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The Barney History Project: The people, places, and stories of Barney, Georgia

Allen Turner Moody

See also the Ryall family connections for Isaiah Ryall and Rachel Ann Folsom’s descendants and their marriages into other Barney families.

Allen Turner Moody was a Barney farmer and sawmill operator identified with the A. T. Moody named as town marshal in a December 1911 election report. He later moved to Cocoa, Florida, where he operated a package store. His household records connect Barney and Cocoa through his wife, Sarah Viola Ryall Moody. [1–6]

His brother was James I. Moody, the Barney merchant. Sam Moody was his nephew; Allen's obituary identifies that relationship. [6]

Barney and the marshal's office

Brooks County marriage records place Allen T. Moody's marriage to Sarah Ryall on October 27, 1906. In 1910, Allen and Sarah lived in Barney, where he worked as a farmer. His World War I registration gives his full name as Allen Turner Moody and his birth date as November 6, 1882. [2–4]

In its account of Barney's December 15, 1911 election, the Atlanta Semi-Weekly Journal named A. T. Moody as marshal and credited him with running down three “blind tigers,” a period term for illegal liquor operations. This establishes his reported officeholding, but does not settle when or how he first took office. The report names no defendants or court outcomes, and the length of Moody's service remains unknown. [1]

By 1920, the census described A. T. Moody as a sawmill operator. He and Sarah lived with their young niece Marie Elliott in an owned home. [5]

Land associated with the Moody household

The 1908 Brooks County map places A. T. Moody's residence due east of Barney, just outside the city limits in Land Lot 279. The map locates his home; it does not establish the extent or source of his land title. [14]

The property records distinguish A. T. Moody from Mrs. A. T. Moody. A September 1909 bond for title between William Rountree and R. T. Collins used A. T. Moody's boundary to describe land in Land Lot 279. That establishes a named adjoining interest, not the source or extent of his title. [7]

Mrs. A. T. Moody acquired lot C24 in the Edgewood Addition from Sallie A. Rozier for $50 in a deed executed January 21, 1913. She conveyed the same lot to W. H. Rogers for $100 on December 30, 1914. Both deeds were recorded January 5, 1915, in Deed Book Y, pages 232–233. The grantee's married style is consistent with Sarah Viola Moody, but the deeds must not be treated as purchases by her husband. [8]

Other deeds name Mrs. A. T. Moody as the purchaser of twelve acres in Land Lot 279 from William Rountree and 3½ acres there from W. H. Rogers. The twelve-acre deed's exact execution date remains uncertain; the Rogers deed was executed June 14, 1915. [9–10]

An indexed 1918 transaction from Gordon Alderman to A. T. Moody concerns Land Lot 320 and points to Deed Book 28, page 459. The correct lead remains valid, but the original page 459 has not been examined, so its precise property description and terms are unresolved. It cannot yet be connected to Mrs. Moody's Edgewood lot. [11]

Cocoa and later life

Moody's 1948 obituary said he had lived in Cocoa for twenty-four years, placing his move at about 1924. In 1930, Allen and Sarah lived at 617 Brevard Avenue with niece Marie Elliott, their nephew Samuel R. (Sam) Moody, and boarders. The census labels Samuel, aged twenty-three, as a son, but Allen's obituary identifies Sam as his nephew. The obituary supplies the family relationship used here; the census label is retained as a conflicting entry. [6,12]

The 1940 census names Moody's wife as “Marie,” an enumerator error for Sarah Viola Moody. Sarah remained his wife; the entry does not represent another marriage. [6,13]

The Evening Tribune of August 26, 1948 reported that Allen Turner Moody, sixty-five, had died the previous Friday after a short illness. That places his death on August 20. It identified him as a Brooks County native and package-store operator living with his wife on South Brevard Avenue. Funeral services were held in Cocoa, after which his remains were taken to Mount Zion Methodist Church near Barney for services and burial. [6]

Sources

  1. “Hiers Named Mayor by Barney Voters,” Atlanta Semi-Weekly Journal, December 19, 1911, page 8. https://www.newspapers.com/image/887728277/
  2. Brooks County marriage record, Allen T. Moody and Sarah Ryall, October 27, 1906. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/4766/records/126585
  3. 1910 United States census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, sheet 17A. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7884/records/3199485
  4. World War I draft registration, Allen Turner Moody. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6482/records/11779699
  5. 1920 United States census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, page 16A. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6061/records/7327030
  6. “A. T. Moody Is Claimed By Death Friday 4:30 P. M.,” Evening Tribune, August 26, 1948, page 1. https://www.newspapers.com/image/779662083/
  7. Brooks County, Deed Book T, page 322, William Rountree's bond for title to R. T. Collins; FamilySearch digital film 7716400, image 508. https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/007716400?i=507
  8. Brooks County, Deed Book Y, pages 232–233, Rozier → Mrs. A. T. Moody and Mrs. Moody → Rogers; FamilySearch digital film 7716404, images 248–249. https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/007716404?i=247
  9. Brooks County, Deed Book Y, page 55, Rountree → Mrs. A. T. Moody; FamilySearch digital film 7716404, image 63. https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/007716404?i=62
  10. Brooks County, Deed Book Y, page 437, Rogers → Mrs. A. T. Moody; FamilySearch digital film 7716404, image 454. https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/007716404?i=453
  11. Brooks County grantee index, Gordon Alderman → A. T. Moody, referring to Deed Book 28, page 459; original pending. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BZ-39KY-J
  12. 1930 United States census, Cocoa, Brevard County, Florida, sheet 3A. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6224/records/102462453
  13. 1940 United States census, Cocoa, Brevard County, Florida, sheet 13B. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2442/records/133998404
  14. R. D. Flippen, Map of Brooks County, Georgia (Hudgins Co., 1908), Georgia Archives County Maps; A. T. Moody residence east of Barney in Land Lot 279.