Knox Moore – Why can’t I find your birth certificate?

Over many years of research I have been unable to find the registration of the birth of Knox Moore, my great grandfather.

What information do I have?

I have located the births of the following children to John Moore and his wife Margaret Jane Henry.

1. John Moore            28 December 1872         Ballycregagh, Antrim, Ireland
2. Rosetta Moore       18 February 1875            Ballynagashel, Antrim, Ireland
3. James Moore         25 September 1881         Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland
4. John Moore            25 September 1881        Greenock, Renfrewshre, Scotland
5. Elizabeth Ann        14 July 1884                      Glencoe, New South Wales, Australia
6. James                      6 June 1887                      Queensland, Australia
7.  Margaret Jane        8 July 1889 Brisbane     Queensland, Australia

Their three daughters Rose, Elizabeth and Margaret were named according to Scottish and Irish naming patterns.

If they followed the same pattern with their sons their names should be John, James and John.

The first son was called John, the second James and the third John. For the third son to be called John, the first son would have to have died between 1872 and 1881. However, I can’t find a death for John Moore (1). 

Support for theory that John Moore born 28 December 1872 was known as Knox.

1. The Scottish census was taken on 3 April 1881. The Moore family lived in Wellington Street, Greenock. Knox and his sister Rosetta were 8 and 6 years old. Knox’s age matches that of John (1).
2. The shipping record of the arrival in Brisbane of the Merkara on 12 December 1883 gives Knox’s age as 10. If he was John (1) he would have turned 11 on 28 December. His sister Rosetta was 8. The age difference between the two matches the births of John (1) and Rosetta.
3. John Moore (husband of Margaret Jane Henry) died in 1929. His death certificate names his children as Knox, Rosetta, Eliza, James and Margaret and two males deceased. The two deceased males were the twins James and John who died on 4 October and 13 October 1881. If John (1) had died I believe that this would have increased the male deaths to 3 on their father’s death certificate, especially as the twins are mentioned. I believe that John (1) is Knox, my great grandfather.
4. Knox Moore’s death certificate states he was 69 years old when he died on 12 December 1942. This age matches John Moore (1). He would have been 70 on 28 December 1942.

I believe that Knox Moore was in fact John Moore born 28 December 1872. He was possibly called Knox after his uncle Knox the younger brother of his father John.

If this is the case, that is why there was no birth certificate for Knox Moore. He was in fact John Moore.

Birth certificate John (Knox) Moore born 28 December 1872, Ballycregagh, Antrim.