Williamson County Historical Commission
contact Wayne Ware (512)
863-2202
Governor Dan Moody
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DANIEL JAMES MOODY, JR. (1893-1966)
click photo for an enlarged view Governor Dan Moody Museum, 114W. Ninth Street built in 1 887 by James Robertson, the house was bought by the first mayor of Taylor, Dan'l Moody and his wife Nannie Robertson Moody in 1889. Dan Moody and his sister Mary were born in the downstairs bedroom where an 1810 quilt and 1860 bed brought with the family from Tennessee are featured. The museum is one of only two governor's birthplaces in Texas open to the public and is the only one that is still furnished almost completely with the family's original belongings. A beautiful garden now flourishes where the Moody family once ran a dairy.
Click on image for enlarged
view Marker Text: A crusader for integrity in public office. Born in Taylor, Williamson County; son of Daniel and Nancy Elizabeth Robertson Moody. At 16 entered University of Texas, where he completed law school. After World War I service, won election to the office of county attorney, then an appointment by Governor Pat Neff to District Attorney, Travis and Williamson counties. Won statewide notice for prosecutions of Ku Klux Klansmen in notorious flogging cases, and was urged by friends to run for Attorney General of Texas. He won this office, and served 1925-1927 in an era of alleged corruption. Moving to halt kickbacks on highway contracts, he recovered for Texas hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 1926 ran for governor on his record as Attorney General, and was elected. Inaugurated when he was 33, he was youngest man ever to take oath for that office. During his terms, 1927-1931, Texans' faith in their state government was restored. Great reforms were made in the State Highway Department and state penitentiary system. After retirement from the governor's office, he practiced law, and was appointed by the President of the United States to prosecute tax evader. He married Mildred Paxton; they had two children.
Dan
Moody article by Ken Anderson view links |
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Narratives from the Georgetown's
Yesteryears Book
A special thanks to The
Georgetown Heritage Society and Martha Mitten Allen for letting
WCHC post these wonderful first person stories.
see Foreword and
Preface
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The Ku Klux
Klan |
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Dan Moody
was the lawyer, later Governor.
My mother and her friends did not want to miss a single session, so they
would go and pack lunches, so that when you got into the courtroom and
got a good seat, you wouldn't have to get up and go out to eat or
anything. If you did, there were people standing outside trying to get
your seat. You'd send somebody out to bring you back a drink, and you
would eat your lunch and stay right on that bench.
I was there at the courthouse nearly every day with my mother. There
were officers in the hallway to be sure the people got in and out. And
there was a great deal of feeling, and a tenseness and you knew that you
were to go in and sit down and not cause any trouble. Everybody felt
that way about it. And Dan Moody was just a brilliant young man, he was
really outstanding. He was worth going to hear in any trial.
Feelings were very tense and high, people often didn't know to whom they
were talking, if they were members of the local Ku Klux Klan or not.
Quite a few students were. And I remember, just about this time, my
sister, who was older than I, was having dates and her date came down
and asked us if we wanted to drive out where that sign of Southwestern
is on 29. We went out there and they were having a big Klan meeting.
That is one of the eeriest, spookiest things. They had the cross out
there, the burning cross, and marching around with torches. People told
us that we would be amazed if we knew who some of them were, and that
there were a good many students at that time.
I
thought it was going to be something funny to watch, but it wasn't. It
was weird and you felt creepy about the whole thing, and it was just not
right. It was really eerie.
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