Springfield-Greene
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JAMES A. MOON. It has been said that it is difficult for lawyers to be men of wholesome character in view of the fact that they have to deal so much with criminals, see so much of crimes and immoralities of every grade, have their attention called to fraud and rascality in every form, perpetrated by all classes of society, and which familiarity is said to in a measure induce vice and crime, yet observation by a fair-minded person invariably leads to the conclusion that lawyers stand, as a class of men, as high for right living, honesty and fair dealing, as any other engaged in active business life. This is no doubt, in some measure accounted for by their general intelligence, for ignorance is said to be, and is, the mother of vice. James A. Moon and his son, Fred A. Moon, who are engaged together in the practice of law in Springfield, Greene county, are two attorneys whose lives have been above idle cavil and who lend dignity to their profession.
James A. Moon was born in Iowa City, Iowa, December 22, 1859. He is a son of William E. and Sarah (McCollister) Moon, the father a native of the state of New York, but when a young man he removed to Iowa, where he established the permanent home of the family and became a successful farmer and stock raiser and an influential man in his community, and there his death occurred August 23, 1909, at the advanced age of eighty-three years. These parents were married in 1854. The mother, a woman of old-time Christian attributes and hospitality, is living with her son, the subject of this sketch. This family is of Scotch-English ancestry.
James A. Moon grew to manhood on the home farm in Iowa, and there assisted his father with the general work during the crop seasons and in the winter time attended the neighboring public schools, later entered the University of Iowa, and was graduated from the literary and law departments. He commenced his professional practice at Miller, South Dakota, in 1882, and remained there enjoying a good practice until 1888, when he came to Springfield, Missouri, where he has been constantly engaged in the practice to the present time, and during his residence here of a quarter of a century his reputation as an able, conscientious and successful lawyer has gradually increased. He formed a partnership about six years ago with his son,, Fred A. Moon, under the firm name of James A. Moon & Son, and they are doing a good business.
James A. Moon was married March 2, 1886, to Sarah E. Adderly, a daughter of William Adderly, a.well-known dealer in general merchandise at Mt. Morris, Michigan, who died many years ago. Mrs. Moon's mother was Mary Hughes, whose father, Christopher Hughes, was one of the early pioneers of Michigan. He lived to the unusual age of ninety-three years. He came to this country from Ireland when a boy, located on a farm and spent the rest of his life on the same place dying there. His early life record goes back to the Indian times, when his only neighbors were the red men and wild beasts. Mrs. Sarah E. Moon's great-great-grandfather was Lord Mayor of London, England. Her mother died in 1911, leaving two daughters, Mrs. Moon and Mary Adderly, who lives in Miller, South Dakota.
Politically James A. Moon is a Democrat and has always been loyal in the support of the party. He belongs to the Episcopal church, and fraternally he is a member of the Modern Woodmen and the Eagles.
Two children, a son and a daughter, have been born to our subject and wife, namely: Edith, who is the younger of the two, was born April 7, 1889, was educated in the Springfield ward and high schools, being graduated from the latter; she lives at home and is a stenographer in her father's law office. The son, Fred A. Moon, was born in South Dakota, January 4, 1887, and was about a year old when his parents removed to Springfield, w here he grew to manhood and received his early education in the ward and high schools, being graduated from the latter, after which he entered the Missouri State University at Columbia, where he took both the literary and law courses, making a good record there. After his graduation he returned home and began the practice of his profession at the age of twenty-one, in partnership with his father, and he has made a splendid record for one his age at the local bar, ranking among the most promising of the younger generation of lawyers in Greene county. He has held the office of assistant city attorney Since 1912, the duties of which he has discharged in an able and satisfactory manner, and in 1914 he was a popular candidate for the office of city attorney He married Clara Parker, November 19, 1908, and to this union four sons have been born, namely: Charles Arnold, born February 4, 1910; Robert James, born February 14, 1911; William Adderly, born April 8, 1912 and Parker Fred, born November 12, 1913.
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