Note Type
Historical NoteNote
The subject was born in Dresden, Weakley County, Tennessee in 1840. He was the son of James Henderson Moran I and Harriet Harris. There being no public schools in the county at that time, John Williamson Moran received a private education. He began his business career as a store clerk at Hickman, Kentucky but his career and life were interrupted by the Civil War. He enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861 and served with the 31st Tennessee Regiment, Co. I. His service included engagements at Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Perryville and Franklin where he was wounded. He surrendered in North Carolina with the Army of Tennessee in May 1865. After the war Moran worked at Hickman, Kentucky, loading steamboats until he earned enough money to start his own dry goods business in Dresden, Tennessee. He married Sophia Riley Gunn in 1871. The couple had five children: Fannie Lemira Moran, Charles Harrell Moran, Ida Morehead Moran, James Henderson Moran III, and Marion Agnes Moran. He was a member, official and financial patron of the Methodist Church South in Dresden. In the 1880's he helped found the Bank of Dresden becoming the first president of the institution, a position he held until his death in Nashville in 1912. In 1895, as a gift for his wife, he commissioned the building of a large George Barber Victorian home which became known as Moran Place. He is interred in the Moran Cemetery in Dresden, Tennessee.