John H. Moran of Texas County, Missouri

John H. Moran, another prominent farmer of Sherrill Township, and an enterprising citizen of the county, was born in St. Louis County, May 10, 1842. His father, Derby Moran, was a citizen of that county, an Irishman by birth, and a man of Catholic education, having been educated for the priesthood in the old country. His mother, Bridget Morisey, was a sister to the noted John Morisey, the pugilist, of New York. They had three boys and one girl. The father, mother and daughter died in St. Louis; the three brothers, Moses W., John H. and Thomas M., came to Licking, Texas County, in 1857, and entered into business, going south in 1861, where Moses, the oldest, died in 1864. After the war and a tramp through the States, John H. Moran came back to Texas County, where he had some land, and engaged in blacksmithing, in Licking, in 1866. He was successful enough to accumulate good farm property and buy several hundred acres of land. In 1878 he married Miss Annie Halbert, daughter of Judge E. Halbert, of Texas County. They have two children, Hampton, named for Gov. Wade Hampton, and Vesta, named for Senator George Vest. Mr. Moran and family lived in Licking until the cyclone of 1880 swept that town away, when they moved to their farm, “Valley View,” four miles north of Licking. Mr. Moran is a genial, social fellow, well posted, and though not connected with any church, assists everybody and everything tending to the good of society and the country. His wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Mr. Moran thinks he has some things to be proud of in the history of events of Texas County. He received the title of colonel from Sim West, and that of judge from Gen. Jo. Bradford. He believes himself to have been the first person in the county to get married in church; also the first in the county to obtain a patent for an invention. He was, besides, one of the first presidents of a Democratic club in the county. He is for Cleveland and Dr. R. Francis in 1892.