127
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1837
To JOHN w. MOODY 1
Private
City of Houston, 20th June, 1837
To J. W. Moody Esqr.:i Auditor &c Sir The accounts of Genl. Chambers 3 this day ordered to be audited, are to be considered entirely with reference to the amounts disbursed and responsibilities assumed by that Gentle- man. The question of his rank as an officer is not to be affected or decided upon by this proceeding Sam Houston. [Addressed] : J. W. Moody Esq Present 1 J. W. Jlfoody Papers, Texas State Library. 2 John W. Moody was the Auditor of Public Accounts during the two years of Houston's first administration. He had served as auditor for the Pro- visional Government, having been elected by the Provisional Council, De- cember 20, 1835. Before this time he had been serving as chief clerk of the Finance committee, also as clerk for the committee on State and Judiciary Affairs, prior to the establishment of the office of auditor. During this time, claims on the Provisional Government were audited by a Committee on Public Accounts which reported from time to time, and thereupon the Council ordered the drafts to be drawn upon the Treasurer. All claims of whatever description under $4,000 were examined by the auditor and were approved by the comptroller. All such claims were, under this ordinance, to be returned to the auditor, who was thereupon to issue on the treasury drafts, countersigned by the comptroller in favor of the claimants for the amounts found to be due. Claims for larger sums that $4,000 were to be referred to the Governor and Council, and if approved were to be returned to the auditor and the comptroller, who were then to issue drafts in the same manner as on claims for less sums than $4,000. For more detailed explanation of the functions of this office see C. W. Gaines, Yea1· Boole /01· Texas, 1901, p. 24. John W. Moody continued to hold the office of auditor until his death, August 21, 1839. Telegraph and Texas Register, August 21, 1839, in re- counting his death stated that he was forty-eight years old, and had been a citizen of Texas for many years, and an efficient official of government since the beginning of the republic. Moody seems not to have been nble to amass any considerable fortune, not even a competence, for the Telc- g1·a.ph again, March 12, 1841, gives information concerning him. l\Ioody's administrator, M. R. Goheen, posted a notice that by order of the Probate Court "all of Moody's perishable propert~r--consisting of 1 silver watch, 1 four-horse wagon, a lot of cows and young cattle, household and kitchen furniture-should be sold at the Moody home on Spring Creek at public auction on Monday March 25 1841." See also William C. Binkley, Official
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