James Trimble (Captain)

Captain James Trimble was born in Augusta County, Virginia, son of John Trimble and Mary Christian Moffett in 1756, and died in 1804, in Kentucky.

Around the age of eight years, James and his father John were captured by Indians at the second Kerr massacre. John was killed and James was rescued by his half brother Captain George Moffett who, four years later became his guardian on March 18, 1768.

James fought in the battle at Point Pleasant during the Revolutionary War, commanding a company of Virginia Militia, and received a land grant for his military service. He moved his family, wife Jane Allen, 2 daughters and six sons to Fayette Country near Lexington, Kentucky in 1784. James acquired slaves to work the land and in 1802 resolved to free his slaves, convinced that slavery was unjust. He freed his bondsman and was moving his family to the Northwest Territory on the Ohio River, where slavery was prohibited, when he died before the move was completed. His son Allen became the head of the family, completing the family move as his father had planned.