THE FLAGLER TRIBUNE
Bunnell, Florida
Thursday, December 19, 1918MOODY'S DEATH A BLOW TO BUNNELL - - Flagler County Succumbs to Influenza After Short Illness - - Floral Offerings of Rare Beauty - -
I. I MOODY DIES
This statement came from the residence of the stricken man in whom all residents of the city has a personal interest from the moment it was announced that he had contracted the dreaded influenza and all had hoped against hop that he would rally and pull through but fate seemed to ordain otherwise, and Tuesday evening after a desperate struggle to overcome the double pneumonia, he gave up the ghost.
The news that Mr. Moody was no more has cast a shadow over the community like ????? and truly Flagler County and all the State of Florida will feel the effect of his passing.
In his death, the city experienced its first telling disaster, for indeed it is a real calamity. He occupied the position of father and helper of every industry of the county that had for it purpose the advancement of the county at large. He was friend and advisor of every man who was undertaking to do as he himself has done - - to carve out a fortune from the rough in a new land - - and his friends were numbered by his acquaintances.
Mr. Moody and two brothers came to Florida about twenty years ago and he became associated with Major J F Lambert in the turpentine business which is a short time grew to be one of the largest and most prosperous branches of the state's many industries and the company soon acquired large and very valuable holdings of land.
Mr. Moody conceived the idea of developing and holding and inviting settlers from the north and east to move in and make the soil produce the crops of which it is fully capable, and in order to further this plan, the Bunnell Development Company was formed and offices established in Chicago. Of this company, Mr. Mood became the president with the position he has most ably handled up to the time of his death, and it was though the effort of this company that many thousands of acres of land were sold to people from all parts of the county and has been responsible for bringing many hundreds of families to become permanent settlers.
Under his direction, the Town of Bunnell was laid out to occupy one mile square, streets were laid out and the town was surveyed into town lots and from this unpretentious beginning the town has grown with great stride.
Before Flagler County was created, Bunnell was part of St Johns County and as he was an untiring worker for the up-building of the county. At his own expense he built the massive brick archway on The Dixie Highway at the line of Duval and St Johns Counties and worked untiringly to complete the roadway to the county, finally getting it extended as far south as Ocean City.
He next went to work to secure a county and by cutting from the south end of St Johns and the north end of Volusia County of approximately ????? square miles was organized in due course of time under act of the legislature and named for the great east coast developer and philanthropist Henry M Flagler.
Mr. Mood was almost unanimously elected as Flagler County's Representative at the last election and served with distinction at the special session of that body. It was during his stay at the state capital that he contracted the disease that ended his life.
He was probably the most prominent man in secret order circles in the county, being a 32nd degree mason, both Scottish and York Rites, and an enthusiastic member of Morocco Temple of Shriners at Jacksonville.
He was 44 years of age and leaves besides thousands of friends, a grief stricken wife and three pretty little daughters, Gladys, Leona and Dorothy; a brother George Moody, and a sister, Mrs. B. M. Dowdy, an aged mother and numerous other relatives here and in his old Georgia home who will mourn his loss with a sincere and heart-felt grief.
The funeral services were held at the Methodist Church, Rev. R. L. Ramsey officiating, at 11 o'clock Thursday morning an internment was made at Espanola Cemetery. Besides his brother Robert Moody, who preceded him by only about seven weeks from the same malady, at shortly after 10 o'clock Honorable W. A. McWilliams, acting master with the honors and rites of the great order of which he was a member.
The floral offerings were the most gorgeous that have ever been seen in the town of Bunnell, more than two automobile loads coming in from Jacksonville Thursday morning - - from his lodges were emblematic floral pieces handsome beyond compare and there probably was not a family in Bunnell or the surrounding country who did not contribute their best and their all.
From the residence to the church the body was escorted by the Masonic Lodge of which he was a member, following by the Eastern Star Order. The funeral arrangements were in charge of Mooney and Davis of Palatka, and the hearse was one of the handsomest of that firm's cars.
