Family History: The Moores (Levels 0, 1, & 2)

Over the past couple of years I've been doing research off and on about my ancestry, trying to fill in the many blanks in my family tree.  Right now, I only know my mother's side of the family, but that's proving to be a puzzle all on it's own.  I plan to restart my search full blown later this summer when things quiet down at work, and I thought that writing about what I learn as I go might help me process everything.  Unfortunately, that means that this story will be told backwards.

What I hope to learn

Most of this comes from curiosity, as it probably does with most people who research their family history.  I'm curious about the struggles and successes of my ancestors.  Did anyone invent anything?  Fought in a war?  Kill anyone?  What parts of the country did they live in?  What part of Africa did we descend from?  By way of where?  Mental and physical illnesses (especially the genetic ones).  Ethnicities, especially involving any lies that may have been told or "passing" that may have been done.

Maybe I'll write a television series about it, like "Roots" for today's generation.

Rules

• For the sake of ease and lack of confusion, the women will be attributed to the family that they were born into, instead of married into (meaning, they are keeping their maiden names).
• I'm going to have to be patriarchal (boo) and attribute the children to their father's name, because those names don't change depending on divorce.  The only exception to that rule is me, because I don't know what my father's name is - I'm level 0 of the Moores.  My mother is level 1 of the Moores, and her father is level 2, and so on.  Her mother is level 1 of the McCrary's, because she and her siblings are the first level of the McCrary's when I look backwards from my line.
• I'm going to try to post minimal information about the people who are still alive.  

With no further ado...

Denise Moore : 1985 - present

Hello, I am level 0 of the Moore family.  If you regularly read this blog, you already know much about me, but feel free to browse through the archives if you don't.  Unmarried, no siblings, no munchkins.  Moving on...

V. Moore : 1953 - present

Level 1 is my mom, V.  Her parents are Louis Moore and Beulah McCrary.  She is an only child.  She was born and raised in DC, but I think she spent a couple of her high school years living in Masseville, Ohio.  I think this because I remember her mentioning that she used to get into fights with the white girls at her school (she was one of the only black students there).  She had me just before she turned 32 years old.

Louis Moore : March 5th, 1930 - January 22nd, 2005


Factual:

• Level 2, my mother's father.
• Born in Durham, North Carolina.
• I found him listed as Louis Fikes on a 1930 census as 0 years old, as the grandson of the head of household, Hattie Fikes.
• Looking through old census records, I'm confused as to where the name Moore came from, since according to the census his mother, Ida, was one of Hattie's daughters, who was unmarried and living at home.  For now I'll assume that it's a stepfather's name, which would mean that my mom and I are Fikeses by blood, not Moores.  This also means that technically he is a level 1 Fikes.
• I discovered one of his obituaries, and learned that he was not only a veteran of the Army, but was an officer in the Metropolitan Police Department (my mom clarified that he was security guard for the Supreme Court).
• Also, I didn't know that my mother has step brothers.  After he and my mother's mother got divorced, he married a woman named Louise.  Yes, they were Louis and Louise.  She had adult children who currently live in Connecticut, as did her ex-husband before he died.
• He died of colon cancer in Southern Pines, North Carolina.

Anecdotal:

• One of the public records that I found listed him as living in DC the year that I was conceived.  I don't understand how he could have watched his daughter be pregnant with me, but not really seem to want anything to do with me as a granddaughter.  I can count the number of times that I saw him on one hand, and I was 20 when he died.  I guess I could have reached out once I was old enough to travel to North Carolina by myself, but it seemed like it should have been the other way around.
• I talked to my Mom a little bit about him last night.  He married her mother in 1953 or 1954, and they divorced 10 years later.  More than likely they met in DC, where her mom was a waitress.
• Mom never met his father, and can't remember his name.

Looking Forward:

• I'm going to keep searching high and low for information about where the Moore name came from.  I know that one of the counties in NC is Moore County, presumably named after a prominent family from centuries ago.
• I've only got information on his mother's side of the family, and I'd like to know about his father and stepfather (if he had one).

I'll update this if any information changes or new information pops up.  Next up:  Extensive information on the Fikes branch of the tree.