John More Association

Biography

James More, the sixth child of John and Betty Taylor More, was born at Catskill, New York, January 10 , 1782 , and four years later went with his parents , four brothers and a sister, to Moresville to live . Here he grew up strong and active, sharing with the brothers in the farm labors, and with a great fondness for wrestling. At nineteen, he was injured while wrestling and, as a result, was lame ever after. However, this did not prevent him from doing much hard work.

James More married Roxanna Benjamin, who was born February 25, 1779 at Saybrook, CT. After their marriage they lived on a farm at Rose’s Brook, in the town of Roxbury, where he conducted a gristmill for several years. They then moved to a farm in More Settlement, above Robert More’s, on the slope of Bald Mountain. Here he built a sawmill which was run in connection with the farm. He also built a stone house, and enlarged the clearing, which meant enlarging the farm. At the same time, he was assisting his neighbors, with both helpful advice and with labor.

When he felt it was time for him to give up the management of a farm and a sawmill, he sold this farm and went to Prattsville, where he and his wife lived with their youngest daughter, Betty Taylor More Hunt (67). Here his wife died in 1859.  After that event, James More went to Gilboa and lived with another daughter, Patience More Peck (63), until his death May 19, 1866. 

James More was a fluent talker and had an inexhaustible fund of interesting stories about early times, and of the family history.  With his fine sense of humor and keen wit, he was a popular storyteller, as well as a loving father and grandfather.