Another Moran brother, Michael, came from New York in 1857 with his wife Elizabeth Flannagan, whom he had married in 1849. Michael also engaged in mining and ranching. (I know nothing about William Moran and his descendants.)

John Moran married Theresa Curran (daughter of Patrick and Bridget Curran) in 1861. Theirs was the very first marriage performed in the new church at Murphys. John made his living working for the Utica Company on the construction of the first system to carry drinking water from the mountains down to the towns and mines of the Mother Lode. Edward Leonard's A Brief History of Angels Camp (1973) describes this project. Theresa went with her husband when he went into the mountains, and it is said that for six months at a time she saw no other white women.

In 1870, they bought a ranch near Arnold, about twelve miles northeast of Murphys and three miles from Big Trees.
History of Arnold Mentions Moran ranch
Guide to Greater Arnold

In 1885, a description of the ranch was published. The central hundred of the 1,100 acres produced potatoes, apples, plums, and other fruits and vegetables, as well as cattle, hogs, sheep, and other animals. The surrounding thousand acres were left in their natural sugar pine, yellow pine, fir, and oak. The Morans' descendants eventually sold the ranch to developers, who subdivided it. It is now known as "Sky Ranch." Moran Creek, which rises in Calaveras Big Trees State Park, flows through the area.

John and Theresa Moran had two children:
- Katherine Ethel Moran 1863 - 1937
- Thomas J. Moran 1870 - 1916

Katherine Ethel Moran was born on the Moran ranch near Big Trees, on August 10, 1863. Young Kate (as she was called) attended school at Big Trees. When an artist was commissioned to paint an altar mural for St. Anne's Catholic Church in Columbia, he asked Kate to be the model for the angels. There are stories of a love affair between Kate and the artist, and of her family's disapproval. But Kate married Dr. John Richard Dorroh. In the 1980s, after years of neglect, St. Anne's was restored, and the mural, with its numerous smiling angels, can still be seen.

St. Anne's Church, Columbia (California). Photo by Kate's grandson, A. J. Huber.

On a hill above Murphys is a church bearing plaque that reads, in part, "St. Patrick's Catholic Church: originally located near Dr. Jones apothecary shop and destroyed by fire, during which [fire, the] chalice and other sacred appurtenances were carried to safety by 'Aunty' Moran in her voluminous apron." I don't know to whom it refers.

Theresa's granddaughter Terese recalled going with her cousin Kate to visit their grandmother at her house in Murphys. She kept bantam chickens and saved the small eggs for the little girls. She also let them sleep in the huge four-poster bed that had been brought from Ireland. When she thought they were asleep, she would creep into the room in her ruffled nightgown and sprinkle them with holy water, making them giggle under the covers.

John Moran died intestate, and his widow Theresa was somehow left without land and almost penniless. Her son-in-law (Katherine's husband), John Richard Dorroh, found her one day scrubbing laundry by hand, and told her to pack her things -- she was coming to live with him. He had a chest made for her from pine from what had been her ranch. She kept her treasures in that chest, and I have it now.

My information on John and Theresa Moran comes from the recollections of their granddaughter, Terese Dorroh Huber (my grandmother), and from Calaveras County Illustrated (published 1885 and reprinted 1976). I found it in the San Leandro Community Library's Californiana Collection.

email john@jrhuber.com