Sewell Moody
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Sewell Prescott "Sew" Moody (1834 - November 4, 1875) was a lumberman, carpenter, and Yankee trader from Hartland, Maine.
At the age of 14, he and his family crossed the American continent to San Francisco. He came to New Westminster, British Columbia, about 1861 and in 1862 formed a partnership with Moses Ireland, who had made a small stake in the Cariboo mines. The Moody family had had a long association with the lumber trade in Maine, and in 1862 Moody formed a syndicate that included Ireland, Joshua Homer, and Captain James Van Bramer to build a steam sawmill at New Westminster. This was the first mill of any size on the mainland of British Columbia.
Moody had decided to move his lumbering activities to Burrard Inlet. In 1864 he purchased the Pioneer Mills, the first industrial plant on the Inlet, with the mill facing bankruptcy. Moody slowly built up the first substantial lumber export business from the British Columbia mainland, and sent shipments to various places all over the world.
In 1866 Moody entered into partnership with George Dietz and Hugh Nelson, who had operated an express business serving the Fraser River mines. For a time the firm continued to be known as S.P. Moody and Company, but in 1870 the name was changed to Moody, Dietz and Nelson.
The mills were on the north shore of Burrard Inlet, within the limits of the present city of North Vancouver. First known locally as "Moody’s Mills," the surrounding settlement was officially named Moodyville in 1872.
He died in a shipwreck at about while on a business trip. The SS Pacific, on its way to San Francisco in 1875, struck another vessel in a violent storm off Cape Flattery and sank. There were only two survivors. Six weeks after the sinking, a fragment of the lost steamer was discovered on a beach near his Victoria home. Penciled into the white painted fragment is a final note from Sewell Moody. "All lost, S.P. Moody."[1]
Today Moodyville is a suburb of Canada’s third largest metropolis and continues to prosper under the name North Shore. Each January 30, residents honor Moodyville Day.[2]
[edit] References
Sewell Prescott Moody and brother Thomas Gage Moody first appear in B.C. in early 1859, when Sewell was 25 years old. After his mother's death in Hartland in 1865, his father Joshua and sisters Sarah Jane and Helen came to Victoria in Dec of 1865. The 'myth' of Sewell coming at age 14 with his family is completely erroneous. He can be found with his family in the 1850 Hartland census and his parents and sisters are in the 1860 Hartland census. First mention of Sewell in B.C. is in 1859 when he briefly went down to the San Juan Islands to take part in the infamous "Pig War".
The wooden artifact with 'all lost S.P. Moody' was identified as in his hand by his brother-in-law, husband of Sarah Jane Robinson Moody (wife of Victoria Mayor William Dalby). It is on display in the Vancouver Maritime Museum.
