Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1911-04-13
MARRIED FIFTY YEARS
Mr. and Mrs. SilaS Moody Celebrated
the Event Last Thursday
STURDY GRATI0T CO. PIONEERS
Have Lived Half Century in Township Of Pine
River Near Forest Hill

Silas Moody and Mrs. Ellen NJ.
(Clapp) Moody, on April last, had
been man and wife for fifty years.
MIR. and Mrs. Moody celebrated their
hlticth wedding anniversary in an ap-
propriatc manner last Thursday
Silas Moody, the eldest son of Will
liam and Mariah (Ross) Moody, was
born in Chatham, Medina county,
Ohio, on May 30, 1899. Mr.. William
Moody was farmer and a minister
of the gospel Of the Church of Dis
ciples. He could trace his ancestry
back through several generations to
the first OF the English immigrants to
this country Although his father was
a minister, the boy Silas, was brought
up on the farm He went TO a dis
trict school until he was II years of
age, when he entered the high school
i'm Chatham The next year he be-
gan to teach school, and three years
later, when 81, he married Ellen NJ,
daughter of Luther and Hannah
Clapp, of Chatham The young couple
were married in the Congregational
church the afternoon Of April 6, 1861,
the first year OF the civil war Two
weeks after, the newly welded
couple moved to Michigan, arriving
in St. Johns April 25, and Forest Hill
April 20, at Q o'clock in the morn
ing. There were no railroads through
this part OF the country convenient
for Mr.. Moody at that time, but the
household goods and farming tools,
as well as the family, were moved by
oxen and horses.
The couple commenced housekeep-
ing in Michigan at Forest Hill, where
now stand the stores of the town on
the summit of the hill Their first
house was roughly finished log
| cabin. Three sons and one daughter
came to bless the union. Arthur New
ton, born Aug. 20, 1862, died in in
fancy The daughter Edi tn Carrie,
was born Nov. 30, 1859, and died
July 23, 1870. Geo. A. Moody lives
at Park Lake, and Ira c. Moody, the
'other son, at Forest Hill There are
seven grandchildren living, and one
dead
When Mr. Moody first came here
he bought eighty acres of land. To
this he constantly added until now he
owns 400 acres at Forest Hill and 600
at Park Lake, Osceola county He
and Mrs. Moody at present reside on
the first so they purchased The land
was once practically all a wilderness,
but it has been gradually brought into
cultivation, until now a larger share
of it is growing crops. The couple
made their first farm home upon the
original homestead and from that they
| have never moved
A Republican in politics, Mr.. Moody
has held great many public offices.
| He has been township clerk, school
Inspector, highway commissioner and
drain commissioner. He has also
served one term in legislature. At all
times he has held the respect and es-
TEEN of his constituents, both of his
and the opposing parties. Prominent
in agricultural affairs he has served
on the Gratiot County Agricultural
Society board continuously for IS
years and has at one time been the
president of the society In religious
work Mr.. Moody has always been
active, experimenting one Sunday
school for quarter of a century.
In business way he has been very
active outside of his regular farm
work. In 1898 and 1894 he ran excur-
sions for the Ann Arbor and the old
w. & L. F. railroads He built the
depot and side track at Forest Hill
for the Ann Arbor Railroad company
and served twelve years as their For
est Hill agent He has for a long
time been engaged in buying live
stock, dressed meats, grain, clover
seed and wool and shipped them in
large quantities, adding much to the
traffic of the Ann Arbor out Of the
north county town.
Mr.. Silas Moody is one of Gratiot
county's oldest settlers, son of the
soil, who has succeeded in his life
work in spite of many hardships and
who always leaves behind him a
bright cheeriness whenever he favors
friend with his presence. The
Record joins Mr.. and Mrs. Moody's
host of friends in the county in wish
ing them many more happy wedding
anniversaries.