John Joseph Horan, manufacturers’ agent of St. Louis, was born in New York city, September 10, 1859. His father, Patrick Horan, who departed this life in 1890, was born in Ireland and came to America in 1840.He was an engineer, connected with the United States navy. He married Ann Flynn, also a native of the Emerald isle, their wedding being celebrated in New York. They became the parents of two sons and a daughter: John J.; Thomas H., who died in 1906; and Mary, who died at the age of fourteen years.
John J. Horan is therefore the only surviving member of the family. He was educated in the grammar and high schools of New York, attending the latter for three years, and in 1873, when a youth of fourteen years, he entered the employ of the American Whip Company as a clerk. He rose to the position of manager by the time he reached the age of twenty years and continued to act in that capacity until 1885. He then resigned and went with the Woodbury Whip Company of Rochester, New York, which he represented upon the road as a traveling salesman until 1901. Again he resigned his position and engaged in business on his own account as an equal partner in the Cowles-Horan Whip Company of Westfield, Massachusetts. He became manager of the St. Louis office and also representative in the western territory, acting in these capacities from 1901 to the present time. He is likewise manufacturers’ agent for other saddlery and for automobile accessory lines and throughout the intervening period, covering two decades, has most successfully conducted his business interests, his offices being now located in the Oriel building, where he has remained since 1893. He is also the president of the Ratcliff Manufacturing Company of Agency, Missouri, manufacturers of stirrups, and has occupied that position since 1909. During the war he assisted the government in getting up artillery whips and went to Washington for that purpose. He also supplied the army with thousands of stirrups and in addition was a liberal contributor to all war activities.
In Chicago, on the 23d of May, 1898, Mr. Horan was married to Miss Cecil O’Neil, representative of an old English family. They have one son, Laurance J., who was a member of the army during the World war. He first became identified with civil service and was then made inspector of saddlery and kindred goods, located at the A. G. Spalding plant at Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. Later he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the ordnance department at the Boston depot, under Major Blunt, and while in that city he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant and ordered to France, where he spent six months, being commanding officer of the ordnance department In Company A, Three Hundred and Seventh Supply Train of the Eighty-second Division. He married Marie Keeshan and they have become the parents of two sons: John Joseph, three and a half years of age; and Laurance Joseph, about a year old. In his political views John J. Horan 1s a republican and his religious faith is that of the Catholic church, his membership being in St. Roch’s parish. He belongs o the Chamber of Commerce, to the Missouri Athletic Association, to the Algonquin Golf Club and to the Sunset Hill Country Club and has many friends in these organzations, while in business circles he has steadily advanced to a place of prominence, ringing him substantial returns for his labors.