John Moale (ca. 1731-1798)
MSA SC 3520-917
Biography
Born: January 2, ca. 1731, in St. Paul's Parish, Baltimore County;
elder son.
Died: July 5, 1798, in Baltimore (probably Baltimore City).
Native: second generation.
Resided: Baltimore County; Baltimore Town by 1770. By 1780 Moale
was spending part of the year in Baltimore Town and the rest at "Green
Spring Forrest," his wife's plantation in Baltimore County. His town house
at death was located at Sharp Street and German Lane in Baltimore City.
Family Background
Father: John Moale (?-1740).
Stepfather: by 1742 George Bailey.
Mother: Rachel (1708-ca. 1749), daughter of John Hammond (1665-1742/43).
Brother: Richard (1739/40-1786).
Sisters: Rebecca (ca. 1728-1786); Rachel (1737-ca. 1741).
First Cousin: Samuel Worthington (1734-1815).
Married: May 25, 1758, Ellin (ca. 1740-1825), daughter of Capt.
Robert North (1698-1748/49) and wife Frances Todd (ca. 1709-1745). Ellin's
stepmother was Catherine. Her brother was Thomas (ca. 1732-ca. 1750). Her
sisters were Elizabeth (1731-1805), who married first, in 1751, Christopher
Carnan (ca. 1730-1769), and second, in 1773, Samuel Johnston of York County,
Pennsylvania; Frances (1743-1743).
Other Kinship: Ellin's great-grandfather was Thomas Todd (1619-1676).
Children
Sons: John (1761-1809), who married in 1790 Lucy Morton (ca.
1767-1802); Richard Hatton (1765-1802), who married in 1797 Judith Carter
Armistead (1774-1863); Thomas (1766-1832), who married in 1793 Eleanor
Owings (1772-ca. 1853), daughter of Samuel Owings, Jr. (1733-1803); William
North (1768-1769); Robert (1769-1769); Robert North (1771-1852), who married
in 1801 Frances (?-1829), daughter of Samuel Owings, Jr. (1733-1803); Samuel
(1773-1857), who married first, in 1796, Ann M. Howard (ca. 1765-1827),
and second, in 1828, Ann G. White (1800-1865); William (1779-1779); George
Washington (1780-1799); and Randle Hulse (1782-1864), who married in 1822
Elizabeth Smith Peck (ca. 1807-?).
Daughters: Elizabeth (1759-1822), who married in 1794 Richard
Curzon, Jr.; Rebecca (1763-1840), who married in 1780 Thomas Russell; Rachel
(1775-1776); Frances (1777-1781); and Mary North (1783-1793).
Private Career
Education: literate.
Religious Affiliation: Anglican; rented pew in St. Paul's Church,
Baltimore Town.
Social Status and Activities: Mr., by 1758; Esq., by 1772. A
drawing of Baltimore Town in 1752 has been attributed to John Moale.
Occupational Profile: merchant, land developer, planter.
Pubilc Career
Legislative Service: Lower House, Baltimore County, 1768-1769
(election of entire county delegation declared void on June 14, 1768, because
of "treating of voters"; reelected on July 5, 1768, to 2nd session of the
1768-1770 Assembly, but election of the county delegation was again voided
on November 30, 1769, for misconduct of sheriff during the election; Public
Offices 2), 1771; Conventions, Baltimore County, 1st, 1774 (appointed,
but did not attend), 2nd- 3rd, 1774, 4th, 1775 (elected, but did not attend),
5th, 1775, 6th-8th, 1775-1776 (Claims 6; did not attend the 7th Convention).
Local Offices: churchwarden, St. Paul's Parish, Baltimore County,
1753-1754, 1758-1759, 1765-1766, 1767-1768; St. Paul's Parish Vestry, Baltimore
County, 1761-1763, 1770-1773, 1782-1784, 1786-1789; commissioner of Baltimore
Town, by 1768, at least 1780-1787; justice, Baltimore County, 1769-1775,
1777-1789, 1791-1797 (quorum 1772-at least 1775); justice, Especial Court
of Oyer, Terminer, and Gaol Delivery, Baltimore County, 1772 (quorum);
trustee for the poor, Baltimore County, appointed 1773; Committee of Observation,
Baltimore County, by 1776; justice, Orphans' Court, Baltimore County, 1777,
1781-1790; commissioner of the tax, Baltimore County, 1777-1783, 1786;
justice, Criminal Court, Baltimore County, 1788-1790, 1793.
