MOSES LOONEY (1780-1855) is shown in Masonic regalia in this rare photograph taken shortly before his death in Lawrence Co., Alabama. He married Sequoyah’s niece, Mary Guess. He descends from Robert Looney of Ballagilley, Isle of Man, a member of the Spanish-Portuguese Jewish mercantile family Luna. Robert Looney brought his entire family to Philadelphia in 1732 and they became one of 70 families in a major settlement of the Virginia uplands under Alexander Ross and Morgan Bryan in 1735. The Looneys were prominent in Tennessee history for building forts, making roads and commanding armies. John Looney, Moses’ cousin, died a Cherokee chief. Photo courtesy of Wanda Looney Buss.
Note: This entry is a matter of reference for further investigation. According to Larry Johnson, Moses Looney married Mary Guest not Guess and there is no connection to Sequoyah or to John Looney, Cherokee Chief.
posted by David Pierce at 7:51 PM
5 Comments:
My name is Gary Jeffryes.I am a descendant of Moses Looney and Mary "Polly" Guest.
Don't be confused by people telling you that Guest does not equal Guess. There exists a whole family tree of descendants of the Gist family whose last names are spelled variously as Gist, Guess, or Guest.
There are genealogy resources that explain how this occurred over time.
You can E-mail me at jeffryesgary@wccs.net
My name is Gary Jeffryes. I am a descendant of Moses Looney and Mary "Polly" Guest.
Don't be thrown by the spelling of Mary's last name as Guest instead of Guess. Spelling was pretty loose in those days. My great grandfather Jeffries had his name spelled two different ways on his marriage certificate, and as you can see, it changed again by the time my dad was born.
Don't let anyone tell you that one person could not be related to another just because their last name is spelled slightly differently, but otherwise is close. The Guest family was originally Gist, and became modified to both Guess and Guest.
Genealogists can tell you this is a fact of doing family research for many,if not most of us.
You can e-mail me at jeffryesgary@wccs.net
What sort of documentation do you have for the assertion that Robert Looney of Ballagilley, Isle of Man, was "a member of the Spanish-Portuguese Jewish mercantile family Luna." My mother was descended from Robert Looney. However, most Looney family historians contend the Looneys were of Gaelic (Scots-Irish) descent.
My father was descended from a family of Jewish stockbrokers and merchants whose business partners included the Sexias, a Portuguese Jewish mercantile family. Finding out that both sides of the family has Jewish roots would be quiet a revelation.
Blair Case
bcase31249@aol.com
I have seen documentation stating that my 7th great grandfather Robert Looney of Ballagilley, Isle of Man was descended from King Milesius of Spain and his wife Meriaten the daughter of Pharoah Akhenaten and Queen Neferetiti who is said to be the the mother of Scots. Her nickname was Scoti which was the original name of Scotland. They say that all the high kings of Scotland and Ireland are descended from these 2. Moses Looney and Polly Guest were my 4th great grandmother and grandfather on my mother's paternal grandmother's side.
Charlene McNease
c.raminterp@gmail.com
First problem, this is not a photo of Moses Looney. It's actually a photo of his son, John William Looney. The sash that he is wearing is not Masonic as it states on the apron he is a member of the Danville "Grange" which was organized after the Civil War was over. Long after Moses was dead. Second problem, the overall story is totally bogus, made up by an individual who claims a close family relationship to every famous Native American that ever lived. This individuals claims have been proven false by actual family research based on historical documents and Autosomal and Y-DNA testing. I wish people would stop repeating these false stories about my Moses and Mary (Guest) Looney family.
Larry W Johnson
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