The family is most closely associated with the Cape Fear coastal region around Wilmington.
Several members of the family held 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.
It appears Moore emigrated from England to Barbados, then eventually to mainland North America.
General James Moore served in the Continental Army, first as a colonel, and later, after he distinguished himself leading the troops at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, as a Brigadier General and commander of the Southern Department, a position he would only hold for a few months before his sudden death in April, 1777.
Alfred Moore would serve as an officer in the Continental Army, and later as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.