GABRIEL MORAN

Gabriel Moran

(Research): It is believed that Gabriel came to America ca.1711/1714 directly from Ireland; however, it is possible he come from France - if his father was one of the "Wild Geese" who fled there, possible with his family, after the fall of Limerick in 1691; Gabriel first appeared in the records of Charles Co., Maryland, on 12/1/1714 when he signed a lease for 118 acres in lot 5 of Calverton Manor. The family was still leasing 35 acres of this property when Gabriel's wife died in 1767. Gabriel prospered as a tobacco planter and acquired over 858 acres of land, in addition to his homestead, by the time of his death in 1734; Although probably Catholic in Ireland, the family joined Trinity Episcopal Church near Benedict in Maryland, probably to avoid the kind of presecution they had undoubtedly endured in Ireland; Gabriel's Will left his plantation to his wife Elizabeth "Morran" during her natural life, then to his sons who operated their inheritance as "The Four Brothers" until 3/19/1747 when they divided it as follows:John 150 acres with a house on it, Peter, Andrew & William 236 acres each. In 1812, the British, en route from Benedict to Washington, marched directly through this property. They burned much of the city of Washington.