Bio from "History of South Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904), pp 1364-1365.

JAMES C. MOODY, a member of one of the strongest law firms in the state, that of Moody, Kellar & Moody, of Deadwood, is a native of the Hoosier state, having been born in Jasper county, Indiana, on a farm near the town of Rensselaer, on the 3d of January, 1863, while in 1864 his parents came to what is now South Dakota and located in Yankton, the original capital of the territory. He secured his early educational discipline in the public schools of that city, being graduated in the high schools as a member of the class of 1882, and having in the meanwhile learned the printer's trade. Soon after leaving school he came with his father to Deadwood, where he forthwith identified himself with the newspaper business. In 1884 he effected the purchase of the plant and business of the Deadwood Pioneer the first paper published in the Black Hills district, being associated in the purchase with William H. Bonham, the present proprietor. He continued to be identified with the publication of the Pioneer until 1888, when he disposed of his interest in the enterprise. Mr. Moody early became interested in political affairs in the territory, as his father was specially prominent in public affairs in the early days, being one of the pioneer members of the bar of the territory. He thus went through the early territorial campaigns with his father, ex-Senator Gideon C. Moody, concerning whom much specific data is entered within the pages of this publication. After the election of his father to the United States senate, in 1889, the subject left South Dakota and went to the city of Washington, where he remained for several months as a newspaper correspondent, and thence went to the territory of Oklahoma, where he was for a time engaged in newspaper business, while he also superintended the compilation and publication of the first statutes of the territory. He next engaged in literary work in Kansas City, Missouri, where he also began a careful study of the law, securing admission to the bar of that state in 1893. He then returned to Oklahoma, locating in Perry, where he was successfully engaged in the practice of his profession for three years, at the expiration of which, upon the invitation of his father, he returned to Deadwood to enter the law firm of Moody, Kellar & Moody, of which his father was the senior member. This is one of the leading firms of corporation lawyers in the state and controls a very extensive and representative practice. In 1902 the subject was elected to represent Lawrence county in the state senate, serving during the eighth general assembly and proving a valuable working member of the upper house. In politics he is a staunch Republican. Fraternally he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and Black Hills Mining Men's Association. He was married in 1891 to Miss May Williams, and as a fruit of this marriage they have two children, Curtis and Eleanor May.