Gideon C. Moody

American judge

Gideon Curtis Moody (October 16, 1832March 17, 1904) was an attorney and politician, elected in 1889 as a Republican United States Senator from South Dakota. He served two years. He also had served five years as an associate justice of the Dakota Territory Supreme Court, from 1878 to 1883, before entering private practice for a period as general counsel for Homestake Mine. When South Dakota joined the Union on November 2, 1889, Moody, one of the two senators chosen by the state legislature, took office. In March 1891, his term was up.

Born in Cortland, New York to Stephen and Charlotte Moody, who had migrated from Orange, Vermont, Moody attended the local common schools as a youth. He pursued an academic course. He studied law in Syracuse, New York. In 1852 he joined a westward migration and moved to Indiana, gaining admission to the bar there in 1853. He was appointed as prosecuting attorney for Floyd County, Indiana in 1854. Now established, in 1855 he married Helen C. Eliot (1836–1927) in Indiana. They had five children together: Helen Eliot (1856–1940), married Mr. Dickinson; Charles C. (1858–1906), James Chaudoin (1862–1919), Burdette (1866–1946), and Warner Moody (1876–1906). Entering politics, Moody was elected as a member of the Indiana House of Representatives in 1861. After the Civil War started, Moody enlisted as a volunteer with the Union Army. He was commissioned as a captain in April 1861 and was promoted during his service to lieutenant colonel and colonel before he resigned in March 1864. Moody moved to Dakota Territory around 1865.