JAMES MOODY, UEL

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Since 1983, a replica painting of James Moody , UE  Loyalist  has hung in St. Peter's Anglican Church in Weymouth North, Nova Scotia. Moody was an officer with the New Jersey Volunteers during the American Revolution who, after the conflict, settled near where the church stands and donated the land for the first place of worship there.  The original painting done while Moody was visiting England passed down in his family before being given to the church and placed on a wall in 1979.  Two years later,  in June, 1981, it disappeared. 

James Moody replica painting 

A plaque on the wall beside the painting reads:

James Moody  1744 - 1809

A New Jersey farmer, who, believing that the unwritten British constitution best guaranteed individual civil rights and that rebellion was constitutional anarchy,  supported the British in the American Revolutionary War.   His daring military exploits made him famous in his time. In England, from 1782 - 1786, he helped gain British aid for Loyalist settlement in Canada. In Weymouth he was a shipbuilder, military officer,  sheep breeder and farmer, builder of a tidal grist mill and sawmill, community leader and benefactor, magistrate and member of the House of Assembly.  To support an Anglican Parish he gave the land for the first church on this site and saw to its construction. In the Assembly he played an important role in the fight for political and judicial reforms which paved the way for representative government. 

This plaque was erected in thanksgiving for his outstanding service to this nation, province and community.

James Moody Plaque

James Moody was born on 1 January 1744 in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey  . He was a giant of a man and stood 6 feet 2 inches tall.  Among his Loyalist contemporaries he was a hero.  He wrote a book about his experiences during the American Revolution entitled Narrative of his Exertions and Sufferings in the Cause of Government since 1776. When he died on 6 April 1809 he was buried at Weymouth North in the Cemetery beside the church he helped build.  On his headstone, it is inscribed:

Here lies the Man
who of Tranquil Mind
Felt friendly sympathy to all mankind
His country valued
And his sovereign loved
While Honest zeal
His patitne volour moved
His soul has fled above
On Angel Wings
And lies triumphant
With the King of Kings

The original headstone was replaced and A Celebration of the Life of James Moody held in St. Peter's Church on 10 June 2009. A brochure about him prepared by a local school was distributed.

Historical brochure 

Moody founded two Masonic Lodges, served as Captain in the Royal Nova Scotia Regiment and then as Lieutenant - Colonel of the Clare militia, commanding Acadians,  Loyalists,  and Planters.

In recent years, researchers and historians have noted that James Moody owned two male slaves and one female slave as appeared listed in a petition of slave owners for Digby County in 1807. 

On a visit in March, 2019 to St. Peter's Church I prepared a video about James Moody and the painting of him that can be viewed below. Other videos about him and the church are also listed in Further Reference.





Further Reference:

So Obstinately Loyal  - James Moody 1744 - 1809, by Susan Burgess Shenstone, published 2000, by McGill - Queens University Press

Why did someone steal this portrait from a Nova Scotia church article by CBC accessed on May 2, 2026

Remembering the Loyalists of Annapolis & Digby Counties by Brian McConnell, UE, published by UELAC in 2018

United Empire Loyalists at St. Peter's video on YouTube prepared by Brian McConnell, UE in 2017

Who was Lt. Col. James Moody  video on YouTube prepared by Brian McConnell, UE in 2019

James Moody grave, on Find A Grave, in St. Peter's Church Cemetery, Weymouth North,  Nova Scotia 


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