Architectural and Design Elements, Moran Place

Early photo, grand staircase, small sitting nook
and fireplace. 

Moran Place is a feast for the eyes. Construction began in 1895.   It is a modified version of George Barber's design no. 36 from the book Cottage Souvenir no. 2.   The book was loaned out to another branch of Moran's and does not seem to have been returned.  Several Moran relatives built magnificent Victorian homes perhaps based on George Barber's designs.  Ida Moran and her husband Will G. Timberlake built a huge Victorian home near Jackson Tennessee.  Some of the Texas relatives had majestic Victorian homes as well.

This is one of my favorite pictures.  Taken from inside the attic
looking out.  It very much looks like a rainbow.

The first floor of Moran Place has a Master bedroom with huge closet and a private room off the side.  One bathroom, a front parlor, sitting room also called the library, a large formal dining room, large kitchen with a laundry room, huge entrance which includes a small cubby area under the main grand staircase (seen in the photo above) and a sitting area in the main hall.  The narrow servants stairs are in the back.  There are six fireplaces on the first floor alone and there is a large wrap around front porch.

Wallpaper from an upstairs bedroom.

The second floor has four bedrooms, one bathroom, a large sitting area, a turret room, four fireplaces, a small outdoor space overlooking the front yard. Some of the rooms were painted while others had wallpaper, even the ceilings had wallpaper. At one time plantation shutters covered the windows.  The windows at the top of the house are done in beautiful stained glass as is the window in the dining room.

The narrow servants staircase.

The Victorian was not the original Moran home.  The Moran lot was large enough that the "old" house stayed in place while construction of the "new" Victorian house was in progress.  While the original furnishings probably came from the "old" house family lore says that most of the large ornate furnishings came a bit later from the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904.

The huge third floor may have at one time been used as a sewing room and most definitely as storage space.

February Birthdays

Here are just a few Moran relatives with February birthdays:

Mitchell Shumate, born February 7, 1792.  Died March 1, 1871.

Williamson Harris, born February 17, 1782.  Died in 1840.  His wife, Elizabeth Battle Perry was born February 18, 1795 and died in 1870.

Charles Harrell Moran aka Uncle Brud was born February 17, 1876 and died December 31, 1967.

Judith Carroll Scott Moran  born February 22, 1927 and died May 15, 2005.

Mary Ada "Addie" McCutcheon Harris  born February 27, 1861 and died October 10, 1930.

Newton Temple Harris Sr. born February 26, 1882 and died January 14, 1940.

Thomas C. Scott born February 27, 1855 and died August 21, 1861.

William Shanks Scott born February 13, 1807 and died January 2, 1873.

Daisy Gunn Ezzell born February 22 1873 and died June 30, 1972.

Capt Leon Caraway 1874-1939

Leonidas A. Caraway (Carraway) was born April 5, 1874 in Benton County Tennessee to William "Buck" Caraway and Catherine (Kate) Morris.  We don't know if he was merely a friend or if he's family but this picture of Leon was found among the papers of Charles Harrell Moran.  Leon would've been a contemporary of the Moran children.  He attended Vanderbilt and received a law degree, as did James Henderson Moran III. Leon married Ina Belle McCollough and they had two children, Leon (b. 1910) and Baxter (b. 1913).

Capt Leon Carraway (sic)
Co. - I
Return to Harrell Moran
Dresden, Tenn.

Leon was a Captain in the First Regiment Tennessee Volunteers during the Spanish-American War.  When he returned home from the War he was the postmaster at Big Sandy.  In 1929 the Tennessee State Legislature created the Nathan Bedford Forrest Park Commission, Leon was one of the original board members.

During World War I Leon went to Paris Tennessee and organized Battery D.  However due to his age and various health problems he had to step down from service.  Captain Caraway was in the Veterans Administration Hospital in Mountain Home Tennessee when he died on October 31, 1939.  He was buried in Arlington Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.

For more information about the Caraway family and Benton County Tennessee be sure and read Benton County by the Benton County Genealogical Society.

**Updated October 17, 2013
If you're interested in more pictures of Capt. Caraway and other of his compatriots in Company I be sure and visit Spanish American War Soldiers, Company I, Pictures from the Past. Some of the photo's are identified and some are still a mystery.

**Updated January 8 2023

The photograph was taken by John Howard Dubbs.  Dubbs was known to be working in Tennessee from about 1892-1895.