Wayne County Biographies



Part of the Indiana Biographies Project



Richmond Moorman

This honored citizen of Richmond, Indiana, is one of the sturdy pioneers of this county and state, where in his early manhood he cleared and improved several farms, thus aiding materially in the development and progress of this commonwealth. He has ever been found loyal to the cause of right and truth, his influence being used for the good and well-being of those associated with him in any way.

Richmond Moorman is a son of Tarlton and Hannah (Way) Moorman, both of whom were natives of North Carolina. He was born in Randolph county, that state, on the 12th day of the 9th month, of 1817, and was but three days old when his mother died. In March, 1822, the family removed to Randolph county, Indiana, locating on land about four miles west of Winchester. Our subject lived with his paternal grandmother for a period, attending a subscription school in the meantime. Then, returning to the paternal roof, he worked on the farm and went to subscription schools during three months of the year, for a number of years. He also learned the carpenter's trade under the instruction of his uncle, Jesse Moorman, and worked at that line of business at intervals. Soon after his marriage, in 1839, he purchased a tract of land in Randolph county, and, having made a small clearing in the dense forest with which it was encumbered, he erected a log cabin and barn. During the following twenty years he worked industriously, from morning until night, clearing and cultivating the farm, which at the endof the period was a valuable country home. In 1859 he located upon a farm about three miles northeast of Fountain City, in this county, and at the expiration of three years' time he bought a homestead of one hundred and eighty-three acres in the same locality. This property he improved and cultivated for a score of years, then retiring from active labor, with the feeling that he had earned a rest, as indeed he had, after nearly half a century of the hardest kind of toil. Taking up his residence in Fountain City, he continued to dwell there until after the death of his loved wife. Since 1894 he has lived in Richmond, where several of his children reside. He still owns a number of valuable farms, one in Franklin township, comprising one hundred and sixty acres; one situated northeast of Fountain City, containing one hundred and thirty acres; another, north of the same town, having one hundred and eighty acres within its boundaries, and besides these, he is the possessor of a homestead in Jay county, Indiana, and owns property in Fountain City. This land represents, in part, the resuUs of Mr. Moorman's active, economical, thrifty business life. For years he was a stockraiser, dealing extensively in cattle and hogs, and in this manner he made considerable money.

A birthright member of the Friends' church, Mr. Moorman continued an active and zealous member until the division on the slavery question, when, possessing the courage of his convictions, and believing that he was in the right, he openly avowed his opinions, and, with many others prominent in the society, he was proscribed. When the issue was past and the matter had been forever settled on the battlefields of the south, Mr. Moorman was taken back into the fold, and has continued a loyal worker in the church, contributing liberally and supporting various religious and benevolent movements, having as objects the amelioration of human suffering and the elevation of the race. Prior to the civil war he was a Democrat, then an Abolitionist and Republican, and of late years he has been independent, voting for the man that he deemed best qualified for a given position.

In the third month of 1839 the marriage of Mr. Moorman and Mary Morris was solemnized. She was a daughter of Jehosophat and Sarah (Hill) Morris, of Dublin, Wayne county. Of the eight children born to our subject and wife the following named are residents of Richmond: Harriet, Sarah, Peninnah, Nancy and Mary Alice, while Levi is a farmer in the vicinity of the town. James, the eldest son, is superintendent of an orphans' home near Winchester, Indiana, and Joel, the youngest son, is a successful contractor and builder of Irvington, this state. Sarah, the second daughter, has been a clerk in the Richmond postoffice for many years, and is very popular with the public. The devoted wife and mother was summoned to her reward November 22, 1893, when she was in her seventy-sixth year. To their children Mr. and Mrs. Moorman leave a priceless heritage—the record of well spent, useful lives.

Source:
Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana, Volume 1, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1899





Richmond Moorman, farmer and stock raiser, was born in Richmond County, N. C., Sept. 12, 1817, the youngest son of Tarlton and Hannah (Way) Moorman. When he was an infant his mother died, and his father afterward married Rebecca Webb, and in March, 1822, they came to Randolph County, Ind., where our subject was reared on a frontier farm. His youth was spent in assisting his father in clearing and improving his farm, and in attending log cabin subscription schools. He was married March 20, 1839, to Mary Morris, born Dec. 1, 1818, in Wayne County, Ind., and a daughter of Jehosaphat and Sarah (Hill) Morris. They have had nine children, eight still living — Harriett, James M., Sarah, Levi, Peninah, Nancy H., Joel H., and M. Alice. Jesse died in childhood. Soon after his marriage Mr. Moorman settled on a farm in Randolph County where he followed agricultural pursuits till his removal to Wayne County in the spring of 1859. He then bought a farm in New Garden Township, where he resided three years, when he purchased the farm where he now resides in Franklin Township. Mr. Moorman has accumulated a good property by his own industry and economy. His farm contains 158 acres of improved land. He and his family are members of the Friends' society. During 1880 and 1881 Mr. Moorman and family resided in Fountain City.

Source:
History of Wayne County, Indiana. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1884. Volume 2