McManus 168

Marriage children and property

William Moon married Ann(e) Moorhouse Stocks, daughter of James Stocks, Woollen Manufacturer, Honley, York, England.^[2] It seems probable that James Stocks was a supplier to Moon, Langlands & Company.

Their first born son, James Stocks Moon, was born in Huddersfield and was baptised at Honley, York, England on 17 September 1844. However their second child, Margaret Robertson Moon, was born in Dundee in 1846.^[10] The third child, John William Moon, was born in Cupar in 1848.^[8] By 1855 the family had acquired and were living at Edenfield House, Springfield, near Cupar and adjacent to Russell Mill. William Moon also owned a dwelling house and workers’ houses at Russell Mill and was the tenant of Hospital Mill Spinning Mill and farm, also at Springfield.^[11]

Business interests

Russell Mill in Fife was established and previously owned by George Moon from 1811. He was a pioneer in flax spinning and it was said of him by William Brown (a major flax spinner in Dundee) that although he considered a number of flaxspinners’ products to be deficient, those of George Moon ‘who had works producing yarns which were found fair and satisfactory in quality’ were worthy of note.^[12] George was also tenant of the nearby Hospital Mill. The estates of George Moon were sequestrated, upon his death, in 1844^[13] after which time William Moon became the proprietor of Russell Mill and Hospital Mill. A connection between George Moon and William Moon was formed in 1828, when George’s daughter, Penelope Moon, married William’s brother, Reverend John Moon of Newtyle, their marriage having been registered in Newtyle and Cupar parishes.^[14] There is a possibility that George Moon was further related in some way to the Moons of Newtyle.

Moon, Langlands & Company appears to have prospered  over the years, their success due, in part, to the strategy of ‘all goods being offered at the lowest prices,’ thus negating the need for ‘abatements’ or discounts as many other businesses ran.^[9] Business interests appeared in Arbroath, St Andrews and Newtyle. However, the firm was dissolved in 1874 on the retiral of David Robertson.^[15] William Moon continued the business of ‘Moon, Langlands and Co,’ with his eldest son, James Stocks Moon, assumed into the partnership.^[16]

James Stocks Moon, who was left the sole partner of Moon Langlands & Co on the death of his father, sold the whole stock-in-trade and good-will of the business to Messrs Thomas S. Blakeney and James Steele, who continued the business under the same firm of Moon, Langlands & Company.^[17]

Settling the estate

William Moon left a personal estate worth £66,586, although it took his trustees three attempts to finalise its worth: the original inventory in March 1877^[18], an ‘Additional and Corrective Inventory’ in September 1877,^[19] and the final ‘Additional and Corrective Inventory’ in July 1879^[20]. His estate in Scotland included: deposits with the Clydesdale Banking Company and National Bank of Scotland; four life policies on his own life; stocks of the North British Railway Company; rents for properties in Dundee, Arbroath, Newtyle and Springfield. His estate in England included: stocks in the London and South Western Railway Company; London and North Western Railway Company; London and South Eastern Railway Company; Great Eastern Railway Company; and Great Western Railway Company; shares of the Natal Land and Colonization Company (Limited) and North British Australization Company (Limited); shares of the Scottish Commercial Insurance Company; shares of the Tore Street Warehouse Company (Limited); shares of Dawson & Co. (Limited) and shares of the Great Western Railway Company of Canada.^[18]

Will

In his will, William Moon ensured a fair settlement for his wife and living children^[18]. The family continued to live at Edenfield. Ann(e) Moorhouse Stocks or Moon, his widow, died at Edenfield on 11th February 1907.^[21] Their second son, John William Moon, died at Edenfield on 30th September 1922.^[22] Their youngest daughter, who never married, lived at Edenfield until her death on 5th August 1945.^[23]