Joseph Moore

1732-1793

I was Quaker minister who suffered for my religious beliefs.

I was born in Woodbridge Township – now Rahway – in 1732 into a family that came to New Jersey from Massachusetts way back in 1666. My father wanted me to go to sea but I decided to be a farmer. I married Christiana Bishop and although my family were not Quakers, in 1763 I joined the Kingwood Monthly Meeting in Amwell when we settled in Hunterdon County. Between 1761 and 1786, I volunteered to hold the meetings in my own home. I was recommended to be a minister in 1774, promoted peace and harmony in my community, and had good relations with people of all religious denominations.

But then the War came, and my beliefs caused me to suffer. As a Quaker, I refused to swear allegiance to the State of New Jersey. I was arrested and held in jail in Trenton for almost six weeks before I was let go and fined fifty pounds. In June 1779, I refused to pay a tax levied to support the war, and a constable came and took a horse worth eighteen pounds.

I held true to my beliefs and continued to minister after the war. I died of yellow fever in 1793.

 

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