John Armstrong Meanor (Menor) - Civil War veteran

Ancestor of Elizabeth Menor VanScyoc Moore

CIVIL WAR SCOUT AND SPY: THEY HAD THE 'HEMP TO HANG' BROWN BUT NEVER CAUGHT HIM

In 1889 a man wrote to Ptolemy Philadelphius Brown inquiring about his service in the Civil War. He belonged to Co. L, First Regiment Ark Cav Vol. "I stayed in the Boston Mountains as a spy for Willhite and Gillstraps. I concealed and fed union men who were running from the conscript law. I piloted men through the mountains so they could get to the union Army. I lay in the brush with and fed strangers but they were true. At last a friend came and told me that on old Soldier had the hemp for Brown to pull. But I didn't pull it..."

He filed a pension in 1890 and died in the Old Solder's Home in Missouri.

ROOTS IN THE OLD COUNTRY: ATHLONE AND THE ENNIS LINE

Traveling to the 'auld country' was a rare and almost spiritual experience. Feeling the wind of Ireland kiss my face, seeing my first stone wall circling a small field, feeling my heart throb to the beat of the bodhran...it was as they say so often - 'grand'.

I had grown up hearing tales from my father of one of his relatives who still had a burr in his speech, then learned tales of courage, escape, and struggle in a new land. I listened wide-eyed and with imagination soaring.....

This family line lived in Athlone,Westmeath, Ireland. They owned land and property (or was part of a family owning such land or property). One day the man was out riding his lands and happened upon a British soldiers (or in another family's version a groundskeeper) abusing one of the farmers. Stepping in to halt the beating, one thing led to another, and a fatal blow was struck. Knowing he would surely be punished severely for the act, he hurried home and arranged for himself and his three-year old son to be smuggled to America.

He settled in Virginia and commenced establishing a new life in a new land...

That small boy, the story goes, grew up to be JAMES ENNIS of VIRGINIA, Revolutionary War Hero, known as Captain James ENNIS (1735-1778), son of Sir John Ennis of County Westmeath,Ireland.

He enlisted in February of 1776 with the 9th Regiment of the Virginia Line of the Continental Army.

Captain James Ennis was captured by the British Army at the Battle of Germantown, contested on the outskirts of Philadelphia (Oct 4, 1777), and would die of smallpox the following year while a prisoner of war (perhaps on one of the era’s notorious ‘prison ships’ employed by the British).

Ennis is noted in M. Lee Minnis’ book, “THE FIRST VIRGINIA REGIMENT OF FOOT, 1775-1783″ as an officer of Colonel Charles Harrison’s First Regiment of Artillery in the Continental Army (page 240). (www.genforum.genealogy.com/ennis/messages/1445.html; family history; various researchers)

From this line came one Barbara Ennis who married William Terry, son of John and Esther Brown Terry of Botetourt Co., Va.

The traditions of the homeland stayed in place in surprising ways. In the 1930's one the direct Ennis line living in Northern Arkansas testified to her lineage. Her language was full of the rich heritage of an oral tradition when she said " these are the generations as I have been taught them..."

Their accuracy? Nearly 100 percent - not too unusual when one understands the role of oral history in ancient Irish society. So the story of the movement from Ireland may have more than a kernel of truth in it. After all, it is very important you get your generations in order. So, between the Ennis, the Riddle, the Ray, the Reed, the Kirkpatrick, the Boyd, and all the others....is it any wonder we are dancing? As my father showed me more than once, there is nothing like a barefoot kitchen jug. 'Tis grand!

Moore Homestead, Carroll Co., Ark

This barn was part of the original homestead of the Moore family in Grandview, Carroll Co., Ark around 1900. In 1995 it was still standing. It had been the farm of John Moore and then his son Floyd.

FLOYD L. MOORE

Carroll County Times, dated 4-10-84:
"Services for Floyd Leo Moore, 80, of Route 5, Berryville in the Grandview community, were held Monday, April 16, at the Nelson Chapel, Berryville, with the Rev. Dean Smith officiating. Burial was in the Moreland Cemetery under the
direction of the Nelson Funeral Services.

Mr. Moore was born July 18, 1903 in Carroll County, a son of John M. and Mary Ann (Warren) Moore, and died Wednesday, April 11, at his home. He was a farmer.

He was married on November 21, 1925 to Elizabeth Van Scyoc and they were the
parents of four children.

Survivors include his wife, Elizabeth Moore of the home; three sons, Robert
Moore of Eureka Springs, J. M. Moore of California, and Floyd Moore of
Berryville; one daughter, Linda Hilton of Texas; 18 grandchildren, 13
great-grandchildren, and other relatives and friends."

There was another child, Virginia Mae Moore Hudson, who was left out of the obituary.