James Washington Moore, born in 1837 and a native of Gillisonville, was educated at the University of Ga. and returned to S.C. in 1859 to practice law. During the Civil War he served as a sergeant in the Hampton Legion Cavalry, then as 1st lt. and adjutant of the 2nd S.C. Cavalry, and was wounded in 1863. He represented Beaufort District in the S.C. House from 1866 to 1867, moved to Hampton when Hampton County was created in 1878, and became Hampton County’s first state senator, serving from 1878 to 1894 and again from 1901 to 1902. He also chaired the senate military committee and served in the militia, retiring as a major general in 1891. The house was built between 1878 and 1885 and was his home. Moore died in 1912 and was buried at Gillisonville Baptist Church in what is now Jasper County.