John A. Moon


John Austin Moon was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 3rd congressional district of Tennessee.

Biography

Born on April 22, 1855 near Charlottesville, Virginia in Albemarle County, Moon moved with his parents to Bristol, Virginia in 1857, and then to Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1870. He attended public and private schools and King College in Bristol, Tennessee. He studied law, was admitted to the Alabama bar, at the age of nineteen. He moved to Chattanooga in 1874, was admitted to the Tennessee Bar Association and commenced practice in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He married Adeline McDowell Deaderick, daughter of James W. Deaderick and Adeline Shelby Deaderick. Their two children are Anna Mary Moon and William Deaderick Moon.

Career

Moon was the city attorney of Chattanooga in 1881 and 1882. He was a member of the state Democratic executive committee in 1888. Commissioned in May 1889 as a special circuit judge, and twice reappointed, he held the office until January 3, 1891. He was appointed regular judge for the fourth circuit and served until August 1892. He was elected circuit judge in 1892, and was re-elected in 1894 for a term of eight years, but he resigned when he was elected to Congress.
Elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-fifth and the eleven succeeding Congresses, Moon served from March 4, 1897 to March 3, 1921. He was chairman of the United States House Committee on Post Office and Post Roads during the Sixty-second through Sixty-fifth Congresses. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1900.

Death

Moon was renominated for Congress in 1921, but before election, he became ill and died in Chattanooga, Tennessee on June 26, 1921. He is interred at Forrest Hill Cemetery.