The Genealogy of David L. Moody & Yvonne L. La Pointe. - Person Sheet
The Genealogy of David L. Moody & Yvonne L. La Pointe. - Person Sheet
Misc. Notes
She died in her 75th year of age. ®656 ®706She was mentioned in the will of her husband in 1757; she died several months before him at age 74. ®1 ®408
“ Besides, an ancient chest, which from the curious carved work upon it was evidently designed as part of the marriage dower, is still carefully preserved; this bears deeply engraved upon it the letters E. K. and the family in whose possession it is said, that Capt. Daniel Moody, who died in 1828 used to say that the chest belonged to his grandmother whose name was Kellogg before marriage. To this may be added the fact that a old account book in my possession which belonged to her son, Ebenezer show by the number of charges against the Kellogg name compared with the amount against others, that there was a kind of intimacy between the families. So also among many things of the kind, the following, taken from the ‘Proprietors Book’; “March 18, 1728-9 voted that the grant Liberty to Capt. Ebenezer Moody to join his first choice or division of land lying on Bachelders River up to Nathl Kellogg, Senr his first choice” “upon condition that S.D. Ebenezer Moody grant a high way through his first choice”, etc. In my own mind scarcely a doubt remains that she was a Kellogg and yet it would be pleasing to be able to state more definitely respecting her. It is beyond dispute, that her son Joseph married into the Kellogg family, of this fact too, I have found no public records except as preserved among his descendants, and there are many omissions in the Hadley records of a similar kind, as elsewhere. With this the matter might rest were it not that the Probate Records of Lieut. Joseph Kellogg’s estate who seems to have been about the only one of the name in this vicinity having children of a corresponding age, mentions no Editha. Samuel Kellogg of Hatfield, however, according to records of the ‘Day Family’ 24 Nov 1664 a grand daughter of Robert Day and his wife Editha (Stebbins). She having died Sep 19, 1677; he md. Sarah Root, now as no children were recorded of this marriage, and as his estate did not go to Probate, it is quite possible that of this second marriage there may have been a child, named Editha, being the name of the grandmother and this supplying the defect. Yet we would not affirm. As the older brother John, married at Guilford, Conn. Perhaps she was of the Kellogg family in Vicinity at Norwalk, Conn. * I have been unable to obtain the record of this marriage or to ascertain of a certainty to what branch of the Kellogg family she belonged. Her Christian name was Editha and the testimony among her descendants, some of whom till the present time, in one unbroken line, occupied the same homestead on which they settled and even the same house in which she and her husband died, is undisputed, that her maiden name was Kellogg.” ®408
“The Moody Family, or Records of the Descendants of Mr. John Moody of Hartford Connecticut 1636, Collected and Compiled by Rev. Plinius Moody, AM, 1856, His Manuscript typed by Seth R. Moody, 1907, Book 1 [of 6], Generations 1-8, Organized and Recorded by Theodore L. Moody and Maxine Bull Moody, 1997,” copy donated by David L. Moody to NEHGS, pp. 32–33. The background material for this collection appears on four Family History Library microfilms, 0,176,565–68.
The argument for Kellogg being Editha’s maiden name (p. 27 of this collection) is based on the letters “E.K.” engraved on “an ancient chest,” said to belong to the grandmother of the son Daniel (treated below) and on an “old account book” that shows frequent connections with Kelloggs. However, no child named Editha appears in Timothy Hopkins, The Kelloggs in the Old World and the New, 3 vols. (San Francisco: Sunset Press & Photo Engraving Co., 1903). Editha’s maiden name as Day appears in Lucius Barnes Barbour, Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut (Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1977; repr. 1982), 210, which lists her as a daughter of John and Sarah (Butler) Day and says she married Ebenezer Moody. Her grandmother was Editha (Stebbins) (Day) (Maynard) Holyoke (ibid., 209), who died in Springfield, Massachusetts, 20 October 1688 (Clifford L. Stott, Vital Records of Springfield, Massachusetts to 1850, 4 vols. [Boston, Mass.: NEHGS, 2002], database online at AmericanAncestors.org, 2:1692). See also Robert Charles Anderson, George F. Sanborn Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635, Volume II C-F (Boston: NEHGS, 2001), 327. Unfortunately John Day’s will does not name all his children. However, it does refer to “daughter Sarah” and “either of her sisters,” implying there were two unnamed daughters (Charles William Manwaring, A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records, Hartford District, 3 vols. [Hartford, Conn.: R. S. Peck & Co., 1904–06; reprint Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1995], 3:35).
