The Moul family is of German origin, the emigrant settler in America being Jacob Moul, who came early in the eighteenth century. He settled in West Camp, Ulster county, New York. The following is a translation of the family record, written in German in the family records by Jacob Moul:
"My first son was born 1738.
My second son, Frederick, was born June 15, 1740.
My daughter Catherine was born March 23, 1743.
My daughter Anna Maria was born August 12, 1745.
My son Jacob was born March 15, 1748.
My daughter Markret was born December 29, 1750.
My daughter Magdelena was born August 2, 1752.
My fourth son, Johannes, was born May 6, 1755.
My daughter Elizabeth was born November 7, 1758.
My fifth son, Jacob, was born August 30, 1760.
My wife died March 1, 1772."
(II) Johannes (John), son of Jacob Moul, the emigrant, was born May 6, 1755. He settled with his brother, Jacob, in the town of Ghent, Columbia county, where he married and had four children:
- Jacob, born November 10, 1779;
- John,
- Richard,
- Cornelius.
(III) Richard, son of John Moul; was born in the town of Ghent, Columbia county, New York, about 1785. He settled at Victor, Ontario county, where he followed the butchering business during his active life. He was a Whig in politics and a Universalist in religion. He married (first) Rhoda Spencer, of Hillsdale, New York. Children:
- Cornelius Ferris, of whom further;
- Cornelia, twin of Cornelius, married Henry Delamater;
- Charles, of Victor, New York;
- Philena, lived at Adams Basin, New York, married and has numerous descendants yet living there;
- Eliza, lived and married in western New York.
Remarried a second wife, by whom he had children:
- Mary Jane, married Harlow Bickford, and removed to Michigan;
- Carrie Rhoda, married Nelson Emory;
- Sophia, married a Mr. Johnson and removed to San Francisco, California.
(IV) Cornelius Ferris, son of Richard and Rhoda (Spencer) Moul, was born in Ghent, Columbia county, New York, July 23, 1822, died at Northville, Fulton county, 1904. He did not go to Ontario with his father, but remained in Ghent where he made his home with his uncle, Jacob Moul, until he was a young man. He then enlisted in the United States regular army and served six years in Texas and Indian territory, guarding the frontier, quelling Indian outbreaks and erecting forts in the different localities. After his second term of enlistment expired he returned to eastern New York, married and then joined his father at Victor, New York, where he remained until 1858. He was a mason and contracted building in bridge work, also dealt in poultry, shipping by carloads to New York City. In 1858 he removed to Allegany county, where in partnership with a Mr. Beal, he purchased a large timber tract and manufactured lumber. Through the rascality of his partner he not only lost his expected profits, but his capital as well, and was left penniless. He removed to Leroy, New York, where in 1866 his wife died. He returned to Victor and for a year worked at the mason's trade. Then he went to Northville where he died in 1904. He married (first) January 27, 1848, Lydia Skinner, of Ogden, Monroe county, New York, by Elder A. Wheat "minister of the Gospel, of the M. P. church," daughter of Colonel Adonijah (born August 11, 1789, died August 25, 1867) and Roby (Hodgman) Skinner, born August 12, 1790, died April 11, 1837. Adonijah Skinner was a colonel in the war of 1812, and a farmer. Cornelius F. Moul married second, 1870, Sabra Williams, who died without issue. Children of first wife:
- Richard Adonijah, born June 4, 1849, at Victor, New York, died June 9, 1890, at Hudson, New York; contractor; married Grace Simmons, born 1850; children:
- Alice, deceased;
- Anna, deceased;
- Harry Le Roy.
- Robia Abigail, born June 22, 1854, died 1867.
- Henry Skinner, of whom further.
(V) Henry Skinner, son of Cornelius Ferris and Lydia (Skinner) Moul, was born at Victor, New York, April 7, 1857. He was educated in the public schools of Victor and Northville. He learned the carpenter's trade, being with James E. McClure, a prominent contractor of Hudson, from 1877 until 1888, and very soon found that he possessed natural ability as a draughtsman. He began the study of architecture, rapidly developing as an architect. After the death of Mr. McClure, Mr. Moul continued the business for nine years, designing, supervising and erecting many of the most notable of the public and private buildings in Columbia county. He was the architect of the Columbia court house, built in 1890, the school building at Hudson, 1891, the English Lutheran church at Schenectady, the private residence of Leonard F. Requa at Schodack, the block of five stores on Warren street, Hudson, and many others, in town and county. He is active in the public life of Hudson, served as supervisor and chairman of the Columbia county board, was candidate for mayor, 1903, served five years in the National Guard, director of the Young Men's Christian Association for twenty years and president for two years. He is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church and superintendent of the Sunday school. In business, public or church affairs, he is a prominent figure. He married, April 8, 1880, at Hudson, Anna Maria, daughter of Captain Asahel Harvey, born at Freetown, Massachusetts, February 10, 1810, died July 1, 1879; married Rhoda Rossman, born at Cairo, New York, March 9, 1820, died May 22, 1899. Children of Henry S. and Anna M. Moul:
- Rhoda Lydia, graduate of Hudson high school class of 1898. She is the only woman who ever held the office of deputy county clerk of Columbia county, a position she filled before attaining her twenty-first year. She married, October 5, 1905, Herbert Alexander Newton, D.D.S., graduate of Buffalo College of Dental Surgery, class of 1900, now (1910) practicing his profession in Brooklyn, New York.
- James Emory, born August 26, 1887, graduate of Hudson high school, class of 1904. He spent two years at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, now (1910) inspector with the highway commissioner of New York City.
- Marion Katherine, born November 11, 1889.
- Cornelius Ferris, born in Hudson, February 8, 1896.
Mrs. Moul died October 18, 1907.