rockbridge.  He moved out to Tazewell in 1797, and settled in Wrights Valley, near where the present Bailey's Station on the Clinch Valley Railroad is now situated.  He had one son, Harvey, and six daughters, Mattie, Mary BROWN, Rhoda, Cynthia, Julia and Nancy.  Harvey married his cousin Jane MOORE, who after she became a widow married Charles TIFFANY.  She was the daughter of James MOORE, the captive, by his second marriage.  Mattie married her cousin, Joseph A. MOORE;  Mary BROWN married William SHANNON;  and Rhoda married Elias HALE.   Three of the daughters, Cynthia, Julia and Nancy died unmarried.

Joseph MOORE remained with his grandfather while his brother, James, and sister, Mary, were in captivity for nearly six years, and during that time had excellent opportunity to obtain a liberal education, as there were good schools in the vicinity of Mr. POAGE's.  Hence, when he settled in Wright's Valley he was far better educated than most of the men of his age then living in the bounds of the present Tazewell County.  He was a skillful surveyor and an excellent scribe.

When the county seat was located he laid the town off in lots;  and was made deputy clerk of the county court shortly after it was organized.  Hundreds of his descendants are now residents of the county.  

When Captain MOORE and his family were massacred he had a splendid herd of about one hundred horses.  A number of them were colts of Yorick, the Arabian stallion.  Joseph MOORE, a brother of the Captain, was then living in Kentucky.  He came to Virginia and administered upon the estate of his deceased brother.  When he returned to his home, he took a number of the horses from Abb's Valley, and disposed of them in Kentucky.  It has been told and it is a fact, that the colts of Yorrick had much to do with the production of the fine strain of horses from which Kentucky afterwards became famous.  Some of Yorrick's colts were left in Abb's Valley.  Above is shown the picture of a gray mare.  She was 29 years old when the photograph was made, and is the last known direct descendant of Yorrick.  The mare is owned by Mr. O.B. MOORE, and the little boy seated on the mare is Oscar MOORE, Jr., the son of O.B. MOORE.  The photograph of the mare was taken on the grounds of the Moore homestead near where the massacre of the Moore family occurred.

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