Title
Washington Moody, 1807 - 1879
Subject
Businessmen
Description
Washington Moody was the founder and the first president of First National Bank of Tuscaloosa.
Moody was born in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, and came to Tuscaloosa with his parents at age 13. His father, Francis Moody, bought land on Sanders Ferry Road about three miles from Tuscaloosa. Washington Moody was soon one of a large family of orphans with little means of support when his father died. With an education limited to a thorough knowledge of English grammar and arithmetic, and to three months of Latin, he began the study of law. He clerked in the post office and wrote for Judge Henry Minor and Judge George Whitfield Crabb to defray his expenses while he studied.
He aided Judge Minor in preparing the volume of Alabama Reports and progressed in his studies until he became one of the soundest counselors at the Tuscaloosa bar. Described as honest, industrious and economical, he prospered in his financial affairs. Desiring to aid the Confederacy, he subscribed heavily to the Confederate war loan, and by the results of the war, he lost immensely.
He founded the First National Bank of Tuscaloosa in 1871 and for several years before his death, he was its president. He gradually withdrew from the practice of law.
Moody married twice. His first wife,Elizabeth Bowdon of Talledega, died in 1844. He then married Jane Sims, daughter of Edward Sims.
When Moody died in 1879, he left a son, Frank S. Moody, who succeeded him as president of the First National Bank of Tuscaloosa and a daughter, Sallie A. Moody Purser who, at that time, survived her husband, the late Rev. D. I. Purser.
Moody was born in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, and came to Tuscaloosa with his parents at age 13. His father, Francis Moody, bought land on Sanders Ferry Road about three miles from Tuscaloosa. Washington Moody was soon one of a large family of orphans with little means of support when his father died. With an education limited to a thorough knowledge of English grammar and arithmetic, and to three months of Latin, he began the study of law. He clerked in the post office and wrote for Judge Henry Minor and Judge George Whitfield Crabb to defray his expenses while he studied.
He aided Judge Minor in preparing the volume of Alabama Reports and progressed in his studies until he became one of the soundest counselors at the Tuscaloosa bar. Described as honest, industrious and economical, he prospered in his financial affairs. Desiring to aid the Confederacy, he subscribed heavily to the Confederate war loan, and by the results of the war, he lost immensely.
He founded the First National Bank of Tuscaloosa in 1871 and for several years before his death, he was its president. He gradually withdrew from the practice of law.
Moody married twice. His first wife,Elizabeth Bowdon of Talledega, died in 1844. He then married Jane Sims, daughter of Edward Sims.
When Moody died in 1879, he left a son, Frank S. Moody, who succeeded him as president of the First National Bank of Tuscaloosa and a daughter, Sallie A. Moody Purser who, at that time, survived her husband, the late Rev. D. I. Purser.
Creator
The Tuscaloosa Times
Source
Tuscaloosa News Archive
Publisher
The Tuscaloosa Times, May 12, 1899
Contributor
Betty Slowe (Description)
Jason Townsend (Description)
Type
Photograph
Identifier
472
Coverage
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Original Format
Photograph