Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/463

 MORAN

MORAN

congregation in the state, of which lie served as rabbi until liia death. He worked for the welfare of the Jews and Judaism, and was recognized as the foremost champion of American Hebrew orthodoxy. He was an honorary member of the Union League of Philadelphia; professor of the Bible and of Biblical literature in Maimonides college in Philadt'li)iiia for the training of Hebrew ministers, 1867-72; was the principal founder of the Jewish Theological seminary, New York city, in 1S87, and presiilent of its faculty, 1887-97. He joined the Free Masons in order to advocate the freedom and unification of Italy, and was an in- timate friend of Joseph Mazzini. He received the degree LL.D. from the University of Penn- sylvania in 1887. He was married to Clara Esther, daughter of Hirsch Isaac and Matilda (Marks) Weil, of Philadelphia, Pa. The Morals library was founded in the Jewish Theological seminary, New York city, in April, 1893, in honor of his seventieth birthday. His contributions to the American Jewish i)ress include: Speeirneyis of Italian Hebrew Literature; The Ritual Question, and The Falashas. He translated the works of Maimonides and Samuel David Luzzatto; con- tributed articles on Hebrew scholars of different ages, and lectures on Post-Biblical History and on the Bible, Talmud and Jewish Religion. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., Nov. 11, 1897.

MORAN, Benjamin, diplomatist, was born in Lancaster county, Pa., in 1820. His father was manager of a cotton factory in Trenton, N.J. He attended the public schools, and was employed as a printer in Philadelphia, Pa., for several years. He visited Europe in 1850, made a tour of Eng- land on foot, and was private secretary to U.S. Minister James Buchanan, 1854-55. He was ap- pointed secretary of legation at London in 1855, by President Pierce; held the office through the administrations of Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, and Grant, and during his term of oflBce served frequently as chargi d'affaires. He was trans- ferred to Portugal as U.S. minister by President Grant, serving 1874-82, and resided in London, England, from 1882 until his death. He con- tributed to periodicals, and is the author of The Footpath and Highway, or Wanderings of an American in Great Britain in 1851-52 (1853). He died in London, England, June 20, 1886.

MORAN, Edward, painter, was born in Bol- ton, Lancashire, England, Aug. 16, 1829. His parents emigrated to the United States in 1844, and settled in Maryland, where he worked with his father and brothers, Thomas and Peter, as a weaver, and became foreman. He was a cabinet- maker, bronzer, and house painter in Phila- delphia, adopted art as a profession through the advice of James Hamilton, under whom he studied marine painting, and landscape painting

under Paul Weber. He opened a studio in Philadelphia, went to England in 1862 to study in the National gallery, London, and in 1869 estab- lished a studio in New York city, where he remained until his death, save occasional visits to Paris and London. He was elected a member of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1869. He married Elizabeth McManes in 1850, and their sons, Percy and Leon, became well- known artists. He was married secondly in 1871 to Annette Corvaia. He was a versatile painter, but was best known as a marine artist. Among his paintings are: TJie Bay of New York; The Lord Staying the Waters; Launch of the Life- boat; The Last of the Wreck; Old Fort Dumpling, Newport; The Statue of Liberty on the Day of Unveiling (1876); The White Cliffs of Albion (1877); Return of the Fishes; In the Narrows. His most important series, begun in 1881 and finished after the close of the war with Spain, consists of thirteen paintings, representing thir- teen epochs in the marine history of the United States. The masterpiece of the series is said to be the first. The Ocean, the Highway of Nations. He died in New York city, June 9, 1901.

MORAN, (Edward) Percy, artist, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., July 29, 1862; son of Edward and Elizabeth (McManes) Moran. He early showed a talent for figure painting and studied art under his father, also under his uncle, S. J. Ferris, in Philadelphia, and at the National Acad- emy of Design in New York city. He attended school in Paris, 1874-78, studying art at the same time; was in London, 1881, studying the English masters of the eighteenth century, es{)ecially Rey- nolds and Gainsborough, and again in Paris, studying the works of modern French masters. Returning to the United States he opened a studio in New York city, making a specialty of female heads and figures. He exhibited at the National Academy of Design and received the first prize there in 1886 for Divided Attention. He was married, Dec. 16, 1891, to Virginia Bre- mond, daughter of Judge F. J. Crosby of El Paso. Texas. His paintings include: A Comer of the Stiidio (1882); The Wood-Cutter's Daughter (1882); The Duet (1884); Afternoon Tea (1885); The Miller's Daughter (1886); The Dancing Les- son (1887); The Rehearsal for the Ball (1887); A Japanese Fantasy (1888). He made a study of the costumes, manners and customs of the Colo- nial times, and his best known pictures, which are quiet in character, usually represent love scenes or home life in that period. His A For- gotten Strain received the first gold medal at the American Art association, N.Y., in 1888, for the best figure picture painted in the United States by an artist under thirty-five years old, and was added to the Walters collection, Baltimore. His