Biographical Sketch of Mrs & Mrs Bruce Moody, Crawford County, Illinois Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives Copyright 2000 Cindy McCachern Pioneers of Crawford County   From Robinson (IL) Argus, 15 Oct. 1890   Reminiscences of Old Citizens as Told by Themselves or Friends for the Argus   Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Moody   The subjects of this sketch were born in Licking county, Ohio, the former Nov. 3, 1823, and the latter May 23, 1833. They have but a common school education.   During the years of Mr. Moody's minority, he was engaged with his father on the little home farm in Ohio.  At the age of twenty-one he was desirous of a change of occupation, and took quite a fancy to the wagonmaking and carpentering business, which he followed for about five years.  He then returned to his first love, that of tilling the soil.   Nov. 2, 1848, Mr. Moody and Miss Mary J. Young, of the same State and county, were united in matrimony.  The began their united life in the village of Lockport, Ohio, remaining one year.  From Lockport they moved to a farm a few miles away where they engaged in agricultural pursuits, enjoying prosperity and life in its fullest meaning, until on the 22nd day of April 1854, Mrs. Moody was called from that quiet and loved spot to a brighter and better rest, leaving Mr. Moody with one child, a daughter, who is now living in the old home county in Ohio.   In the fall of the same year, Mr. Moody believing the sceneries of a new country, with its many novel and attractive features might help to soothe the sorrows and affections of his lonely life, started for the then comparatively frontier of our great Republic, stopping with a brother in Oblong township, about four miles northeast of the present village of Oblong, where they engaged in partnership farming.  At this time and for a long time afterward, Hutsonville was their marketing point, where they would deliver corn shelled and sacked for from 15 to 20 cents a bushel net; pork delivered for 23.50 per hundred; wheat but little to sell for 50 cents per bushel.   December 25, 1852, the subject of this sketch was married to Miss Sallie A. Glaze, a daughter of Rev. John Glaze, an itinerant Methodist minister.  Shortly after this marriage, Rev. Glaze was asssigned to a circuit in the Southern Illinois Conference, and Mr. and Mrs. Moody took possession of the home farm, about seven miles northeast of Oblong, now known as the John Wattleworth farm.  Here they engaged in the necessary work pertaining to a farm life, working amid the disadvantages  of a new and unsettled country until 1865, when Mr. Moody enlisted in Co. K, 434 Ill, in which he served until the close of the war.   All this time while Mr. M. was at the front defending the stars and stripes, Mrs. M was at home manipulating the farm for the support of herself and children.  During this time, Mrs. M. raised a crop of corn in this way.  She would hold the plow handles and her little boy would ride the horse to guide it for her.  She would plow about ten rows in the morning and then go to the house and spin rolls to make clothing for the family until evening, when she would go and hoe what she had plowed.   In 1868 Mr. Moody bought 80 acres of land in Oblong township, three miles north of the village.  This farm was partially improved and was bought for $1400.  Mr. M. moved his family to this, their first home, and began to improve it.  In 1872 Mr. Moody's health began to fail, but being energetic and determined he continued to clear and cultivate the farm until 1884, when failing health compelled him to retire from manual labor.  They then gave the management of the farm to their son Frank, who still occupies it, and left the home they had made from among the bushes, with all its fond recollections, and moved to the village of Oblong, where he, with his wife, Master Bert and Miss Maggie, are still living, and where he enjoys a friendly chat with both old and young.   While living in Ohio, they were used to pretty good eating, but when they settled in the then new Crawford, behold what a change; from all that heart could wish to corn bread, fat pork and pumpkins and instead of the nice, neat houses on the beautiful prairies there were little log huts built along the banks of the creeks and in the timber.  This was done for two reasons.  First, for the convenience of hunting and fishing which was the principal occupation of that time.  Second, it was generally believed that the prairie lands were worthless.   Their nearest trading point of any importance was Hutsonville, which was twelve or fourteen miles away.  To this place the farmers had to haul their supplies.  For milling the settlers had to go to Palestine and generally had to stay all night to get their grist.  The country was full of deer, turkey and other wild and vicious animals.  Mr. M. remembers seeing twenty deer in one drove.  A wolf often came into the door yard and waged war with the dog for possession.  In short, Mr. and Mrs. M. have been and are living witnesses to the many changes that have taken place in Crawford county.   They have seen the log huts removed and the beautiful and comfortable dwellings erected which add to the wealth and comfort of the people. The small farms then confined to the timber broadened, extending into the beautiful and productive prairies.  Farmers, instead of fishing and hunting, are engaged in building up and beautifying their homes. Mr. M. says that progress and improvement have made a grand march from the earlier to the present day.   Mr. and Mrs. Moody have nine children, all living, two in Iowa, three in Kansas, one in Colorado, and three in Illinois.  Mr. M. is a Republican, and he and family are members of the M. E. church. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations or persons. 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