San
Joaquin County
Biographies
WALTER R. MORAN
Among the recent accessions to the
viticultural section of San Joaquin County is Walter R. Moran, the owner of a
fifteen-acre vineyard on the Alpine School Road. He is a native of Crawford, Nebraska, and the
son of Dennis and Sadie (Losee) Moran, the former a
native of Ireland, and the latter of Indiana.
Dennis Moran was only about one year old when his parents came to
America and settled at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, where he was reared and
received his education. He was only
eighteen years old when he started on his varied career as cowboy and stockman,
and finally as a successful vineyardist of the San Joaquin Valley, where he
resides today.
When Walter R. Moran was nine years
old, his parents removed to Bellefourche, South Dakota, where they engaged in
the stock business; later the family moved to British Columbia, and he followed
ranching there. From early boyhood
Walter Moran could ride a horse, and when he was twenty years old, he naturally
took to the range, first going to Montana, where he stayed one year, and then
to British Columbia, where for three years he rode the range for the Western
Canadian Ranch Company, 150 miles north of the Canadian line. Next we find him back in Montana at Billings,
where he worked for four years for the Western Sugar Company. In September of 1917, he enlisted at
Billings, Montana, and was sent to Fort George Wright, Washington, in the
Quartermaster’s Corps. After remaining
there for a short time, he was sent to Camp Lewis in the 344th
Baking Company, and on June 25, 1918, was sent to France as a baker at Ish-Sur-Til. He was later returned to the United States, and on July 1, 1919, was discharged at Fort Russell,
Wyoming, and immediately returned to his parents’ home in Lodi,
California. After his return he
purchased fifteen acres south of Kettleman Lane on the Alpine School Road,
which is devoted to the raising of grapes; he also has twenty-five acres
rented, that belongs to his father. Both
of these places are well irrigated.
The marriage of Mr. Moran occurred
at Oakland, California, on January 22, 1921, and united him with Miss Winifred
Whitman, a native of Florin, California, and a daughter of Albert and Effie
Whitman. Years ago Albert Whitman came
from Massachusetts to North Dakota, and from there to
California. He is now residing in
Oakland. Winifred Whitman received her
education in the grammar and high schools of San Jose. She has one brother, Neil. In politics Mr. Moran is a Democrat. Fraternally he was made a Mason in Lodi Lodge
No. 256, F. & A. M., and with his wife is a member of Lodi Chapter No. 150,
Lodi. He is also a member of American
Legion Post No. 22, Lodi. Mr. Moran is
intensely interested in good roads, thinking them essential to the building up
of the county. He is an advocate of all
measures for the advancement of his community and labors for its improvement
and progress.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1223-1224. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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