Benjamin Moody is my 4th great grandfather. He was born in 1767 Orange County, NC (now Chatham County), one of eleven children of William Moody. His mother’s name is unknown. Since census records show he is part of his father’s household in 1790, and his first child is born in 1795 Benjamin probably lived and worked on his father’s Chatham farm on Tick Creek until sometime between 1790 and 1795.
His first wife’s name is unknown. Benjamin had at least four children with his first wife: Kiziah (1795), Gazella (1797), Elisha (1801), and Phebe (1802). The 1810 Chatham census shows an additional age 10-15 living in the house, probably John, that lacks documentation as this is written.
Benjamin married a second time, presumably after the death of his first wife, to Mary Margaret Barns (or Barnes) on August 20,1802 in Randolph County. Benjamin refers to wife “Margaret” in his will. Marriage records refer to her as “Mary.” The marriage record may mistakenly transcribe the cursive writing in the digital image (“Margaret” as “Mary”), or perhaps her name is Mary Margaret.(There were several “Barns” families living near Tick Creek and Rives Chapel, so that spelling is used.) They had at least three children: Isaac (1807), Samuel (1811), and Margaret (1812). The 1810 census also records an additional female under age 10.
In September 1833, at age 66, Benjamin was received into membership of the Rives Chapel Baptist Church in Chatham County. Benjamin stayed active in community and family affairs until his death at age 86 on January 5, 1854.
Died January 5, 1854, Benjamin Moody in the 87th year of his age.
The deceased had been for 20 years a member of the Reeves/RivesChapel Baptist Church. Death did not take him by surprise, but he had anticipated it for some time, and seemed to be fully resigned to meet it, believing that it would be far better to depart and be with Christ, than to remain in this sinful world.
The writer well remembers the last time he ever saw him at meeting, when he talked to the people about the vanity of earthly things, and the greatness of eternity and eternal things, when he brought the tears from many an eye, but his voice is forever hushed.
Brother Moody had to pass through many sore trials during his pilgrimage on earth, especially his domestic trials, they were such that try men’s souls, and such as few are called to pass through, but amidst them all he still maintained his ground as a Christian and exemplified in his life the power of grace of God to sustain the Christian under trials.
He had been a school teacher for half a century and perhaps has taught more youths than any other man that ever lived in Chatham County, and there are many no doubt in different parts of the county when they read this, whose thoughts will run back to their school boy days when they went to old Mr. Moody.
According to the obituary, Benjamin was school teacher for “half a century.” During his lifetime, schools and academies in Chatham County were privately supported, often by churches. Chatham’s first academy was the Pittsborough Academy, established by state charter in 1787, Haywood (1818), Rock Rest (1828, moved to Pittsborough in 1831 and called Kelvin), Tick Creek (1832, later Caldwell), Pleasant Hill (1838), and Cobia’s Select Female School (1839) near Pittsboro. So far, I haven’t found any records for these schools when Benjamin was alive.
Dr. Clarence Poe, who grew up in Chatham county, wrote about the country schools of 1890:
“Just what were the country schools like in physical appearance and teacher personnel….? The first one I attended was a small one-room schoolhouse – so small, in fact, that as I look at a picture of it now I hardly see how 30 or 40 students squeezed into it each day, plus a teacher with more courage and versatility than education. Mostly we were taught spelling and the Three R’s.
Chatham County 1771-1971, Chatham Historical Museum
Benjamin’s will of October 22, 1853 left his wife Margaret their 164 acre farm with instructions that grandson Nathaniel inherit the property after her death. His will further states for his children “I consider that I have already provided what I intended them to have.” Since Benjamin owned over 500 acres earlier in life, 70 per 1815 tax records and 440 inherited from his father, it’s reasonable to assume his children already had received some of his land. Benjamin named Nathan Bray executor of the estate.
An interesting note:
One of Nathan Bray’s sisters was Martha Bray York. mother of Enos York. Enos’s daughter Mary Frances married Stephen Clark Cox, Walter Cox’s father, Elvin Cox’s grandfather, and my great grandfather.
The estate sale looks sadly as if the last few assets of this small farm are being sold.
The 1850 census shows 21 year old Nathaniel as part of the household. Daughter Phebe Moody, age 49, is also a member of the household in 1850. One has to wonder if Nathaniel was her son and born out of wedlock.
At least two of Benjamin’s children left North Carolina. Daughter Keziah married Thomas Edwards and by 1826 had moved to Indiana joining several other Randolph and Chatham families. Gazella married her first cousin Joel Moody in 1819, settled in southern Guilford County, and raised a family of seven kids. After the Nebraska-Kansas Act of 1854, the family moved to Kansas for a new start on new land. Details on several of their siblings remain elusive.
The statement in his obituary about the “many sore trials during his pilgrimage on earth, especially his domestic trials” suggests the long dispute over his father”s (William, Sr.) estate must have taken a toll on the entire family. The looming Civil War and subsequent reconstruction years will be even harder on the next generation.
Sources of note:
Forebears and Kinfolks 
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