They Promote Planting To Prosper, 1938

We recently attended the estate of Lillian Ezzell Dobson Dunavant in Memphis.  Lillian is a great-grandchild of John Williamson Moran making her and Kent 2nd cousins. We purchased several items related to the shared family history including two boxes of newspaper clippings, letters and other ephemera.

The first packet of clippings just happened to include articles that mention Uncle Brud, aka Charles H. Moran.  I thought that was a great place to begin scanning and sharing the information from the Dunavant estate.

"Plans for bigger and better participation in the 1938 Plant To Prosper contest by Weakley County farmers were outlined at Dresden, Tenn., this week by the county committee; Members are (left to right) Charles H. Moran, banker; Claude H. Hilliard and Reuben E. Ellis, county agent."

Gold Coins and Small Waisted Girls, January 1908

We greatly enjoyed this letter from Jimmie to his dad J.W. Moran.  J.W. and George Boyd taught him a good lesson, when you want something the price usually rises and in this the price on the gold coin he wanted increased by $15!  This letter also shows the competitive streak between Jim and his brother Brud for the ladies.  Or at least the competition existed in Jim's mind.  :)

Just an FYI for you all.  Instead of posting the images of each scanned letter, I think the above format is more interesting to read and to look it.  Since search engines can't read the embedded text on an image, I will still include the text of each letter in html format so that the information can be retrieved by a search.

"The Mechanics-American National Bank of St. Louis

1/14-08

Dear Papa-

Your letter received today and as I will not have another opportunity to write for several days will answer at once.  

I don't know whether you ever told me or I just found it out from observation but a man when he wants to trade with you must not appear at all anxious that he wants to trade.  Now when I was down home and didn't want that gold piece I could have got it for sixty dollars but when I get back here and do want it then the price rises.  I don't see my way clear to give seventy-five dollars or even seventy but rather than have you and Mr. Boyd bluff me out I will give you seventy dollars if delivered at once express paid.  I don't think you can get this much from a broker, in fact I know you can't but the party that wants this one is collecting coins for his own personal pleasure and is able to pay for luxuries.  

If you will trade at the above price send to me care of the Mechanics-American Bk not Am. Germ. as your letter this morning was addressed.

I hope Brud is not trying to take advantage of my absence by visiting Jackson for the purpose of taking possession of my belonging down there.  The pretty girl with the little waist is not there now so I can't imagine what is prolonging his visit.

Give my love to Aunt Aggie, Hope you are both well.

Devotedly,

Jimmie

Uncle Brud's Travel Kit

Uncle Brud, 1913, aboard the
S.S. Kronprincessin Cecilie

Uncle Brud traveled a great deal for a variety of reasons. As a young man he spent time away at college learning all of the accounting skills that made him a successful banker.

Brud was very health conscious and  seemed to be on the "sickly" side so he spent time at sanitariums/health resorts like the one in Battle Creek Michigan.

And he loved to travel for adventure such as the great American west and a trip to the Panama Canal and Cuba in 1913, a year after the death of his father J.W. Moran.

So when I look at Brud's travel kit, I wonder about all of the places it's been that we'll never about.

The Curtis Publishing Co. Asks a Favor, 1911

The Curtis Publishing Company published great magazines such as The Ladies' Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post.  In this letter from 1911 to Brud Moran they asked him to list some people on the back of the letter who might be interested in being local POST agents and return the letter with names to Curtix Publishing.  Brud wrote some names but that's as far as it went unless he sent it the information in a separate letter.

Most of these folks are known relatives like the Scott's in Texas, others were family friends such as Attorney Sharp of Corinth.  Whoever they were Brud felt comfortable enough listing them as people that might interested in the Curtis Publishing scheme!

October 12, 1911

Mr. C. H. Moran

Dresden Tennessee

Dear Sir;-

Assuming you are an interested reader of THE POST, I write to ask a favor:  Will you name five or ten friends or neighbors who might care to earn some extra money by doing a little pleasant work for us.

We want someone to appoint a local POST agent for us in your town - and perhaps later in other towns.  It will take only a short time and whoever does it will be well paid.

By sending us their names on the back of this letter, you will do a great favor to them.  Of sourse we will not mention your name.

