Moody, Elvira

Elvira Moody (1815-1903)

Fitzwilliam, NH

Elvira Moody lived in southwest New Hampshire for much of the 19th century.  She was born in Fitzwilliam, NH, around 1815 to John and Lydia (Humphrey) Moody.  As a family of color, the Moodys initially owned about 100 acres in Fitzwilliam, NH, in the mid-1810s.  

The 1820 census provides more information about the family while in town. Her father was over the age of 45 while her mother was younger than that. The family had grown to include a son and two daughters, all under the age of 14. Another woman of color, between the age of 26-45 also lived in the home. Soon after the census was taken, another child was born. Sylvester Moody was born in 1820.

Unfortunately, Elvira’s father John (also known as Jack) died of lung fever in 1823, a condition known today as pneumonia. Wife Lydia may have already died by that time as the children were sent to live in separate households.  According to First Congregational Church records of Keene, NH, Lydia was baptized and taken in by the town minister Rev. Zedekiah Barstow and his wife.  She lived with them into the 1830s at least.

Elvira was taken in by Fitzwilliam’s local minister, Rev. John Sabin and his wife.  The 1830 census indicates that Sabin had a free female of color, aged 10-24, living in his household at the time.  Elvira would have been 15 years old.  She continued to work in the Sabin household as a domestic servant for much of her life.

By 1840, two persons of color were living with the minister and his wife.  Elvira and her brother Silas are the most likely candidates to have lived with the Sabins.  When Rev. Sabin died in 1845, Silas Moody made a claim of $7.25 against the estate as money owed to him.  There’s no mention of the Moody children in Sabin’s will.  

Elvira Moody next appears in historical records in her 30s, in the 1850 census.  She still resided in the household of 81 year old Mary Sabin in Fitzwilliam, wife of the former minister in her town.  Elvira remained working as a domestic servant in the Sabin household into the 1860s.  When Mrs. Sabin died in 1865, she left $300 to Elvira Moody in her will as well as “the bed in which she sleeps, a bureau, and all other things necessary to furnish a chamber, and such other articles of furniture my executor and she may decide on, as a reward for her long and faithful services to me.” 

FElvira/Alvira Moody stayed in Fitzwilliam into the 1870s.  The 1870 census listed her as a domestic servant in the household of a white family, Francis and Laura Perkins and their children Harry and Edith.  The Perkins family had just moved back to Fitzwilliam, NH from New Orleans, LA; their youngest child was born there.  Alvira was falsely listed as a 45 year old, white domestic servant born in LA who could not read and write.  Later in 1969, the Fitzwilliam Historical Society published an interview they had done with the daughter Edith Perkins Baldwin (1867-1961), in which she recalls memories her negro mammy “Vira” while living in Fitzwilliam.

At some point in the 1870s, Elvira Moody moved to Worcester, MA, to live with her brother Silas and his wife Philotha Moody.  She appears in the 1880 census as a member of his household. At this point the Moody children were in their 60s. 

By 1900, Elvira Moody was 85 years old and living on her own.  She moved back to Fitzwilliam, NH, living as head of household, renting a room from a local white family.  Some local residents also helped to care for her, including Mrs. G. W. Estabrook.

 Elvira Moody died on April 4, 1903 in Boston, MA.  Her NH death record indicates that Elvira died of heart disease and had been a servant.  Her association with the town of Fitzwilliam and her parentage, etc.. was unknown to the clerk filling out the paperwork at the time.  Elvira Moody buried in the Village Cemetery in Fitzwilliam, NH.

(updated 10/13/2024, Jennifer Carroll)

SOURCE MATERIALS

Cheshire County Registry of Deeds. Vol. 68: 367; Vol. 76: 302; Vol. 79: 527

Find-a-Grave

First Congregational Church Records. Book II, p.105.  Historical Society of Cheshire County, Group 276, Box 1.

Interview with Edith Perkins Baldwin, pub.. 1969, Fitzwilliam Historical Society, NH

New Hampshire Church Records, Fitzwilliam, 1823- Familysearch.org

New Hampshire Wills and Probate, Fitzwilliam, 1845, 1865- Ancestry.com

U.S. Federal Census, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880- Ancestry.com

GENEALOGY:

ELVIRA MOODY was born in Fitzwilliam, NH, around 1815, the daughter of John and Lydia (Humphrey) Moody.  She died in Boston on April 4, 1903 and is buried in the Village Cemetery in Fitzwilliam, NH.*

*Fitzwilliam Church records indicate that John’s wife’s name was Rhoda.