CLEMENT J. MOODY, one of Bedford County’s prominent attorneys is a son of Samuel S. and Letitia (Cannon) Moody. The father was born in Henry County, Tenn. He was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church and was a member of the general conference of 1844, when the churches divided and he adhered to the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He was one of the most eminent ministers of the church and for many years was presiding elder of this district conference. He held very prominent positions in various places. His death occurred May 7, 1868. The mother was a niece of Gov. Newton Cannon, and her father was one of the most prominent pioneers of this county, and gave the land whereon the town of Shelbyville was built. She died July 24, 1880.
The subject of this sketch received a good early education, graduating at the Centre College, Kentucky, in 1865. He then read law in Shelbyville and in 1867 graduated in the law department of the Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tenn. He was then admitted to the Bedford County bar and has been justly successful in the profession, ranking among the leading criminal lawyers of the State. He was married January 18, 1881, to Miss Sally C. M. Cannon, daughter of John T. Cannon, whose sketch appears in this work. Mr. Moody and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Mr. Moody is a Royal Arch Mason and Past Grand Master of the Shelbyville Lodge. Politically he is a firm Democrat, and is one of the leading spirits in his party.
Transcribed by Kathryn Hopkins
Goodspeed Publishing Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford & Marshall Counties, Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Reminescences [Sic], Observations, Etc., Etc. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1988.