Moody Family Heritage

The Moody family’s financial success dates to the years following the Civil War, when Virginia native Col. William Lewis Moody (1828 - 1920) established a cotton, wool, and mercantile business on Galveston Island. Expanding later into banking, the port, and railroads, Col. Moody became a community leader who helped build a prosperous business environment in Galveston and Texas. He was a major force in establishing the Island’s prominence in the worldwide cotton trade, for example, and Galveston was known as “The Wall Street of the Southwest” during his lifetime.

The Colonel’s son, W. L. Moody, Jr. (1865 - 1954), took up the family business pursuits at a young age. Educated at the Virginia Military Institute and the University of Texas, he became a partner in W. L. Moody & Co. on his 21st birthday. He convinced his father to open a private bank in 1889, and shortly thereafter opened the National Bank of Texas. As his genius for business grew, he built a diverse enterprise that encompassed banking, insurance, hotels, ranches, newspaper publication and printing. He established the Moody Foundation as his legacy to the people of Texas.

W.L. Moody, Jr., began grooming his daughter, Mary Moody Northen (1892 - 1986), to take over the leadership of the family businesses after the 1936 death of her brother, Shearn. Mrs. Northen’s father and her husband died within a few weeks of each other, yet she rose above her grief and grew into her role as a corporate executive. As head of the Moody enterprises, Mrs. Northen was guided by her father’s ideas and plans, but as chair of the Moody Foundation she forged new paths, particularly in the area of historic preservation.