Moody, Thomas F.

Thomas F. Moody was born near Santa Clara, California, on May 31, 1855, to pioneer parents George W. Moody and Emily Lynn, who had crossed the plains from Missouri in 1847. Raised on his father’s ranch, he began working independently as a farm laborer at age fourteen following his mother’s death. He married his step-sister, Lovey Jane Deitzman, and ranched in San Benito, Napa, and Tulare counties before settling in the Liberty district for a decade.

In 1898, Moody relocated to the Laguna de Tache Grant, where he built a successful agricultural career by expanding his initial land purchase into a 200-acre ranch west of Hardwick. Following the death of his first wife in 1906, with whom he had seven children, he married Mrs. Daisy Mylar and continued to acquire regional property alongside his sons. Active in local civic life, he served as a school trustee, road supervisor, and director of the Riverdale Federal Land Association while naming Santa Clara Avenue after his native county.