GEORGE, Moses (DNA Linked) ¹

  General Notes:

In the death certificate of his son, Samuel, in 1863, Moses George was recorded as 'deceased'. He was also recorded as having been a farm servant.

In the death certificate of his son, Moses, in 1867, Moses senior was recorded as an 'agricultural labourer'. ^{2 3}

  Research Notes:

MOSES

Foreign as it may be seem at first glance, the name of Moses or Moyses, was found in 16th and 17th century Scottish towns like Kirkcaldy, Wigton and Edinburgh. It was used as a surname as well as as a given name and was mainly associated with skilled tradesmen like skinners or waulkers.

The IGI for Scotland records four sons of Jonas George and Agnes Storie, or Torrie or Torie, called Pasquier, Johne, Moyses and Williame, christened in 1610, 1613, 1616 and 1617 respectively, in Edinburgh city parish. It is interesting to note that Etienne or Estienne Pasquier, a French lawyer and man of letters, born in 1529, died in 1615, just five years after the first child of Jonas George was baptised. His most notable publication was Les Recherches de la France. He was also counsel for the University of Paris against the Jesuits in 1565, a fact that may help to put in context for where the political or religious allegiance of Jonas George might have lain. The St Bartholomew's Massacre took place in France in 1572, sending protestant refugees fleeing wherever they might to safety.

Reformation times led to large movements of population as European Catholics and Protestants sought refuge in hospitable countries. The name Moses George can be found in England, Wales, and in the eastern seaboard states of North America, as well as in Scotland from the seventeenth century on. Moses as given name is found all over Scotland and with traditional Scottish surnames. In St Cadwaladr burial ground in Bishton, Monmouthshire, Wales there is a family group buried:
James George grave monument: legible names and details
James George died 1817 aged 57 birth year c1760 first name on monument
Abigail George died 1831 aged 22 birth year c1809 daughter of James George
Moses George died 1821 aged 27 birth year c1794 son of James George
Dinah George died 1864 aged 102 birth years c1762 wife of James George

The Reformed Church's emphasis on biblical reading and teaching, and especially on the Old Testament, attracted attention to many of the names found in those books. Moses had led the Jewish slaves to freedom, a possible type, for believers, of the escape of the reformed refugees from the tyranny of the Church of Roman Catholicism. ⁴

Moses married Margaret REID (DNA Linked). (Margaret REID (DNA Linked) was born about 1765, died on 17 April 1837 in Newton on Ayr parish, Ayrshire, Scotland ² and was buried on 18 April 1837 in Mauchline Cemetery, Ayrshire, Scotland ⁵.). The cause of her death was frailty.