The 1953 edition of the book "American Gun Makers" places a William Moore in Colerain Township of Bedford County in 1810, as a gunsmith who made flintlocks that carried the marking "W. Moore" The book raises the question whether he is the father of the gunsmith William Moore who was in Colerain Township in 1850. To distinguish between these individuals, I refer to them as William Moore I and William Moore II.
L. Dietle
Chronology
1820: In the Providence Township portion of the 1820 census records of Bedford County, Pennsylvania, there was a William Moore household with one male and one female in the 26-45 age group, one female in the 10 to 16 age group, and one male and three females in the up to ten age group. One member of the household was engaged in agriculture. This was the only William Moore household in the transcript of the 1820 census of Bedford County. I don't know if this census record relates to the gunsmith William Moore I. The following image is a composite comprising tabular information from one page and a table header from another page.
1830: In the Providence Township portion of a transcript of the 1830 census records of Bedford County, Pennsylvania that I reviewed, a William Moore household had one male in the 50 to 60 age group, one female in the 40 to 50 age group, one female in the 10 to 15 age group, two females in the 5 to 10 age group, and one male in the up to five age group. This was the only William Moore household in the transcript of the entire 1830 census of Bedford County. I don't know if this census record relates to the gunsmith William Moore I.
1840: In the 1840 census of East Providence Township, a William Moore household has one male and one female in the 20 to 30 age group, and one male in the up to five age group. No one in this household was old enough to be the 1810 gunsmith William Moore I. This was the only William Moore household in the transcript of the 1840 census of Bedford County.
Disambiguation:
There were other gunmakers by the name of William Moore. I have read about poor quality imported shotguns that are marked with the name William Moore. I have also read about a William Moore of London, England who was born in 1781, and was active as a gunmaker from the early 1800s to the mid-1800s.
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1800-1810: There was no William Moore or William More household in the transcripts of the 1800 census or the 1810 census of Bedford County that I searched. I also did not find a William Moore or William More household in the Colerain Township portion of the 1810 manuscript census records of Bedford County.
