The Moore family was a prominent American political family in North and South Carolina during the 18th and 19th centuries.
The family is most closely associated with the Cape Fear coastal region around Wilmington. Several members of the family held prominent political positions in colonial North and South Carolina, were senior officers in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, or held high positions in the United States Federal Government during the early years of the republic.
The family claimed descent from Rory O'Moore, leader of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, who was descended from Gaelic Irish nobility.[1][2] However, James Moore Sr.'s official seal bore the swan and arms of the Moore family of Devonshire, suggesting his origins were English. It appears Moore emigrated from England to Barbados, then eventually to mainland North America.[3]