Freestone County, Texas
Biographies 


Source: Reminiscences of reconstruction in Texas; and, Reminiscences of Texas 
  and Texans fifty years ago. By Wood, William D., 1902. Page: 45-46


COLONEL W. L. MOODY, in the early fifties, was a member of the
Freestone county bar. He came from Virginia and settled at Fairfield.
He was always a most courtly gentleman, modest and timid,
and while well-grounded in the elements of the law, he found that
its practice did not harmonize with his tastes and temperament,
and he soon abandoned it for the more congenial business of the
merchant. On the breaking out of the war he volunteered and
entered the Confederate army, and made a gallant soldier. At the
close of the war he returned to Fairfield to find that his business
and accumulations had, during the war, gone to wreck and ruin.
In a short time he removed to the city of Galveston, and in conneetion
with his father-in-law, Colonel Bradley, opened a commission
business, which, under his management, was a success. He still
resides in Galveston, engaged in the commission and banking business,
and through his good judgment and management has accumulated
a fortune; and he is now one of the solid men of Galveston.
  He ably represented Galveston county in the Fourteenth Legislature.
He is a man of great public spirit, and has done much
towards the building up and development of the trade and business
of Galveston.