Moses Guest was born in Fauquier County, Virginia in January 1750. A resident of Wilkes County, he served as a captain in the North Carolina militia during the American Revolution, leading men in the Rowan and Wilkes County regiments. He was a member of General Griffith Rutherford's expedition against the Cherokee in 1776, and also commanded a light horse company in 1780. After the war he served as a sheriff and justice of the peace in Franklin County, Georgia. He died in Franklin County, Georgia on October 1, 1838.