Moore Family

Biography

The members of the Moore family are Carolyn, Rebecca, and Ann; their parents, John and Barbara; Carolyn's son, Kimo, and Rebecca's husband, Fielding McGehee III. On November 18, 1978, Carolyn, Kimo, and Ann died in the Peoples Temple's murder-suicide ritual in Jonestown, Guyana.

Carolyn Moore Layton (1945-1978), the eldest sister, was a high school history teacher. She and her husband, Larry Layton, joined the Peoples Temple in 1968; they divorced in 1970. Carolyn became a member of the leadership circle and had significant financial responsibilities for the organization. In 1975, Carolyn gave birth to a son, Kimo Layton Prokes (1975-1978), also known as Jim-John, who was fathered by Jim Jones, leader of the Peoples Temple. She and Kimo moved to Jonestown, Guyana in the spring of 1977. Carolyn's death at 33 years old was attributed to cyanide poisoning used in the murder-suicide ritual. Kimo's remains were not identified.

Ann Elizabeth Moore (1954-1978), the youngest of the three sisters, was a nurse. She joined the Peoples Temple in 1972. After she moved to Guyana in May 1977, she became Jones' personal nurse. At the time of her death, she was 24 years old. Ann and Jim Jones were the only two people in the Jonestown settlement who died from gunshot wounds.

Rebecca Moore, Ph.D., a journalist with her doctorate in Religious Studies, teaches at San Diego State University. The Rev. John V. Moore is a retired United Methodist minister in the California-Nevada Annual Conference; his wife, Barbara, is an active community volunteer. Fielding McGehee III is a writer and editor.

For more information about the Moore Family during this period, see Rebecca Moore's A Sympathetic History of Jonestown: The Moore Family Involvement in Peoples Temple (Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1985).

From the guide to the Moore Family Papers, 1968-1988, (California Historical Society, North Baker Library)