JOHN AUSTIN MOON
MOON, JOHN AUSTIN, member of the United States house of representatives, was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, April 22, 1855. His parents were William Franklin and Marietta (Appling) Moon. His father was a merchant.
When he was two years of age his parents removed to Bristol, Virginia, where they remained until 1870 when they removed to Chattanooga, Tennessee. His early life was passed in a village. His health was good; his family circumstances were such that he had no tasks to perform which required manual labor; and there were no unusual difficulties to be overcome by him in entering a college course. He studied at an academy in Virginia, and entered King college, Bristol, Tennessee, but did not complete the course.
He studied law, and in March, 1874, commenced the practice of his profession in Chattanooga. In 1878 he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States. Two years later he was an unsuccessful candidate for the general assembly. In 1881-82 he was city attorney of Chattanooga, and in 1888 he was a member of the state Democratic executive committee. In May, 1889, at the unanimous request of the members of the bar in that circuit, he was commissioned by the governor a special circuit judge of the fourth judicial district of Tennessee, which office he held by successive reappointments until January 1891, when he was appointed the regular judge for the same circuit. He served under this appointment until August, 1892, when he was elected circuit judge for two years, and at the expiration of the term he was reelected for eight years. On the twelfth of August 1896, he received the Democratic nomination for representative to the fifty-fifth Congress and on the following day he was nominated for the same office by the Populists. He was successful at the polls and by successive reflections he has been continued as a member of the house. His present term expires in 1907. He was a delegate from the state-at-large to the Democratic national convention at Kansas City in 1900 and was a member of the platform and resolutions committee in that body.