Given that “Editha” is a very rare name in the area, it seems likely that Editha’s maiden name was Day, and that the old chest came through the family of Joseph Moody’s wife Sarah Kellogg. Knowing of Barbour’s expertise, he must have had a good reason for claiming that John Day had a daughter named Editha who married Ebenezer Moody.” ®799
"In Memory of
Mrs EDITHA
Wife of
Capt. EBENEZER
MOODEY, died
August ye 19th
1757 in her 75th year
Hope Humbly then
With Trembling
Pinions Soar, wait ye
Great Teacher Death
& God Adore" ®73
“ Besides, an ancient chest, which from the curious carved work upon it was evidently designed as part of the marriage dower, is still carefully preserved; this bears deeply engraved upon it the letters E. K. and the family in whose possession it is said, that Capt. Daniel Moody, who died in 1828 used to say that the chest belonged to his grandmother whose name was Kellogg before marriage. To this may be added the fact that a old account book in my possession which belonged to her son, Ebenezer show by the number of charges against the Kellogg name compared with the amount against others, that there was a kind of intimacy between the families. So also among many things of the kind, the following, taken from the ‘Proprietors Book’; “March 18, 1728-9 voted that the grant Liberty to Capt. Ebenezer Moody to join his first choice or division of land lying on Bachelders River up to Nathl Kellogg, Senr his first choice” “upon condition that S.D. Ebenezer Moody grant a high way through his first choice”, etc. In my own mind scarcely a doubt remains that she was a Kellogg and yet it would be pleasing to be able to state more definitely respecting her. It is beyond dispute, that her son Joseph married into the Kellogg family, of this fact too, I have found no public records except as preserved among his descendants, and there are many omissions in the Hadley records of a similar kind, as elsewhere. With this the matter might rest were it not that the Probate Records of Lieut. Joseph Kellogg’s estate who seems to have been about the only one of the name in this vicinity having children of a corresponding age, mentions no Editha. Samuel Kellogg of Hatfield, however, according to records of the ‘Day Family’ 24 Nov 1664 a grand daughter of Robert Day and his wife Editha (Stebbins). She having died Sep 19, 1677; he md. Sarah Root, now as no children were recorded of this marriage, and as his estate did not go to Probate, it is quite possible that of this second marriage there may have been a child, named Editha, being the name of the grandmother and this supplying the defect. Yet we would not affirm. As the older brother John, married at Guilford, Conn. Perhaps she was of the Kellogg family in Vicinity at Norwalk, Conn. * I have been unable to obtain the record of this marriage or to ascertain of a certainty to what branch of the Kellogg family she belonged. Her Christian name was Editha and the testimony among her descendants, some of whom till the present time, in one unbroken line, occupied the same homestead on which they settled and even the same house in which she and her husband died, is undisputed, that her maiden name was Kellogg.” ®408
“The Moody Family, or Records of the Descendants of Mr. John Moody of Hartford Connecticut 1636, Collected and Compiled by Rev. Plinius Moody, AM, 1856, His Manuscript typed by Seth R. Moody, 1907, Book 1 [of 6], Generations 1-8, Organized and Recorded by Theodore L. Moody and Maxine Bull Moody, 1997,” copy donated by David L. Moody to NEHGS, pp. 32–33. The background material for this collection appears on four Family History Library microfilms, 0,176,565–68.
