The Dwight Lyman Moody Manuscript Collection

1837 February 5

Born, Northfield, Massachusetts

1856

Moves to Chicago, works as a shoe salesman

1858

Organizes North Market Hall Sabbath school

1863

Appointed missionary of the Young Men's Christian Association of Chicago

1866

Elected president of the Chicago YMCA

1867

First trip to the United Kingdom

1870

Meets Ira Sankey at the International Convention of the YMCA

1873

First form of Sacred Songs and Solos used

1876

Elected president of the Illinois Sunday School Union

1879

Founded Northfield Seminary for Young Women (now Northfield Mount Hermon School)

1880

First Northfield Conference organized

1881

Founded Mt. Hermon School for boys (now Northfield Mount Hermon School)

1886

Founded the Chicago Evangelization Society (now Moody Bible Institute)

1896

Elected president of the International Sunday School Association

1899 December 22

Died, Northfield

Dwight L Moody was born the seventh of nine children on February 5, 1837, in Northfield, Massachusetts. His father, Edwin, was a bricklayer, and died when Moody was four. At five years old, Moody was baptized by his uncle, a Unitarian pastor. Moody had seven years of formal education in a rural one-room schoolhouse before he began working at nearby farms. At seventeen, Moody moved to Boston and began working as a shoe salesman. In Boston, Moody attended Bible class at Mt. Vernon Congregational Church conducted by Edward Kimball, and in 1856 Moody was converted.

In the same year, Moody moved to Chicago and continued his work as a shoe salesman. There he also became involved with the mission programs of several churches, including First Baptist, First Methodist, and Plymouth Congregational. Moody began his first Sunday school in the Fall of 1858. It became so popular that attendance reached some 1,500 persons weekly. Moody decided to engage in full-time Christian work in June, 1860, and subsequently was hired by the YMCA as a city missionary in 1861. Emma Charlotte Revell married Moody on August 28, 1862. The couple had three children: Emma, William Revell, and Paul Dwight.

Moody's preaching career began with "Evangelistic Campaigns" in England and Scotland (1873), and later extended campaigns in America (1875-1895). Other work included ministering to the wounded during the Civil War; the World's Fair Campaign (1893) and Spanish War work (1898). In 1870, Ira David Sankey joined Moody's growing evangelistic work adding religious song and music to the campaign program.

Besides his revival ministry, Moody was also involved in the development of schools for theological training In 1879; Moody founded Northfield Seminary (now Northfield School for Girls) In 1881, Mount Hermon Massachusetts School for Boys was founded, and in 1889 he, with the help of Emma Dryer, founded the Chicago Evangelization Society (now Moody Bible Institute) In addition, Moody founded the Illinois Street Church- presently known as the Moody Memorial Church. After preaching a sermon in Kansas City in November, 1899, Moody became very ill. He returned to his home in Northfield, Massachusetts and died there on December 22.