A stamped envelope is enclosed. Thanking you in advance for an early reply, I remain

Very truly yours

The Curtis Publishing Company 

R.C.  Clot...

Contract Manager

And on the back are the lucky names Brud penned...

Known family:

Dr. Arthur Scott, Temple Texas, nephew of J.W. Moran and noted cancer specialist and a founder of the Scott-White Hosptital

Mr. Oscar Scott, Gainesville Texas, nephew of J.W. Moran

Mr. James Burns, McKenzie Tennessee.  Another cousin from the Harris side out of Carroll County. He married Mary Lee Harris, another 1st cousin to J.W. Moran

Mrs. Agnes Irvine, Dresden Tennessee, sister of J.W. Moran

George Woods Harris, St. Louis Missouri, employee of Ely Walker, 1st cousin of J.W. Moran through Williamson Harris of Carroll County TN

Mr. George Martin, Martin Tennessee, I believe this is George Washington Martin, a distant relative of the Moran family through the Martin/Gardner/Irvine/Noran families.

Mr. and Mrs. Finis Garrett, another cousin through the Harris line from Carroll County and U.S. Congressman

Mr. Eugene Boyd, a cousin through the marriage of Martha H Moran to Rufus Franklin Scott.  At one time he worked as a cashier at the Dresden Bank.

Mrs. Zachary Taylor Collier, McKenzie Tennessee.  Because of this letter that Brud saved I was able to determine that she was Ada Medora Harris and married Zachary Taylor Collier, yet again another cousin through the line of Williamson Harris of Carroll County Tennessee.

Friends and Possible family connections

Mrs. Mattie Stone, lived in Texas.  There are other Stone family in Moran tree but at this time unknown how she might be related.

Attorney Sharp, Corinth Mississippi.  This is Major Samuel Sharp, a friend and fellow soldier of J.W. Moran's during the Civil War. 

Mr. Eugene Freeman, Huntingdon TN.   Another possible cousin from Carroll County.

Mr and Mrs. Harvey Armstrong, Chattanooga Tennessee.  No clue who these people are at this time.

J. McK. Wright, Jacksonville Florida.  Cf Wright Barrel & Coal Co.  No clue and I'm not sure if I've transcribe the name correctly.

Mrs. J.A. Hefley, Union City Tennessee.  This would be Lou Emma Odom who married John Armstead Hefley.  Originally from Carroll County they moved to Union City Tennessee.  No clue who they are.

Dr. Wright, Huntingdon Tennessee. No idea.

Mrs. Tom Jones. Name too vague.

R.P. Whitesell was Robert Peter Whitesell of Union City Tennessee.  He was a prominent land owner and lawyer. No idea the connection.

Haynes Ayres.  I've seen the name before but don't remember in what connection.

Morris Akin.  Name too vague.

1908 Travel Brochures

Here are a few travel brochures that Uncle Brud saved from his trip out west in 1908.  Brud enjoyed traveling and took many trips including a cruise of the Caribbean with stops at Jamaica, Cuba, and a new thing they were building called the Panama Canal.

The Old Gentlemen's Club, Dresden TN

The back of the picture tells it all:

from back to front: 

1936, The Old Gentlemen's Club.  

C. H. Moran, Roy Brasfield, Harry Jones, Jim Moran 

and Greta and Spot.

The picture was taken at Moran Place, Dresden Tennessee on Cedar Street. 

The silo in the background was built around 1910.
C.H. Moran is Charles Harrell Moran also known as Brud.

Cecile V. Scott and Sallie Farrar Scott, 1885 Dresden TN

We have quite a few pictures of people.  Some will never be identified, some have names and still are a mystery to us.  That was the case for the picture labeled Cecile and Farrar Scott.  We know the Scott family is related and have talked about it many times in this blog but we had no idea how Cecile and Farrar fit into the genealogy pool.  Till today.

Cecile, the older sister, is standing behind her younger sister Farrar.

