James Thomas ("J.T.") Moran (March 1848 – May 5, 1925) was the owner of a men's clothing business in Oakland, which sponsored the Greenhood and Morans baseball team. Moran was also the second owner of the historic Quinn House.
James Moran was born in Connecticut in 1848, he was the son of Irish immigrants Thomas Moran (1820-1849) and Jane McNulty Moran Early (1823-1896). He married Mary E. Fox Moran (February 1849 – 1923) in 1868 in California. Mary knew James Moran growing up in CT, when she turned 18 she moved out to Oakland to marry him.1 J.T. and Mary had a daughter, Mamie E. Moran (Hannan) (1872 – 1903). The family lived in a variety of locations in Oakland including 625 Filbert Street, 509 13th Street, and the Quinn House at 1425 Castro Street.
Moran's clothing business was on Broadway near 11th. Different directories and articles list different addresses, but all in the 1000 block of Broadway. A 1923 ad says they sold "everything a man wears (except shoes)." The business was in the newspaper of number of times, once because of damaged sustained because of a fire that started at a nearby paint store 2 and once because of J.T.'s creative security system. After a number of businesses in the area had been robbed, they started keeping a gas light burning. It was put forth that Moran was having a clerk sleep in the store at night, but someone recognized the "clerk" as one of the display dummies, and the truth came out. 3 J.T. was also noted in the paper for collecting an eight year-old debt from boxing champ Jack Johnson. 4
1923 directory advertisement
J.T. Moran hat c. 1900-1910, OMCA Collections
gift of Lloyd Sigmon
Moran is middle of top row
Oakland Tribune, Sept 21, 1909
Links and References
- Wife of Pioneer Merchant is Dead, Oakland Tribune, May 15, 1922, page 3.
- Fire in a Paint Shop, San Francisco Call, April 3, 1896
- Faith in a Dummy San Francisco Call, February 4, 1896
- Lil' Artha Must Pay $25 For an Old Overcoat San Francisco Call, March 17, 1911
