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Below is a family biography included in The History of Brown County, Ohio published by W. H. Beers & Co. in 1883.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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HISTORY OF THE MOONS, OF CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO. There are, perhaps, few families in Clinton County that rank so prominently as the Moons, judging not only from the sole stand-point of their being an extensive family, but also regarding them in all their praiseworthy characteristics — their abounding enterprise, energetic industry, loyalty and uprightness as citizens, generosity and kindness as neighbors, and their eminent social qualities as a people. The ancestral history of this family is quite elaborate — extending back the avenues of several centuries to Denmark, the kingdom of which their earliest progenitors were natives. They were of the Teutonic or Germany family, which is now the prevailing race of Europe, and yet scarcely 4,000 years old. It embraces the people of Sweden. Norway, Denmark, the whole of the German Empire and the masses of Scotland and England. In history has been recorded that this family was never known to have been conquered. During a certain period of history, the Kingdom of Denmark formed a part of the English Dominion, however only under a partial rule of the King of England. Within this period of English rule, the King of England made a requisition on the King of Denmark for a regiment of soldiers, a body-guard to His Majesty (himself). The Danish Monarch, regarding it an honor to furnish the distinguished King with a body-guard, issued orders that the best men of his kingdom be selected — persons erect in stature, athletic, of light complexion, blue eyes and red hair. A regiment from the best families of Danes, fully corresponding to the orders, was organized and sent to the King. The banner they bore had, in addition to the National colors, the inscription of a half-moon, and the regiment was known as the “Moon Regiment.” At the expiration of their term, having rendered very efficient services, much to the pleasure of the King, he granted them land in England if they would settle there. A large number of them accepted the offer, and settled down in a colony. They then unanimously adopted the name of Moon, and the land grant was given in that name. Thus is given the history of the origin of the Moon name. From this date on, we see the Moons leading honorable, prosperous lives, devoting a portion of their time to the moral and religious culture of the then superstitious people, till the time when George Fox, Robert Barkley and others lifted an insurrection against the principles and doctrines of the predominant churches of England. Among the noble Christians who suffered persecution on account of their religious opinions, we find a number of the Moons, who with them endured imprisonment and punishment for their honest views. In 1682, when William Penn emigrated colonies to America, he established a colony of Moons in Bucks County, Penn., and from there the family is traced to Red Stone, Western Pennsylvania, Western New York and to Virginia. The deed of lands from William Penn to John and Jasper Moon is now in the possession of Charles Moon, son of James Moon, a lineal descendant of John Moon. James Moon, the father of Charles, died in 1858. This land in Pennsylvania is the homestead of their first American ancestors. Jane Moon, the mother of Charles, died some years since. She was a lady of fine intellectual culture and advancement, and was for many years Clerk of the Friends Annual Meetings at Philadelphia, Penn. Jasper Moon was the first to abandon the colony. He went to the “Old Dominion.” He had one son, Simon, who has married twice. By his second wife he had one child — John. His mother dying when young, he was bound out to learn the carpenter trade. At the expiration of his seven years’ apprenticeship, he emigrated to North Carolina, and settled on the Neuse River. He married Mary Farmer and had a family of five children, viz., Rachel, who married M. Brookout; John Moon, went to Georgia, where he died; Joseph, married Ann Brewer, and had ten sons and three daughters — Daniel, William, Samuel, Joseph, John, Jesse, Harry, James, Thomas and Solomon; and Mary, Grace and Jane. Grace died in infancy. Joseph (the father) lived on Deep River, on Randolph County, N. C., and in 1796, removed to Jefferson County, Tenn. Daniel, his oldest son, married Ruth Hutson; William married Jane Hutson; Samuel, to Martha Routh; Joseph, to Sarah Camer; John, to Elizabeth Mount; Jesse, to Rebecca Stidam; Jane, to John Routh; Mary, to James Garner; James, to Anna Hockett; Henry, to Elizabeth Hockett, and Solomon, to Hannah McLin. The latter four were not married till after they came to Ohio. In the spring of 1808, Daniel and Joseph, with their families, came to what was then Highland County, and settled near the site of Martinsville. The following autumn, Samuel and John Moon, and John Routh (their brother-in-law) and their wives and children, emigrated to Ohio, and settled in the same neighborhood as their predecessors. The spring of 1809, Joseph Moon, the father of the foregoing parties, with his family, and William and Jesse Moon, with their families, came to the county, and located in the Moon community. In the year of 1811, James Garner, husband of Mary Moon, with four sons and five daughters, came in and joined the “Moon colonists” in their new Ohio home. This Moon colony consisted of fifty-four persons — thirty-four males and twenty females. They were about the first settlers of what is now Clark Township — in fact, the very founders of that section or division of Clinton County. In this colony there were tradesmen of various kinds. They were not professional mechanics, but rather, possessing a brain of ingeniousness, were able to execute successfully the business of a carpenter, cooper, harness-maker, saddler, hatter, cabinet maker, chairmaker, shoemaker, gunsmith, locksmith, blacksmith, brick and stone mason, plasterer and master mechanic. Many of the old pioneer citizens of Ohio and Indiana have in their possession today guns manufactured by William and Jesse Moon, who did an extensive business in that line. Thus we see that they were prepared and well equipped for coming in on wild and unbroken forest, and make for themselves homes. Mr. Joseph Moon was the father of ten sons and three daughters, and had 829 great grandchildren and thirty-three great-great-grandchildren. Since the advent of the Moons in America with William Penn, they have multiplied till their descendants have scattered in every State and nearly all the Territories of the United States. The writer of this history has few words of eulogy to say of this family. They have made a record by their noble achievements as pioneers, their loyalty and enterprise as citizens, their sterling integrity, pure moral character and irreproachable lives, that has transformed itself in the memories of their contemporaries a living monument, and here made perpetual, more worthy and grand than the elegantly emblazoned monument that adorns a city cemetery.

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This family biography is one of 992 biographies included in The History of Brown County, Ohio published in 1883 by W. H. Beers & Co.  For the complete description, click here: Brown County, Ohio History and Genealogy

View additional Brown County, Ohio family biographies here: Brown County, Ohio Biographies

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