Cecile and Farrar Scott were the daughters of Stephen P. Scott and Catherine (Kitty) Ruth Taylor. Cecile was born in August 2, 1871 in Weakley County Tennessee.  She was the oldest of three children.  Cecile married Robert D. Hart in 1888, Dresden TN.  They had a daughter, Cecile Scott Hart born abt 1889. Cecile V. Scott Hart died July 11, 1931 in Waverly TN.  She and her husband are buried Sunset Cemetery.

Farrar Scott was the middle child, born February 18, 1873.  She married Robert G. Stanley in Dresden on December 6, 1894.  They had two children, Carey Stanley and Granville David Stanley. At the time of the 1900 census they were living in Nashville.  The 1910 census has them living in Memphis.  Robert Stanley died sometime between the 1910 and 1920 census because Farrar is listed in the 1920 census as a widow. She died October 6, 1969.  She and her son Granville are buried at Sunset Cemetery in Dresden, TN.

Cecile and Farrar had a younger brother named Stephen P. Scott.  He was born in 1876.  He married a woman named Grace and together they had two sons, William and Jack Scott.  Stephen died in Galveston TX in 1934.

Cecile and Farrar's father, Stephen P. Scott, was the half-brother of Rufus Franklin Scott.  Rufus married Mary Helen Scott Moran and that is the connection between us and this branch of the Scott family.

Can Your Cornfield Rest Secure?

The Moran's have been merchants, bankers, legislators and farmers.  This entry is dedicated to the farm. Sometime about 1910 they needed a silo and they wanted the best.  Apparently the concrete silo's developed by the Polk-Genung-Polk Co. of Fort Branch, Indiana were among the best.  

Here is a four page brochure from the McAdoo Construction Co., Builders, of Union City, Tennessee advocating the Polk System of Silo's.  McAdoo touts them as "Lasting forever" and perhaps they do as evidenced by the last picture on this page.  They might last forever but are they usable forever?

Be sure and scroll down to see the picture of Uncle Brud Moran and the silo taken shortly after it was built around 1910 then see the picture of it as it stands today.  I think it looks like the remains of a magnificent castle overgrown with trees and weeds sitting on the back acreage the family home.

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4, that silo is the one built on the Moran Farm.

That's Uncle Brud, Charles Harrell Moran, at the base of the new silo.

This is the silo as it stands now.  

George Washington Carver and the Sweet Potato

Cover of the Sweet Potato Festival Program, 1937

Search for George Washington Carver at Amazon!

In 1937 the first ever Sweet Potato Festival was held in Dresden, Tennessee and Charles H. Moran was the Chairman of the Festival.  

Charles Harrell Moran, Chairman
1937 Sweet Potato Festival

C. H. Moran had always been interested in agricultural experimentation and was very familiar with the work of George Washington Carver.  In his capacity as Chairman, he wrote to Carver to solicit his input into the Festival.  Better known for his work with the peanut and his How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption Carver also experimented with sweet potatoes and published How the Farmer Can Save His Sweet Potatoes and Ways of Preparing them for the Table.   However by 1937 Mr. Carver had left the sweet potato behind and was devoting his time to the rehabilitation of infantile paralysis victims per his return letter to C. H. Moran.

Letter from George Washington Carver.

George Washington Carver

Charles.H. Moran's Tinbox

Today I came across a tinbox that had belonged to Charles H. Moran, known to most people as Brud.  There are nine items in the box: 

1. Reunion U.C.V Louisville, June, 1905 badge picturing John C. Breckinridge
2. Reunion U.C.V Louisville, May, 1900 badge picturing Robert E. Lee
3. Metal badge edged in filigree, engraved with C.H. Moran
4. One old key
5. A small leather pouch, probably contained item no. 1
6. One cravat (bow tie), that would have gone over a collar
7. 8 "Best French Bone Collar Buttons" made in France (still attached to blue card)
8. Leather cardholder with a lion, possibly embossed or drawn on it
9. Small black holder that says "Compliments of T.A. McElwrath, Dresden, Tenn." on one side and on the other it says "Hamilton, Brown Shoe, Largest Shoe House in the World".  The inside panels say ""Hamilton Brown Shoe Co.'s Security School Shoes, Wear Longest" and "American Lady for women. American Gentleman for men.  In each shoe is reflected the Sterling Quality of Its Namesake".