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Robert Moffit/Moffat Jr


Robert Moffit/Moffat Jr (Jane (Armour) Wilson and Robert Moffit/Moffat) was probably born before 1777 in USA, NY, Rensselaer County. According to family tradition, about 1831 he moved to the Sandwich Islands (now the State of Hawai'i), where he married a King's daughter and died. To date, no information to either prove or disprove this tradition has been found.

However, in his 2007 PhD dissertation at the University of California, Davis, entitled Cattle in Hawai'i: Biological and Cultural Exchange, John Ryan Fischer states at pages 369-70: "The Hawaiian system of ranching and the presence of paniolos with their vaquerro influences did not please everyone, and further developments in the rhetoric of civilization accompanied the move from bullock hunting to ranching. In 1856 Robert Moffit, a member of the haole-dominated Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society, complained that 'every trace of the old fashioned, filthy, slovenly Spanish system must be abolished before any one can hope to succeed in packing beef. . . In order that the animal may die calmly, it must live peaceably, and must have been brought up in a state of civilization.'"

This quotation indicates that there was an individual named Robert Moffit in Hawai'i at the right time. If this Robert Moffit were the son of Jane (Armour) (Wilson) Moffit, he would have been about 79 years of age in 1856, and would have been in Hawai'i for around 25 years. If his name were not enough to indicate his non-Hawai'ian ancestry, the further tone of the dissertation and the reference to haole (non-Hawai'ian/"white") domination of the Royal Hawai'ian Agricultural Society further suggests that this Robert Moffit was not Hawai'ian. In addition, the fact that this Robert Moffit was a member of the Society suggests that he was, in some way, associated with the rulers of Hawai'i, if not Hawai'ian royalty, and that he had standing in Hawai'ian society.

So far, attempts to trace either the ancestry of this Robert Moffit, or to learn of his descendants, have been unsuccessful.

Additional Information about Robert Moffit/Moffat Jr