Remembering Ria Fuhrmann and Nathan Moran

Ria Fuhrmann Moran, Summer 1952

In addition to catching the lovely Ria, Nathan was a great fisherman too!

Though born in Teplitz-Schonau, Czechoslovakia, the Fuhrmann family was German.  Today we remember the birth of Ria Fuhrmann who was born in 1926.  She was the daughter of Franz and Marie Fuhrmann.  

Ria's picture is from the summer of 1952 and most likely taken in Germany.  Just two years later on October 1 1954 she married Nathan Harrell Moran of Dresden, Tennessee.  The couple were married in Wiesbaden, Germany.  Ria and Nathan lived in Japan, Alabama, and Kansas before settling at Moran Place in the 1960's.

Nathan passed away in 1982.  Ria left us to join her beloved Nate last year on March 18, 2013.  A bit of old world grace and manners departed this world when she passed away. 

Photo Friday - On Display

Sometimes it feels like we own a mini-museum of Moran History.  And as such, it's impossible to display everything that we'd like to showcase.  We were able to save one piece of furniture that had been dismantled and stored in the parlor.  It's a wonderful old desk/bookcase made in Cincinnati by Mitchell and Rammelsberg who operated between 1847 and 1881.  I've set up some pieces on display and took a few pictures and thought I'd share this one today.

There are a few old keys and a very old leather eyeglass holder with goldframe glasses inside.  We think those belonged to Lyman Taft Gunn.  There are two seals with an "M" on each.  One of them has a lovely amethyst stone at the end.  There's a small ladies pocket watch which may have belonged to Sophia Riley Gunn Moran.  The tintype frame is from the 1800's however James H. Moran IV removed the tintype and placed a photograph of his daughter in the frame.  We have several tintypes but no clue if any of them are the one that went with the frame.  And there's an assortment of books belonging to the Gunns.  Oh, and on top of the books is a fob.  There would've been an ornament of some kind, possibly a jewel, at the end but that's long been missing.  By candlelight it's almost like living in another era.