Bio: Moody, James C. (History 1837)
Contact: Janet Schwarze
Surnames: MOODY LONGSTRETH WASHBURN CARLETON ADAMS CROGAN WOLFE, LEWIS
----Source: 1891 History
of Clark and Jackson County, Wisconsin, by Franklyn, Curtiss-Wedge,
pages 206, 207, 208:
JAMES C. MOODY, of section 9, Hixton
Township, Clark County, was born in Monroe Township, Perry County,
Ohio, November 7, 1837, the son of Hiram Moody, a native of
Topsham, Maine, born August 20, 1810. He was a coast sailor in the
cod fisheries several years, and also worked in the pineries during
the winters. He removed to Ohio in 1827, and in 1852 came to
Wisconsin, where he bought 820 acres of land from the United States
Government in Vernon, then Badax County. In 1854 he brought his
family to this State, and settled on Round Prairie, one and a half
miles from Viroqua, on land he purchased from the State. Our
subject's mother nee Sarah Longstreth, was born at James Mill,
Muskingum County, Ohio, December 20, 1810, about eight miles from
Zanesville. She was one of the first white children born in that
county. Her brothers were noted drovers, and our subject went with
them over southern Ohio, driving stock to various points. Her
uncle, Michael Longstreth, owned large estates of coal land in
southern Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Moody had six children, all of whom
grew to maturity, and five are now living, namely: James C.,
Catharine, Martha, Nathan E. and Abigail. One son, Bartholomew L.,
was killed at the battle of Corinth while fighting for the Union.
The father served three years in the late war, in Company C,
Eighteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, was wounded at Shiloh, and
now draws a pension.
James C. Moody, our subject, also served in the late war, in
Company I, Sixth Wisconsin Iron Brigade, serving four years. He was
in the battles of Gainesville, Second Bull Run, South Mountain,
Antietam, Rappahannock, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville,
Gettysburg and the Wilderness. He was wounded in the right thigh at
the battle of the Wilderness and left lying near the battleground
without any protection from the rain and storms, was taken a
prisoner and held for thirty-one days. He caught cold, and both
ears swelled shut, having lost the hearing entirely of the right
ear. He was taken to Belle Isle, where he was kept for some time,
then to Lynchburg, where a great sore came on the back of his head,
which was infested with maggots. They were nearly starved in
prison, and often had to eat spoiled meat, and many of his comrades
starved to death. He lost fifty-eight pounds in weight while in
prison. While they were being removed from Lynchburg, a railroad
bridge took fire, and while the guards were busily at work to
extinguish it Mr. Moody and five others escaped. After wandering
for seven days and nights, almost starved, and at times nearly
recaptured by rebel cavalry passing within a few rods of them, they
evaded their pursuers, traveled over 120 miles, and reached
Chesapeake Bay. Here they made a raft by lashing two bridge timbers
together, and were making their way across the bay when they were
met by a passing Union steamer, laden with wounded soldiers from
Petersburg, and were taken on board. They were so nearly starved
that they had to be guarded to prevent them from injuring
themselves by eating too much. They had been two or three days with
nothing to eat. At one place one of the party slipped slyly into
the Negroes quarters of a plantation, while the others lay
concealed in the brush of a ravine nearby and at once made his
wants known. The woman put a splendid dinner in a basket, and an
old Negro man took his fishing pole and the basket and started down
the ravine toward the creek, where he sat the basket down and began
fishing. The boys came up, had a feast, and had enough left for
another meal. They were also helped at other points by the slaves.
Mr. Moody afterward returned to his regiment, and was in the
battles of First and Second Hatcher's Run, Boydtown Plank Road,
Gravel Run, Five Forks, and was present at the surrender at
Appomattox. He received a brevet Captain's commission for bravery
on the battlefield, and also held all the noncommissioned offices
in his company.
After the war, Mr. Moody was engaged in farming two years in La
Crosse County, Wisconsin, and then went to the city of La Crosse,
where he worked for C.C. Washburn as sawyer and filer during the
summers, and scaled logs in the winters for twelve years. He then
spent one year working for other parties, and in 1881 came to this
county, and took charge of a mill for Mr. Washburn, which he ran
six years, and is a logging jobber.
He was married, November 7, 1860, to Ann E. S. Adams, who was born
in Lowell, Massachusetts, April 24, 1840, the daughter of Lewis
G.P. Adams, of Vernon County, this State. They had two children:
Edwin L. and Clara. Edwin married Lucinda Amo, lives in
Minneapolis, and has three children: Edwin L., Robert I., and
Walter E. Clara married Walter H. Smith, a merchant of Withee, this
county. Mr. Moody was married to his present wife, Ellen Carleton,
a daughter of Thomas V. Carleton, of Neillsville, Wisconsin, May
12, 1878. The father was a Mexican soldier and a pioneer of
Sheboygan County. Mrs. Moody was born in the latter county, June
22, 1850. Mr. Moody is a member of the G.A.R. and the A.O.U.W.
fraternities at Withee. Has been Justice of the Peace for six years
and has been Postmaster. He owns 520 acres of land, and draws a
pension of $25 a month.
Mr. Moody's genealogy is as follows: his grandfather, Nathan Moody,
was born on Lake Umbagog, Maine, a son of Lawrence A., a son of
Joshua R., a native of Muirkirk, Ayshire, Scotland. The latter had
a land grant from the king of England, with a commission as
Lieutenant-Governor of the then Province of Maine. He crossed the
ocean in 1692, and settled in Maine, where he was the Governor for
some time. His son Lawrence and another son were under General
Wolfe at the Heights of Abraham the former was wounded there, his
brother was killed, and his bones still lie on the Heights of
Abraham. Nathan Moody and a brother were soldiers in the war of
1812, and another brother, Alexander, was in the Florida Seminole
war, where he is supposed to have been killed. Our subject's uncle,
James W. Moody, was a soldier in the Mexican war. His grandfather
on the maternal side, Bartholomew Longstreth, was a soldier in the
war of 1812, under General Crogan, and a brother, Philip
Longstreth, was also in the same war. Mr. Moody's brother, Nathan,
was President of the Wisconsin State Farmers Alliance, and is now
Secretary of the same.
MOODY LONGSTRETH WASHBURN CARLETON ADAMS CROGAN WOLFE
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