The argument for Kellogg being Editha’s maiden name (p. 27 of this collection) is based on the letters “E.K.” engraved on “an ancient chest,” said to belong to the grandmother of the son Daniel (treated below) and on an “old account book” that shows frequent connections with Kelloggs. However, no child named Editha appears in Timothy Hopkins, The Kelloggs in the Old World and the New, 3 vols. (San Francisco: Sunset Press & Photo Engraving Co., 1903). Editha’s maiden name as Day appears in Lucius Barnes Barbour, Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut (Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1977; repr. 1982), 210, which lists her as a daughter of John and Sarah (Butler) Day and says she married Ebenezer Moody. Her grandmother was Editha (Stebbins) (Day) (Maynard) Holyoke (ibid., 209), who died in Springfield, Massachusetts, 20 October 1688 (Clifford L. Stott, Vital Records of Springfield, Massachusetts to 1850, 4 vols. [Boston, Mass.: NEHGS, 2002], database online at AmericanAncestors.org, 2:1692). See also Robert Charles Anderson, George F. Sanborn Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635, Volume II C-F (Boston: NEHGS, 2001), 327. Unfortunately John Day’s will does not name all his children. However, it does refer to “daughter Sarah” and “either of her sisters,” implying there were two unnamed daughters (Charles William Manwaring, A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records, Hartford District, 3 vols. [Hartford, Conn.: R. S. Peck & Co., 1904–06; reprint Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1995], 3:35).
Given that “Editha” is a very rare name in the area, it seems likely that Editha’s maiden name was Day, and that the old chest came through the family of Joseph Moody’s wife Sarah Kellogg. Knowing of Barbour’s expertise, he must have had a good reason for claiming that John Day had a daughter named Editha who married Ebenezer Moody.” ®799
"In Memory of
Mrs EDITHA
Wife of
Capt. EBENEZER
MOODEY, died
August ye 19th
1757 in her 75th year
Hope Humbly then
With Trembling
Pinions Soar, wait ye
Great Teacher Death
& God Adore" ®73
Research
Spouses
1CAPTAIN Ebenezer MOODY 
®711, ®656, ®758, ®759, ®760, ®761, ®408, ®687, ®627, ®8, ®214, ®762, ®763, ®764
®711, ®656, ®758, ®759, ®760, ®761, ®408, ®687, ®627, ®8, ®214, ®762, ®763, ®764Birth23 Oct 1675, Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, USA ®711, ®656, ®761, ®408, ®765, ®8, ®766, ®767
Death11 Nov 1757, South Hadley, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, USA ®768, ®769, ®770, ®761, ®771, ®772, ®773, ®774, ®775, ®776
MemoOld South Hadley Burial Ground A III 13
FatherSamuel MOODY Sr. (ca1634-1689)
MotherSarah DEMING (1640-1717)
Misc. Notes
He was Samuel's youngest son...and named in the administration of his father's estate in 1690. In the 1703 first division of land in what was later to be Amherst, he and his brother Samuel were jointly awarded a parcel 69 rods 5 feet wide by 240 rods deep. ®778Ebenezer and his family remained on this homestead in Hadley for over twenty years after his marriage in 1702. The south precinct of Hadley (South Hadley) and Hadley were six miles apart and separated by Mount Holyoke) may have been settled as early as 1725. in 1719-20 Ebenezer and Ebenezer, Jr., were allotted land in what was to become South Hadley and Granby (Ebenezer received a total of 143 acres, 69 rods and 7 feet). The amount of his estate and polls was 55 pounds, 10 shillings. The largest estate and polls of 295 pounds 18 shillings belonged to Mr. Samuel Porter, Esq. Ebenezer left his Hadley property to Ebenezer, Jr., and moved the rest of his family from Hadley to the wilderness of the south precinct of Hadley between 1727 and June 1729, when Ebenezer Smith was killed and one Montague injured at the raising of Ebenezer Moody’s house. In January 1731, the common land south of the town of Hadley was divided. Ebenezer Moody, now living in this area, received land based on his real estate value of 45 pounds. Ebenezer Moody was the Moderator of the first meeting (of which the records are preserved) of the South Precinct of Hadley (South Hadley did not become a separate incorporated district until 12 April 1753), held on 12 March 1733. He served a one year term as one of 7 selectmen in 1736. Ebenezer Moody’s house was burnt, 23 Feb 1744 and a man named Green and a mulatto child 6 years old were burnt to death. Ebenezer died at age 82. ®706 He left eight children at his death in 1745. ®761Ebenezer's will was dated 22 Mar 1757 and proved 14 Feb 1758 at Northampton.
