Page:Pen Pictures of Representative Men of Oregon.djvu/15

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STATE OFFICERS


GOVERNOR Z. F. MOODY.

Zenas Ferry Moody, Governor of the Wtate of Oregon, was born on the 27th day of May, 1832, in Granby, Mass. His father was Major Thomas H. Moody. His mother was Hannah M. Ferry, an aunt of Senator T. W. Ferry, of Michigan, formerly Vice-President of the United States. Gov. Moody comes of good old New England Revolutionary stock, his grandfather, Gideon Moody, having borne arms as a soldier during the Revolutionary war. He has proven himself worthy of his lineage, and the principles which he imbibed on New England soil have been the guide of his whole subsequent life. The sturdy virtues of that stock are too well known to require comment; they have become historical. The public men of New England have led the van in every reform, and have taken a most prominent part in molding all of that history of which the American people are most proud. New England ideas have been infused throughout the whole of our national life, and we have come to expect from men of that nationality those sturdy qualities, which have contributed so largely to our happiness and prosperity as a people. Mr. Moody's childhood was spent in Granby. In 1848 he removed to Chicopee, Mass., where he remained the ensuing three years. On the 13th day of March, 1851, he sailed from New York for Oregon via the Isthmus, with a company, among whom was Hon. Samuel R. Thurston, the first Delegate to Congress from the Territory of Oregon. He came direct to Oregon City, then the principal town of Oregon, landing there on the 21st day of April, 1851. From this time until 1853 he was engaged on the United States Surveys as one of the "Freeman party," so called after James E. Freeman, who stuck the first pin in the United States Surveys in Oregon, established the initial point of the Willamette Meridian, and extended this Meridian to the Canyon Mountains. In 1853, Mr. Moody removed to Brownsville, Oregon, where he engaged in the mercantile business. In the fall of 1853 he was married to Miss Mary Stephenson, his present wife. Four sons and one daughter now constitute the family group. In 1856 he was appointed Inspector of United States Surveys in California. After completing his duties as such Inspector he went to Illinois where he remained four years, during a portion of which time he was the Surveyor of Morgan county. He happened to be in Washington, D. C, when Fort Sumter was fired upon in 1861 and enrolled as one of a company formed to protect the city until the arrival of the regular troops. In the year 1862 he removed to The Dalles, engaging there in the mercantile business. In 1863, though still continuing his residence at The Dalles, he removed his business to Umatilla, the development of the Boise mines having contributed towards making this an important business point. Here he remained in lousiness until the fall of 1865. In the spring of 1866 he built the steamer "Mary Moody" to operate on Pen d'Oreille Lake, and afterwards aided in organizing the