Lt. Col. Roger Moore, of Wilmington, of the 3rd N.C., died April 21, 1900; he is shown on the roster of the Cape Fear UVC camp. His service is mentioned on the "Cronicles of the Cape Fear River 1660-1916", by James Sprunt.

I descend Wilmington, War of 1812, artillery 4th Sgt, Joshua James, Sr.(Capt. Jacob Hartman's Artillery Militia;(wed Feb. 28, 1805; she died Holmes Co.) Col. Nixon's Regt.) (he died Holmes Co., Miss, 1-24-1851, age 71) who wed Hetty-Bella Sage, youngest child of Robert and Sarah Sage, Sr., who ran Sage's Inn on Beasley's Creek (old Bay Tree Creek) where President Washington stopped on his 1791 "Southern Tour".

Sarah (Nov 25, 1740-July 11, 1793) was the widow of Col. James Moore. But I can not attach either Sarah or her Col. James Moore; to the prominent Wilmington Moore family. I suspect she was the widow of Col. James Moore who owned land on Beasley's Creek near the Inn?

Sage's daughter Eizabeth Sage (1765-1796) was the first wife of Thomas Cowan (son of John & Priscilla Cowan) who wed second, her sister Sarah Cowan. Margaret Sage (1774-1843) wed John Edens. Her sister Hester Sage (b1758) wed ???? Edens. Robert Sage, Sr., March 7, 1730-March 11, 1793, wed Mrs. Sarah (Waring?) Moore, July 9, (1764?), at New Bern. The Craven Co. Register of Deeds records a slave pass on the Sage's Stage Line; so the slave could fetch back a missing marriage document.

My hunch is the marriage took place in New Bern (rather than Wilmington) because Mrs. Moore was wedding below her social/economic status? My hunch is Robert was of the Bristol, England, tile and plaster Sage family? A merchant's son traveling on the Sage Stage Line, said Robert was a "Jolly Englishman". By family tradition he was large, physically unfit for Revolutionary War service; and was permitted to keep a picture of the King at the inn.

Robert Sage was a brick layer (Sage's Alley, downtown Wilmington?); my Richard Bradley, Jr. (officer of the Bank of Cape Fear; I have BoCF money signed by him; and Bank of Wilmington money signed by his son-in-law, Stephen Jewett, IV) family had a brickyard, store, warf, interest in a ship, on pilotage commission and as such called a "naval officer"; Joshua James who inspected the quanity and quality of tar and pitch exports, was also called a "naval officer".

Joshua Sr's son, Joshua James, Jr., owned "Ion" Plantation, defunct Carthage, Tensus Parish, La.; at Natchez by Epis. priest (Rev. Green, originally of Wilmington), wed Mary K. Johnson (buried N.O.) of Natchez, from N.C.. Two sons in La. CSA cavalry service. Joshua Sr's. son, John Sage James remained in Wilmington.

I descend Joshua Sr's son LtCol Robert Wm. James (b Wilmington 1811, 1st wife Ann Maria Ambrose of Onslow Co., niece of Ann Maria Ward); I descend 2nd wife, Jane Ann Nixon of New Orleans by son, Biloxi harbormaster and ship's pilot, Capt. Harry Copp James. Robert (son Harry, a Pvt. in Capt. Hall's, New Orleans Fire Brigade Zouave Militia, CSA) was LtCol. of the 1850's Holmes Co., Miss., militia. Robert was civilian master of the Army transport 'Gen. Hamer' out of N.O. in the Mexican War.

Josh' Sr's daughter, Sarah Julia James, wed Kenansville merchant, Andrew McIntire; and I think they too removed to Holmes Co., Miss.; but possibly returned?

Joshua Tillinghast James (son of John Sage James), editor/publisher of the Wilmington Star; in Joshua James Sr's obit, said Joshua Jr., when his plantation was on the Miss. shore; would have slaves row him across the river to Jefferson Davis' plantation; where Josh' Jr. was a friend and frequent dinner guest.

I descend great grandfather Capt. Harry Copp James wife, Leila Ogden Malone. Harry's New Orleans mother, Mrs. Jane Ann Nixon James, was the daughter of N.O. lawyer, Adj. Lt. John Nixon, DeJean's 1st La. Militia, who in the Battle of N.O. fought on the far west bank and spiked his rwo cannon when over-run by the British. He is entombed Biloxi, Miss., where he owned the Nixon House Hotel. Copp, Nixon, and James steets, Biloxi; are named for the family.

John had wed Adeline Cecelia Copp, the daughter of N.O. lawyer David Copp, Jr., Esq.; murdered 1803 in a N.O. gambling house. His widow, Mrs. Mary "Molly" Watson Copp (born Portsmouth, N.H.), wed Robert Porter (Collector of Customs, N.O.?).

David Jr., graduate of Philip's Exeter Academy, was the son of Wakefield/Dover, N.H., LtCol David Copp, Sr., who fought as a Capt. at the Battle of Bunker Hill. As a legislator, LtCol. Copp, fought the disenfrangement of Catholics because of their religious beliefs. He wed Margaret "Polly" Palmer, daughter of Patriot, Rochester, N.H., inn keeper and legislator; Maj. Barnabus Palmer, Sr..

Barnabus wed Elizabeth Robinson of Exeter, N.H.; the daughter of Chistopher Robinson and Elizabeth Hilton; she of Eliot, Maine. She was the daughter of Dudley Hilton and Mercy Hall (she desc. Rev. Samuel Dudley's 3rd wife?) of Exeter, N.H.

Dudley was the son of Exeter lawyer, Edward Hilton, Sr., who wed the widow Mrs. Catherine Shapleigh Treworgye. She was the daughter or sister of Capt. Nicholas Shapleigh who drafted early charts of the Cape Fear River.

Edward was the brother of Capt. Wm. Hilton, Jr., who 1663 "purchased" and named the Cape Fear River. The brother's parents were Capt. William (1550-1603) and Ellen Mainwaring, Sr., of Eliot, Maine (I desc. Hon. Robert Eliot, also). I think it was his grandfather who had Hilton Castle, England?

Capt. Hilton, Jr., named the "Hilton River"; later the site and sight, of the WWII Liberty/Victory "ghost" fleet once espied between the large live oaks, cypress, and Long Leaf Pines, with their beards of Spanish Moss. Now alas, renamed just, the "Brunswick River".

Jim Miller, Southport, North Carolina

P.S. In 1838, Stephen Jewett, IV, was the U.S. postmaster at then "Smithville", now Southport. I descend second wife, Miss. Lucy Anna Bradley; Jewett taught school and his first wife was Smithville/Southport private school teacher Miss Gracie; kin of Bank of Cape Fear, Dr. John "Bank" Hill, entombed at the Moore family's "Orton Plantation".

"Lt." Thomas Cowan James of Wilmington, was involved in the 1850's "filibustering" expedition (to re-establish slavery in Cuba) out of New Orleans; and seemingly in touch with the James family kin there. He and hudreds of others were captured and imprisoned in the Havana castle, prior to execution (hanging or beheading?). I so admired his last letter home prior to his looming execution; he asked for no mercy, never whined; never tried to nobilize his failed mission. I think the mutilation of their human remains was un-necessarry though. Later prisoners were sent to Spain, and freed.

Also: the 1897-1940 membership applications, camp rosters, and other records of the U.C.V., may be found at:

Terra Zachary Laver, Curator of Manuscripts
United Confederate Veterans Association Records
Hall Memorial Library, Louisana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803

Manuscript citation No. 1357; UDC rolls too there.