“He was the father and founder of the Hamlet in South Hadley called ‘Moody - Corner’ which name, the village still bears.
His house stood a few feet from the fork of the roads at the foot of the hill and the South side; it was unfortunately burned about the year 1744 as appears from the account book of Dr. Richard Crouch at that time practicing physician in Hadley. Tradition affirms that a female servant perished in the flames.
He removed and lived with his son Daniel who together about the time built a large dwelling, well deserving the name Mansion, on the south side of Bachelders Brook. The house is yet standing being on the brow of the hill south-west from the bridge. It is one of the largest, and excepting the first meeting house which has since been converted into a dwelling, one of the oldest houses in South Hadley. It is still in good repair and in nothing changed from the ancient form exception of a wing running west, the old lean to having been removed about 1826.
He built and tended a grist mill the same being the first mill of the kind on the south side of Mr. Holyoke in that Precinct. This he did contrary to the opinion of some who at the time affirmed ‘there will never be inhabitants enough in the Precinct to support a mill!’ Unlike the prediction was the result. Rebuilt twice afterwards by his descendants it was the mill for the inhabitants of the place in a large circuit till 1848 when it was converted into a paper mill, which has since been destroyed by fire.
And it is worthy of note that his house which he carefully located on a north and south line had its main front door opening towards the mill it being the center of business while another door was built in the end adjoining the road which might perhaps the better to accommodate visitors.
He was Moderator of the first Town Meeting, held in that Precinct (March 12, 1733) and was ever a prominent actor in matters pertaining to the town, especially to that precinct and parish. He held the office of Captain in the Militia, which in those perilous times was responsible trust, but the date of his commission has not been found. During the first years of residence there, he with others of the settlers attended worship on the Sabbath in Hadley, a distant from 7 to 9 miles. The journey was performed n horseback generally, though sometimes on foot. The family starting in their every day apparel would stop at ‘Fort River Bridge’ a little out from the center of town and having changed their dusty garments, would pass the short distance remaining in their best attire. As they were exposed to attacks from the Indians, the families went arms armed and marshaled under leaders. It was indeed the Church Militant.
In 1733, a meeting house, without a steeple or bell, yet sufficiently commodious for the inhabitants, who could then meet at the sound of the conch and who worshipped after the Puritan faith. Ebenezer Moody was appointed to advise in regard ‘to the bigness of the pews’ and Aug 10th of the same year he was appointed chairman of the committee who acted in the settlement of Rev. Grindal Rowson Oct 3, 1733.
It was one of the first acts of this committee to secure by vote of the precinct a grant of land for the use of the ministry on condition that a ‘good orthodox minister’ should be settled among them; this land was at time of his settlement assigned to Mr. Rowson.
Years after when different persons had voted his removal, we find the name of Ebenezer Moody at the head of a protest with the names of fourteen others among whom were his Nephews John and Samuel Moody, his Nephew Joseph Kellogg, and his son in law, Nehemiah Dickinson and ‘at their request it was inserted on record that they dissent from the above vote concerning Mr. Rowson.’
Whatever, the dislike these measures it seems were more dissent that of the men who to prevent his preaching forcibly ejected him from the meeting house.
At the age of 72, Capt. Ebenezer Moody began to dispose of his large estate. The farm in Hadley where he had formally [sic] lived, he made over to his son, Ebenezer. The deed is in my possession.
It bears the date, ‘Feb 3rd 1748’ and conveys ‘all and singular, my housing, buildings, orchards and lands, both meadow lands, homelot lands, or woodlands, etc. that are lying or being situated within the bounds of the first Precinct of Hadley excepting only my meadow lands in Hoconumfield and one woodlot in the commons before sold.’
A similar deed given the same day and year to his son David transmitted in another branch of the family conveys ‘all and singular my right of lands on which I now live in the second Precinct of Hadley that layeth on the south side of Bachelders River with the dwelling house thereon saving only to myself and wife suitable & convenient house room and seller room during our lives, all so one third part of my Crank lot in sd precinct so called, allso one third part of that parcel of land called the Great Meadow lot, allso the whole of my first half in the four thousand acres division in sd precinct and after my decd one third part of my grist mill & right to the stream.’ (Hampshire SS. Springfield, Aug. 27, 1760. Received and recorded in book No. 2, page 356 & Examined per Edward Pynchon, Regr)
Being now in the 82d year of his age, he disposed of the remainder of his property in form as follows.
