Friday, April 23, 2010

Moon/Barber/Jones Families Pittsylvania & Danville Virginia

William Pleasant Moon and His Descendants


The Staunton River is the boundary line between Campbell and Pittsylvania Counties. The road at left is the old stage road from Danville to Lynchburg, Virginia. William Pleasant Moon (1800-1879)and his daughter's husband Daniel Barber settled here before the Civil War. Daniel died as a Confederate soldier. John Ellis Jones married Daniel's daughter after the War and moved in with his widow.

This is the cabin that William Pleasant Moon built in 1857. About the same time Daniel Barber built his cabin a short distance to the west.

This is the 1847-marriage license for Daniel Barber and Elizabeth Moon. Both Daniel and (William) Pleasant signed the bond for $150. Many men of that time made an X because they could not write.


Census records began in 1790 with heads of each household recorded. In 1850, the census taker listed each member of the family. This entry was mde on September 2, 1850:

This is the household of William Pleasant Moon (1800-1879) and his wife, the former Mary W. Holt (1800-c1880) of the Northern District of Pittsylvania County. On August 9, 1849, their daughter Elizabeth Jane Moon (1824-1902) married Daniel Barber (1824-1863).

In 1857, my great grandfather Daniel Barber and his father-in-law, my great, great grandfather William Pleasant Moon, bought bought adjoining farms which totaled just over 200 acres. The land was on Beechtree Creek near Staunton River near Hill Grove Post Office. The Pleasant Moon log cabin, which is still standing, is east of the old stage road from Danville to Lynchburg which crossed the Staunton River at Ward's Bridge.

This census record for 1850 has Elizabeth, daughter of William Pleasant and Mary Moon, with her husband Daniel Barber. These are my great grandparents. My great grandmother Martha Ann Barber (Jones) was only eight months old when this record was taken on August 31, 1850.


This is ten years later in 1860 and Martha Ann is eleven years old. By then, they had lived near her father for three years. The Daniel Barber cabin was not so far east and up the Beechtree Creek to the west of the William Pleasant Moon cabin.


The large family graveyard is across the spring branch east of the Moon cabin. Daniel and Mary buried many children here. One-year-old Jenny L. Barber died in 1859. George W. Barber, age three, died in 1860. Diphtheria swept though the house in September of 1862. During that one month, four children died. Nancy was two, Susan four, Thomas six and Mary eight years old. My grandmother Martha would have been 12 or 13. Daniel had enlisted in the Confederate army on March 10, 1862 and was not at home to bury his little ones. He died on April 3, 1863 at Guinea Station of smallpox. His son-in-law John Ellis Jones was buried here in 1889.




1870 census: Daniel Barber died of smallpox as a solder in 1863 at Guinea Station near Fredericksburg during the Civil War. His widow Elizabeth Barber had four children at home and her son-in-law John Ellis Jones. Here John appears to be a child because the census taker failed to list him and Martha's last name. John and Martha were married earlier that year on February 17, 1870.


In 1880, John Ellis and Martha Jones had four children. My grandfather Mark Daniel Jones (1878-1965) was almost two years old.

This is Martha Ann Jones Adkins (1849-1929), sister of John Ellis Jones and aunt of Martha Ann Barber. Martha's husband Ballard Preston Adkins was a Confederate soldier before they married on February 19, 1867. He was wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness by a minnie ball to the shoulder. In 1898, he was awarded a pension of $15 a year by the state of Virginia.





The 1890 census records were lost in a fire at Washington, D.C. This is the 1900 census of Danville after Martha moved there in 1889. "Dan" Jones, my grandfather is 21 years old at this time.



1910 census. In 1908, Dan and Annie Jones bought four lots at the corner of Washington and Valley (later Aspen) Streets in Pittsylvania County. These lots were a hundred yards from the city limits which crossed Washington Street at Sixth Street. The city annexed this area in 1931. My mother Annie Marie Jones Ricketts is seven years old here. Her younger sister, the only one at this time, died the following year. Dan's mother Martha Ann Barber Jones is living with Dan, along with Tom and Berta, his brother and sister.



In 1920, my mother Annie Marie Jones (Ricketts) was 16.


This is the only photograph of Martha Ann Barber Jones that I have found. My mother wrote the names on the photo. Martha died in February of 1926, the same month and year that my sister Marion Ricketts Lewis Cook was born.

All five of Dan & Annie Jones' children are here in 1942 in front of the old home place on Washington St. at the corner of Aspen. Seated: Austin, Dan, & Annie Jones. Standing: Annie Marie Jones Ricketts holding Robert Daniel Ricketts, Reuben Ricketts, Katie Jones McKinney, and Carl Daniel Jones.

Robert D. "Danny" Ricketts with sister Elaine Ricketts Gibson and grandfather Mark Daniel Jones sit at the old store on Washington Street. Dan Jones died in December 1946.

Stoval Jones, Dan's older brother remained in northern Pittsylvania when the family moved to Danville in 1889. Stoval married Martha Bagby Finch (1844-1915). See the map above which shows the location of the Finch family home. Stovall later owned a large dairy in Lynchburg. Stovall had a son and two daughters. In 1905, John T. Finch founded the oldest business in the Grit area. He hung out a shingle at his store: "John T. Finch Funeral Director." The funeral home still operates in nearby Alta Vista.


This is a marriage license for Belle Jones, daughter of Martha Ann and sister of Mark Daniel Jones. They were married at the bride's home on Richmond Avenue on the 19th of January 1897. She married a cousin Ballard Adkins. Ballard's mother Martha was a sister of John Ellis Jones.

This is the "Home of the Bride" where the widow Martha Ann Barber Jones lived with some of her children in 1898. The rented house was at 410 John Street (now Richmond Ave.) off of Claiborne St. near Henry.

4 comments:

  1. My name is Saunders B.Moon V I am doing genealogy on the moon family my reasearch has taken me back as far as Saunders Moon B:1834 D:1910 in callands pittsylvaninia married to Ellen Moon B:1842 D:1885 from this union came 4 childtren Mary B:1866, William B:1870 Louisa B:1875 Saunders B. Moon II B:1877. All Information derived 1880 census pittsylvania virginia and various family stories, This is the first generatiom of my family trying to find more like Saunders and Ellens parents which according to the census where all born in virginia. On a recent trip to my Chatham Vigrinia thanks to a birth registry in the court house I discovered Saunders Moon B:1834 had a sister named Charlott Moon who had a child named Wyatt Moon B:1877 father not known/not present Saunders gave the information for registry. Now all fade from site arond 1900 the only ones I can find are Saunders Moon 1834 and Saunders B. Moon II B:1877 and Louisa B:1875 all living together in Chatham Virginia. I would just like to thank you for your indulgence and helping on my way to faind my past thank you in advane.


    Sincerly,
    Saunders B.Moon V

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  2. My Great grandmother is Martha Ann "Mattie" Moon, daughter of James D Moon(1817-1885)and Permelia Word (1826-1886) James D Moon is the son of John Moon (1777-1840) and Jane Jincy Davis (b. 1787)

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  3. Martha Ann Mattie Moon married William Jordan Johnson 1850-1939 owner of White Falls mill and Mt.Airy mill which is now owned by my 2nd cousin Billy Johnson

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  4. Does anyone know how Charlotte "Lottie" Moon, the famous missionary, fits into this family? Thanks!

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