Near Friendship in Dyer County, Tennessee — The American South (East South Central)
Robert J. Moody
(1828-1916)
Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, July 21, 2024
1. Robert J. Moody Marker, Side One
An important post-Civil War Black educator, Moody was born to an enslaved man named Daniel and Jane Freeman, a free woman of mixed race. He farmed as a free man with his mother in Dyer County; they hired his enslaved father as labor. After Disciples of Christ ministers converted the family, Moody in 1855 attended a Disciples for Blacks in Nashville until the city closed it in 1856. Moody finished his education at Buxton Mission School in Canada before returning to Dyer County and purchasing his father at auction in 1858.
He freed his father who moved to Canada, but Moody stayed to attempt to purchase and free Sarah McDamond, who became his legally recognized wife in 1866. During the Civil War he traveled to Union lines at Trenton, then Cairo, Illinois to go to Canada, returning after the war to Michigan. From 1873 to 1880 Moody was an impactful educator and missionary in Dyer County. He moved to Illinois in 1880, working as a teamster and farmer there for the rest of his life.
Erected 2024 by Tennessee Historical Commission. (Marker Number 4E 47.)
Topics and series. This historical marker
this page online
Location. 35° 57.232′ N, 89° 19.014′ W. Marker is near Friendship, Tennessee, in Dyer County. It is at the intersection of U.S. 412 and Bill Murray Road, on the right when traveling west on U.S. 412. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Friendship TN 38034, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in West Tennessee. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Deep South, in the Upper South, and in the Mississippi Delta. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 7 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: William Nash (approx. Ύ mile away); Dyer County / Lauderdale County (approx. 5.2 miles away);
Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, July 21, 2024
2. Robert J. Moody Marker, Side Two
Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, July 21, 2024
3. Robert J. Moody Marker
Looking westward on U.S. 412.
Credits. This page was last revised on July 21, 2025. It was originally submitted on August 27, 2024, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 686 times since then and 94 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on August 27, 2024, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