‘The 22d day of March 1757 In the name of God: Amen. I Ebenezer Moodey of South Hadley in the County of Hampshire in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England being sick and weak in body out of perfect mind and memory, thanks be given unto God therefor, calling unto mind the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appointed unto all men once to die to make and ordain this my last Will & Testament.
That is to say: Principally and first of all I give and recommend my soul to the hands of God who gave it and my body, I recommend to the Earth to be buried in a decent and Christian burial at the disscretion [sic] of my Executor not doubting that at the Resurrection I shall receive it, the same again by the mighty Power of God.
And as touching my worldly estate wherewith it has pleased God to bless me in this world, I give, demise & dispose of the same in the following manner & form.
My just debts and funeral charges to be first paid, I give and bequeath unto Editha my well beloved wife one third part of my personal Estate to be at her dispose forever, and the use and improvement of one third part of my Real Estate during the term of her natural life; two drafts or parcels of land thereinafter given to my sons Joseph and Josiah and a piece of land to Daniel, my son & my right in undivided lands only excepted & of which my wife is to have no part.
I give and bequeath to my son Ebenezer, twelve shillings, which with what he hath already received is his part.
I give to my sons Joseph, Daniel and Josiah all my right in common or undivided lands lying in South Hadley to be equally divided among them: and furthermore, I give to my said sons all my personal estate except what I have already given to my wife as aforesaid and the moveables or utensils belonging to the house and cash or security for money & also I give to my sons Joseph & Josiah the two drafts or parcels of land which I laid out in the 3000 acre division to be equally divided between them two & also, I give to my son Daniel a lot or parcel of land which I bought of Moses White.
I give to my daughters Mary & Sarah each of them four pounds, I give to my daughters Editha & Miriam - each of them two pounds thirteen shillings & sixpence.
The rest of my estate both money and movables, I give to my children Joseph, Daniel, Mary, Sarah, Editha, and Miriam to be equally divided among them and I do Will and appoint my sons Joseph and Daniel Executors of this my last Will & Testament and I do hereby utterly disallow all other Testaments or Wills be me in any ways before made ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my Last Will and Testament.
In witness whereof I hereunto set my hand and seal the day and date before written.
Signed, sealed published, pronounced * declared by the sd Ebenezer Moodey to be his last Will and Testament in the presence of us subscribers who also subscribed in his presence.
James Patrick Ebenezer Morgan Daniel Nash’
The above Will was proved Feb 14, 1758, and is recorded in the Probate Records for Hampshire County at Northampton, Mass.
His wife for whom he had made provision in the above Will, it appears did not survive him. They were buried in the grave yard at South Hadley, a short distance, west of the gate where slabs of re-sand-stone are erected to their memory, inscriptions plainly legible. This is the oldest grave of the descendants of Mr. John Moodie and excepting of his wife and of the wife of his brother Samuel, it is the oldest grave of the name, I have found with memento of the place.
The births of their children are on the Hadley Records ending with Daniel. As he removed to the South Precinct, the dates of the rest were not recorded, but from transcriptions on grave stones where the rest were buried, I have been able to restore the years of their births respectively.” ®408
“They lived in So. Hadley where E. built a house on the south side of the fork of the road just north of the bridge - it accidentally burned 15 years later in 1744. A 2nd building was erected on the south side of the brook and still remained in 1857 in good repair. E. was active in church and town affairs - was Moderator of the first Town Meeting in Hadley. He built a grist mill in town and owned a large estate some of which he gave to his sons by deed of gift and some by his will. The gravestones of E. and his wife and in the S. Hadley cemetery. Founder of Moody Corners in S. Hadley, MA.” ®8
"In Memory of
Capt EBENEZER
MOOD[EY who]
Died No[vember]
Ye 11th 1757 [in ye]
82nd year of his Age
Know then this truth
Enough for man to know
Virtue alone is
Hapiness bleow" ®73
“He was the father and founder of the Hamlet in South Hadley called ‘Moody - Corner’ which name, the village still bears.
