James C. Moody Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1364-1365 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	JAMES C. MOODY, a member of one of the strongest law firms in the 
state, that of Moody, Kellar & Moody, of Deadwood, is a native of the 
Hoosier state, having been born in Jasper county, Indiana, on a farm 
near the town of Rensselaer, on the 3d of January, 1863, while in 1864 
his parents came to what is now South Dakota and located in Yankton, the 
original capital of the territory. He secured his early educational 
discipline in the public schools of that city, being graduated in the 
high schools as a member of the class of 1882, and having in the 
meanwhile learned the printer's trade. Soon after leaving school he came 
with his father to Deadwood, where he forthwith identified himself with 
the newspaper business. In 1884 he effected the purchase of the plant 
and business of the Deadwood Pioneer the first paper published in the 
Black Hills district, being associated in the purchase with William H. 
Bonham, the present proprietor. He continued to be identified with the 
publication of the Pioneer until 1888, when he disposed of his interest 
in the enterprise. Mr. Moody early became interested in political 
affairs in the territory, as his father was specially prominent in 
public affairs in the early days, being one of the pioneer members of 
the bar of the territory. He thus went through the early territorial 
campaigns with his father, ex-Senator Gideon C. Moody, concerning whom 
much specific data is entered within the pages of this publication. 
After the election of his father to the United States senate, in 1889, 
the subject left South Dakota and went to the city of Washington, where 
he remained for several months as a newspaper correspondent, and thence 
went to the territory of Oklahoma, where he was for a time engaged in 
newspaper business, while he also superintended the compilation and 
publication of the first statutes of the territory. He next engaged in 
literary work in Kansas City, Missouri, where he also began a careful 
study of the law, securing admission to the bar of that state in 1893. 
He then returned to Oklahoma, locating in Perry, where he was 
successfully engaged in the practice of his profession for three years, 
at the expiration of which, upon the invitation of his father, he 
returned to Deadwood to enter the law firm of Moody, Kellar & Moody, of 
which his father was the senior member. This is one of the leading firms 
of corporation lawyers in the state and controls a very extensive and 
representative practice. In 1902 the subject was elected to represent 
Lawrence county in the state senate, serving during the eighth general 
assembly and proving a valuable working member of the upper house. In 
politics he is a staunch Republican. Fraternally he is a member of the 
Modern Woodmen of America and Black Hills Mining Men's Association. He 
was married in 1891 to Miss May Williams, and as a fruit of this 
marriage they have two children, Curtis and Eleanor May.