Freestone County, Texas Biographies Biography of William Lewis Moody (May 19, 1828- Jul. 17, 1920, Tombstone marker is Moody Graveyard in Midlothian, Chesterfield Co., VA. although his TX death certificate says buried at Cahill Cemetery.) Souce - Brown, John Henry. Indian wars and pioneers of Texas / by John Henry Brown. Austin, Tex. 1880. p. 381. W. L. MOODY GALVESTON William Lewis Moody was born in Essex County, Va., May 19, 1828, and reared in Chesterfield County, that State, his parents, Jameson and Mary Susan (Lankford) Moody, having moved to that county in 1830. His fater was a gallant solider in the war of 1812, and his grandfathers, Lewis Moody, of Essex County, Va., and William Lankford, of Chesterfield County, Va., fought for freedom in the Continental lines during the Revolutionary War of 1776. His parents raised ten childrenn to years of maturity: Emily A., James H., David J., Leroy F., William L., Sarah E., Joseph L., Jameson C., Mary A., and G. Marcellus Moody. Of these only Leroy F. Moody, Mrs. Sarah E. Simmons, and the subject of this memoir are now living. In 1852 Mr. W. L. Moody came to Texas and located at Fairfield. Such of his brothers and sisters as were then living and a dear old aunt followed, and all settled in Freestone County. Mr. Moody practiced law at Fairfield for about two years, but his health becoming precarious he determined to engage in some lss sedentary pursuit, and accordingly, with his brothers, David J. and Leroy F. Moody, established a merchantile business at that place, under the firm name of W. L. Moody & Bros., thus taking the initial step in a brillant, successful and widely useful career. In January 1860, he was united in marriage to Miss Pherabe Elizabeth Bradley, of Freestone County, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of Mr. F. M. and Mrs. (Goldsby) Bradley, formerly of Summerfield, Alabama, where Mrs. Moody was born, reared and educated. Col. and Mrs. Moody have three children: W. L. Moody, Jr., married Miss Libby Shearn, of Houston; F. B. Moody, Miss Battle Thompson, of Galveston; and Miss Mary E. Moody, Mr. Sealy Hutchings, of Galveston. Early in 1861, Col. Moody joined an infantry company raised Freestone County and was elected captain. The command proceeded to the rendezous at Hopkinsville, Ky., and was mustered into the Confederate States service as a part of the Seventh Texas Infantry which was organized upon that occassion with John Gregg as Colonel. Col. Moody was captured at Fort Doonelson, Tenn., upon the fall of that post in February, 1862, and imprisoned first at Camp Douglass, Ill., and then at Camp Chase, Ohio, and Johnson's Island on Lake Erie. In Septeber following he was exchanged and soon after made Lieutenant Colonel by promotion, was stationed for a time at Port Hudson, La., saw much hard service in Mississippi and Louisiana participating in many fights and fierce engagements with the enemy; after the fall of Vicksburg was severely wounded at the siege of Jacksonville, Miss., and after many months of critical illness, was pronounced permanently disabled and retired from field service with the rank of Colonel, being promoted for gallantry. As soon as health permitted he reported for duty and was appointed to post duty and placed in command at Austin, Texas, where he remained until the general surrender. The war ended, he closed out the merchantile business at Fairfield, and in 1866 moved to Galveston where he and his borther engaged in the commission business under the firm name of W. L. & L. F. Moody. Next season Mr. F. M. Bradley of Freestone County was admitted as a partner and the style of the firm changed to Moody, Bradley & Co. In 1871, L. F. Moody and F. M. Bradley retired and E. S. Jemison of Galveston was admitted under the firm name of Moody & Jemison, and a branch house established in New York city in 1874, with Col. Jemison in charge. Leroy F. Moody, so long associated in business with his brother at Fairfield, at Galveston and in New York, sharing with him the joys of boyhood days and in manhood the struggle for life and fortune, resides at present in Buffalo Gap, Texas, where Mrs. Sarah E. Summons, Mr. Moody's sister, also resides. The partnership [Page 382] of Moody and Jemison was dissolved as to the New York house in 1877, Col. Jemison remaining in New York and conducting that business with other associates under the name of E. S. Jemison & Co. In 1881 he also retired from the Galveston house, and W. L. Moody, Jr., and F. B. Moody (sons of Col. W. L. Moody) were admitted as partners under the firm name of W. L. Moody & Co. This firm at present is doing a general banking and cotton factorage business. Col. Mood[y] was elected to the Legislature in 1874, but before the end of the session he was appointed by the governor financial agent, to effect a sale of State bonds issued for the purpose of restoring public credit and placing the fiscal affairs of the State in a sound and healthy condition. Called to perform this important service for the State - a service requiring for its successfull discharge great influence and great capacity, as these were the first Texas State bonds offered for sale in the money market after the war, he resigned his seat and went to New York and effected a negotiation under which $2,000,000 of Texas bonds were sold. In 1882 he was made chairman of the deep water committee at Galveston and spent the greater part of the winter of 1882-1883 in Washington City in the interest of what was known as the Eads bill, a measure providing for the improvement of Galveston harbor. While the bill failed to become law, its discussion became general, and wide-spread interest folllowed. It was the opening, as it were, of an educational campaign which has since so far progressed that all who have looked into the subject are now agreed a deep-water harbor on the Texas coast is an imperative necessity and would prove of incalculable benefit to the people of the Southwestern States, and of the feasibility of securing such a harbor at Galveston. This pioneer work of Col. Moody and those associated with him eventuated a few years ago in the appropraitionn of over $6,000,000 by Congress; which is now being expended at Galveston. The work has progressed to a point where it is certain that when it is completed the result will more than realize the brighest dreams of its projectors and Texas have one of the finest harbors in the world. Col. Moody was also one of the early promoters of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway, an enterprise that has been vastly instrumental in developing the resources and increasing the population and taxable values of the State. He was one of the directors of this road until it was sold and became part of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe system. He was president of the Galveston Cotton Exchange for twelve years. He has been, and is now, connected with many important local enterprises. He is senior member of the firm of W. L. Moody & Co., who besides doing a large and successful banking business has been one of the largest receivers of consignment cotton in the South. The firm in handling cotton does its own banking. It owns one of the finest bank buildings in the city, and the Moody Cotton Compress & Warehouse covering four city blocks near the wharves, perhaps the complete plants of the character in the United States. W. L. Moody & Co., are commision merchants and not buyers, as all of the cotton received by them is handled and sold by them on commission.