His house stood a few feet from the fork of the roads at the foot of the hill and the South side; it was unfortunately burned about the year 1744 as appears from the account book of Dr. Richard Crouch at that time practicing physician in Hadley. Tradition affirms that a female servant perished in the flames.
He removed and lived with his son Daniel who together about the time built a large dwelling, well deserving the name Mansion, on the south side of Bachelders Brook. The house is yet standing being on the brow of the hill south-west from the bridge. It is one of the largest, and excepting the first meeting house which has since been converted into a dwelling, one of the oldest houses in South Hadley. It is still in good repair and in nothing changed from the ancient form exception of a wing running west, the old lean to having been removed about 1826.
He built and tended a grist mill the same being the first mill of the kind on the south side of Mr. Holyoke in that Precinct. This he did contrary to the opinion of some who at the time affirmed ‘there will never be inhabitants enough in the Precinct to support a mill!’ Unlike the prediction was the result. Rebuilt twice afterwards by his descendants it was the mill for the inhabitants of the place in a large circuit till 1848 when it was converted into a paper mill, which has since been destroyed by fire.
And it is worthy of note that his house which he carefully located on a north and south line had its main front door opening towards the mill it being the center of business while another door was built in the end adjoining the road which might perhaps the better to accommodate visitors.
He was Moderator of the first Town Meeting, held in that Precinct (March 12, 1733) and was ever a prominent actor in matters pertaining to the town, especially to that precinct and parish. He held the office of Captain in the Militia, which in those perilous times was responsible trust, but the date of his commission has not been found. During the first years of residence there, he with others of the settlers attended worship on the Sabbath in Hadley, a distant from 7 to 9 miles. The journey was performed n horseback generally, though sometimes on foot. The family starting in their every day apparel would stop at ‘Fort River Bridge’ a little out from the center of town and having changed their dusty garments, would pass the short distance remaining in their best attire. As they were exposed to attacks from the Indians, the families went arms armed and marshaled under leaders. It was indeed the Church Militant.
In 1733, a meeting house, without a steeple or bell, yet sufficiently commodious for the inhabitants, who could then meet at the sound of the conch and who worshipped after the Puritan faith. Ebenezer Moody was appointed to advise in regard ‘to the bigness of the pews’ and Aug 10th of the same year he was appointed chairman of the committee who acted in the settlement of Rev. Grindal Rowson Oct 3, 1733.
It was one of the first acts of this committee to secure by vote of the precinct a grant of land for the use of the ministry on condition that a ‘good orthodox minister’ should be settled among them; this land was at time of his settlement assigned to Mr. Rowson.
Years after when different persons had voted his removal, we find the name of Ebenezer Moody at the head of a protest with the names of fourteen others among whom were his Nephews John and Samuel Moody, his Nephew Joseph Kellogg, and his son in law, Nehemiah Dickinson and ‘at their request it was inserted on record that they dissent from the above vote concerning Mr. Rowson.’
Whatever, the dislike these measures it seems were more dissent that of the men who to prevent his preaching forcibly ejected him from the meeting house.
At the age of 72, Capt. Ebenezer Moody began to dispose of his large estate. The farm in Hadley where he had formally [sic] lived, he made over to his son, Ebenezer. The deed is in my possession.
It bears the date, ‘Feb 3rd 1748’ and conveys ‘all and singular, my housing, buildings, orchards and lands, both meadow lands, homelot lands, or woodlands, etc. that are lying or being situated within the bounds of the first Precinct of Hadley excepting only my meadow lands in Hoconumfield and one woodlot in the commons before sold.’
A similar deed given the same day and year to his son David transmitted in another branch of the family conveys ‘all and singular my right of lands on which I now live in the second Precinct of Hadley that layeth on the south side of Bachelders River with the dwelling house thereon saving only to myself and wife suitable & convenient house room and seller room during our lives, all so one third part of my Crank lot in sd precinct so called, allso one third part of that parcel of land called the Great Meadow lot, allso the whole of my first half in the four thousand acres division in sd precinct and after my decd one third part of my grist mill & right to the stream.’ (Hampshire SS. Springfield, Aug. 27, 1760. Received and recorded in book No. 2, page 356 & Examined per Edward Pynchon, Regr)
Being now in the 82d year of his age, he disposed of the remainder of his property in form as follows.