Military Service: lieutenant colonel, Baltimore Town Battalion,
Baltimore County Militia, commissioned May 25, 1776; colonel of the same
battalion, commissioned September 12, 1777; resigned commission because
of gout, March 17, 1780.
Stand on Public/Private Issues: at a meeting of Baltimore merchants
in 1769, Moale voted against allowing the sale of goods imported in defiance
of the nonimportation
agreement.
Wealth During Lifetime
Personal Property: received from his mother's estate £162.13.5
sterling and £958.2.6 current money as his portion of his father's
estate, 1761; owned 9 slaves in Baltimore Town, 1790.
Annual Income: ground rent on 24 leased lots yielded ca. £280.0.0
per year, 1783.
Land at First Election: 2,145 acres in Baltimore County, over
6 acres and 8 lots in adjoining Baltimore Town, and ca. 3 lots in Baltimore
Town held on 99-year leases (624
acres in Baltimore County inherited from his father, 26 acres gained
by resurvey, 128 acres in Baltimore County and 6 acres and 6 lots in Baltimore
Town acquired by purchase, 1,367 acres in Baltimore County and 2 lots in
Baltimore Town acquired through marriage).
Significant Changes in Land Between First Election and Death:
Between 1770 and 1779, Moale and his wife established trusts for all of
her land, retaining life estates for themselves with title then passing
to various of their children. The trusts were adjusted in later years to
reflect changes in trustees or devisions among children, but the general
provisions remained substantially unchanged. Moale purchased 1 lot in Baltimore
Town in 1772 and the reversion rights to 129 acres in Baltimore County
in 1779. He sublet one of his large leasehold lots in Baltimore Town in
1778. In November 1781 an Act of Assembly incorporated Moale 's 6 acres
adjoining Baltimore into the town. Moale subdivided the acreage into at
least 50 lots, which he leased out between 1782 and 1784 on long-term leases,
usually for 99- years at rents of about £7.0.0 current money per
year. Over the next fifteen years, a few of these lots were surrendered
back to Moale, but he appears to have had no trouble finding new lessees
for them. Moale purchased 20 acres in Baltimore County in 1784 and part
of a large lot in the original section of Baltimore Town in 1783. He sublet
another large town lot and several small lots in town in 1782-1784. Moale's
brother Richard inherited from their father 457 acres in Baltimore County,
comprising most of the peninsula between the middle and northwest branches
of the Patapsco River. When Richard died in 1786, he devised most of his
estate to John, including 360 acres of this land (some already leased out),
plus long-term leases on 6 lots within the town itself. In 1788 Moale sold
his lease on one of the original lots in the center of town for £3,000.0.0
current money and thereafter concentrated on the development of Richard's
property. Between 1789 and 1795 Moale leased out on 99-year leases at least
91 acres of Richard's land, most of it in lots of less than 5 acres. Moale
purchased the fee simple title to 6 lots Richard had leased in Baltimore
Town in 1790. He sold two of these lots immediately and two more in 1798.
He sold two additional lots in 1794 and 1795, and bought the title to 6
lots originally owned by Richard, but not part of his inheritance, which
the Chancery Court ordered to be sold, 1796.
Wealth at Death
Personal Property: TEV, $8,998.17 (including 46 slaves, over
240 oz. plate, and over 140 books); FB, estate overpaid $1,416.23.
Land: ca. 900 acres in Baltimore County, at least 82 acres in
or adjoining Baltimore City, his lots and dwelling on German Lane and Richard's
house on Gay Street (leasehold), at least 10 large lots in Baltimore City
leased out or under development, plus reversions and ground rents on all
99-year leases of his own land and that inherited from Richard.
Source: "John Moale." Edward C. Papenfuse, et al. A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789. Vol. 2. (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985), 600-602.
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