Captain Moses Dooley was born in 1748 in Bedford (then Augusta), Virginia, on the edge of the American frontier.¹˒²˒⁴ Around 1771, he married Mary Boyd, also of Bedford County.⁵˒³¹ Together they raised a family that included Reuben Dooley, born 14 November 1773 at Elk Creek, Bedford County.⁵˒⁷
During the Revolutionary War, Moses served as a captain in the Bedford County militia. His patriotic service is recognized by the Indiana Daughters of the American Revolution.⁵
By 1779, Moses was living in Bedford County, but by 1780 he began venturing west, first appearing in Madison County, Virginia, that year.⁸ In the same period, Moses began acquiring land in Kentucky, receiving a survey for 500 acres on Sugar Creek in Lincoln County on 26 May 1780.⁵˒⁸ He returned briefly to Bedford in 1781, but by 1783 had filed land entry papers for his Kentucky holdings and officially received his 500-acre grant in 1784.¹⁰˒¹¹
A devout and active religious leader, Moses helped establish the Old Sugar Creek Meeting House in what is today Garrard County, Kentucky, serving as one of the area’s earliest Baptist preachers.⁸ His faith journey led him into the early Restoration Movement alongside his son Reuben. Both men are believed to have participated in the famous Cane Ridge Revival in 1801, a landmark event that gave momentum to the movement seeking to restore New Testament Christianity and unite believers.³
In 1789, Moses was recorded in Madison County, Kentucky.¹² By December 1798, he was filing land entries in Green County.¹³ Tax records document his presence in Barren County from 1800 through 1806.⁸˒¹⁴–²²
Around 1814, Moses moved to Preble County, Ohio, where he continued his religious and civic activities.²³ He appeared on the tax rolls there from 1816 to 1822.²⁴–²⁹ Moses died on 12 January 1822 at the age of 74 in Eaton, Preble County.⁴˒⁶˒⁹ He was buried in Friendship Cemetery in Sugar Valley.⁴ His name appeared on the tax rolls in 1823, likely reflecting posthumous estate matters.³⁰
Mary Boyd Dooley, born in 1752 in Bedford County, died on 7 January 1819 in Washington Township, Preble County.⁵˒⁹ She was buried in Sugar Valley. Together, Moses and Mary not only raised a family but also left a strong legacy of faith and frontier leadership, deeply shaping the Baptist and Restorationist communities in Kentucky and Ohio.³
Sources
¹ Mrs. Sarah Dooley Emerick, History and Family Record of the Dooley Family (Grant County, Indiana: Mrs. Sarah Dooley Emerick, n.d.), pp. 3–20; FamilySearch.
² Mrs. Sarah Dooley Emerick, History and Family Record of the Dooley Family 1755–1933 (Grant County, Indiana: Mrs. Sarah Dooley Emerick, 1933), pp. 3–44; FamilySearch.
³ Scott Harp, “Reuben Dooley / Moses Dooley,” History of the Restoration Movement (https://www.therestorationmovement.com/_states/ohio/dooley.htm : viewed 4 July 2025); Disciples of Christ Historical Society, “Cane Ridge Revival” (https://discipleshistory.org/wiki/cane-ridge-revival/ : viewed 4 July 2025).
⁴ Find a Grave, Memorial no. 12924125, Moses Dooley; Friendship Cemetery, Sugar Valley, Preble County, Ohio.
⁵ A Roster of Revolutionary Ancestors of the Indiana Daughters of the American Revolution (Evansville, IN: Indiana DAR, 1976), p. 177; Ancestry.
⁶ Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1861–1985; Ancestry.
⁷ Find a Grave, Memorial no. 12924140, Reuben Dooley; Friendship Cemetery.
⁸ Fred Logan Simpson, Back of the Cane: Early Virginia Surveys in Today’s Garrard County, Kentucky 1775–1789 (Lancaster, KY: Fred Logan Simpson, 1992), pp. 90–91.
⁹ “Obituary,” The Eaton Democrat (Eaton, Ohio), 19 July 1877, p. 3; Newspapers.com.
¹⁰ Virginia, Land Office Surveys, Book 4, p. 470; FamilySearch.
¹¹ Simpson, Back of the Cane, pp. 90–91.
¹² Kentucky, U.S., Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1787–1890; Ancestry.
¹³ Green County, Kentucky, Land Entry Books, 1798; FamilySearch.
¹⁴–²² Barren County, Kentucky, Tax Books and Deeds, 1799–1806; FamilySearch.
²³ History of Preble County, Ohio (H.Z. Williams & Bro., 1881), p. 135; Archive.org.
²⁴–³⁰ Preble County, Ohio, Duplicate Tax Records, 1816–1823; FamilySearch.
³¹ U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560–1900; Ancestry.
Oh my. Moses Dooley and Mary Boyd are my 5th great grandparents. It appears we are cousins😊😊
Unfortunately, we may not be cousins. Moses Dooley and his sons are in my CRAWFORD FAN club. Moses’ land in Garrard County, KY is near land owned by Mary Crawford to the East and Rebekah Crawford to the southwest. The Dooley’s appear on tax records in Garrard and Barren counties in Kentucky and Preble county in Ohio.
My 4th great grandfather, James Crawford, is a brick wall ancestor. I’m trying to use the FAN club to figure out his ancestry.
I understand. We’ve been trying to verify Alexander for years. John is Shelby Crawfords descendant. Moses Dooley is my ancestor. Kinda interesting.
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