‘The 22d day of March 1757 In the name of God: Amen. I Ebenezer Moodey of South Hadley in the County of Hampshire in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England being sick and weak in body out of perfect mind and memory, thanks be given unto God therefor, calling unto mind the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appointed unto all men once to die to make and ordain this my last Will & Testament.
That is to say: Principally and first of all I give and recommend my soul to the hands of God who gave it and my body, I recommend to the Earth to be buried in a decent and Christian burial at the disscretion [sic] of my Executor not doubting that at the Resurrection I shall receive it, the same again by the mighty Power of God.
And as touching my worldly estate wherewith it has pleased God to bless me in this world, I give, demise & dispose of the same in the following manner & form.
My just debts and funeral charges to be first paid, I give and bequeath unto Editha my well beloved wife one third part of my personal Estate to be at her dispose forever, and the use and improvement of one third part of my Real Estate during the term of her natural life; two drafts or parcels of land thereinafter given to my sons Joseph and Josiah and a piece of land to Daniel, my son & my right in undivided lands only excepted & of which my wife is to have no part.
I give and bequeath to my son Ebenezer, twelve shillings, which with what he hath already received is his part.
I give to my sons Joseph, Daniel and Josiah all my right in common or undivided lands lying in South Hadley to be equally divided among them: and furthermore, I give to my said sons all my personal estate except what I have already given to my wife as aforesaid and the moveables or utensils belonging to the house and cash or security for money & also I give to my sons Joseph & Josiah the two drafts or parcels of land which I laid out in the 3000 acre division to be equally divided between them two & also, I give to my son Daniel a lot or parcel of land which I bought of Moses White.
I give to my daughters Mary & Sarah each of them four pounds, I give to my daughters Editha & Miriam - each of them two pounds thirteen shillings & sixpence.
The rest of my estate both money and movables, I give to my children Joseph, Daniel, Mary, Sarah, Editha, and Miriam to be equally divided among them and I do Will and appoint my sons Joseph and Daniel Executors of this my last Will & Testament and I do hereby utterly disallow all other Testaments or Wills be me in any ways before made ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my Last Will and Testament.
In witness whereof I hereunto set my hand and seal the day and date before written.
Signed, sealed published, pronounced * declared by the sd Ebenezer Moodey to be his last Will and Testament in the presence of us subscribers who also subscribed in his presence.
James Patrick Ebenezer Morgan Daniel Nash’
The above Will was proved Feb 14, 1758, and is recorded in the Probate Records for Hampshire County at Northampton, Mass.
His wife for whom he had made provision in the above Will, it appears did not survive him. They were buried in the grave yard at South Hadley, a short distance, west of the gate where slabs of re-sand-stone are erected to their memory, inscriptions plainly legible. This is the oldest grave of the descendants of Mr. John Moodie and excepting of his wife and of the wife of his brother Samuel, it is the oldest grave of the name, I have found with memento of the place.
The births of their children are on the Hadley Records ending with Daniel. As he removed to the South Precinct, the dates of the rest were not recorded, but from transcriptions on grave stones where the rest were buried, I have been able to restore the years of their births respectively.” ®408
“They lived in So. Hadley where E. built a house on the south side of the fork of the road just north of the bridge - it accidentally burned 15 years later in 1744. A 2nd building was erected on the south side of the brook and still remained in 1857 in good repair. E. was active in church and town affairs - was Moderator of the first Town Meeting in Hadley. He built a grist mill in town and owned a large estate some of which he gave to his sons by deed of gift and some by his will. The gravestones of E. and his wife and in the S. Hadley cemetery. Founder of Moody Corners in S. Hadley, MA.” ®8
"In Memory of
Capt EBENEZER
MOOD[EY who]
Died No[vember]
Ye 11th 1757 [in ye]
82nd year of his Age
Know then this truth
Enough for man to know
Virtue alone is
Hapiness bleow" ®73