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.) [Source - Year book for Texas. 1901. edited by Cadwell Walton Raines. By Gammel Book Company, Publishers, Austin, Texas. 1902.] W. L. MOODY, GALVESTON. A history of the Galveston Cotton Exchange and Board of Trade, published in 1899 under the auspices of that body, contains the following concerning Col. William Lewis Moody: "When one seeks for the secret of Galveston's success as a city and as a great seaport, for the factor that has caused its financial and commercial prominence, the place to go is the membership roll of the Exchange. The personnel of the Exchange membership tells the story in its entirety. We find there names inseparable and synonymous with every undertaking which has been inaugurated in Galveston for the past of Galveston, was admitted under the firm name of Moody & Jemison, and a branch house started in New York in 1874, with Col. Jemison in charge. This co-partnership, so far as concerned the New York house, was dissolved in 1877, and in 1881 Col. Jemison also retired from the Galveston house to devote his attention to his New York interests, and W. L. Moody, Jr., and F. B. Moody (sons of Col. Moody) were admitted as partners, under the firm name of W. L. Moody & Co., a firm that has since conducted one of the largest banking and cotton factorage businesses m the South. Col. Moody was a member of the Legislature in 1874, and figured prominently as a leader in the action taken that resulted in seating Richard Coke in the Governor's chair (see House Journals, Fourteenth Legislature), and before the end of the session was appointed by the Governor financial agent to effect the sale of State bonds issued for the purpose of restoring the public credit. Resigning his seat, he went to New York, where he successfully negotiated the sale of $2,000,000 in Texas bonds, a measure that placed the fiscal affairs of the State on a firm and healthy basis. As chairman of the Deep Water Committee at Galveston, he spent the winter of 1882-3 in Washington and performed the pioneer work that in later years eventuated in adequate appropriations for deep water improvements at Galveston. He was one of the early promoters of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway, and served as one of the directors of the road until its sale to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. Col. Moody married, January 19, 1860, Miss Pherabe Elizabeth Bradley, of Freestone county, the accomplished and lovely daughter of Francis Meriwether Bradley and Mrs. Tillah Pherabe (Goldsby) Bradley, formerly of Oglethorpe county, Georgia, and later of Dallas county, Alabama. Mrs. Moody was born in Dallas county, Alabama, December 1, 1839. Of the children of this union the following are living: W. L. Moody, Jr., Frank B. Moody, and Mrs. Mary Emily Hutchings: and the following deceased: Vic Moody, who was born November 24. 1860, and died in Freestone county June 20, 1863; an infant, not named, and Lizzie G. Moodv. who was born in Februarv, 1877, and died in New York Julv 15, 1877. Col. Moody is connected with nearly every important enterprise in Galveston. In shaping policies, devising means, and executing plans for the public good, his aid is always solicited and secured, and deemed indispensable. Glancing back over his busy and honorable career, containing no idle days and made up of worthy efforts and solid achievements, the mind is impressed with the truth that there is an abundance of work in the world for those who will do it. and that only those who labor are worthy to he considered benefactors while living and will be long remembered as such when they have passed from the busy haunts of men to the wider life that, it is the hope of mortality, lies beyond.