Religious Figure. He was a 19th century American evangelist and publisher. Although he never had an official ordination, he was the founder of the Moody Bible Institute and Moody Publishers in Chicago, Illinois. Born in Northfield, Massachusetts, he was the son of a farmer and stonemason and the sixth of nine children. He was four years old when his father died. He received little formal education and in the 21st century, had the equivalence of what would be a fifth-grade education. As a child, he attended the Unitarian Church until the age of 17. After moving to Boston to work in his uncle's shoe store, he was required to attend the Congregational Church in Mount Vernon. Although he was very successful in the shoe business, he was converted in April of 1855 to the faith of evangelical Christianity, became a member of the church on May 4, 1856, and had a calling to become a preacher. When the American Civil War started in April of 1861, he refrained from enlisting in the Union Army as he was a conscientious objector. After the war began, he was involved with the United States Christian Commission of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), and paid visits to the battlefront, bringing comfort to both the Union and Confederate soldiers. In 1862 he married Emma Revell and the couple had three children, Emma, William, and Paul. Besides being a mother and a wife, Emma served as his personal secretary, often being the person behind the scenes of his success. In 1864, he preached to immigrant families in Chicago. Following the war, he established a church in Chicago with his savings of $7,000 from working in the shoe business. After the 1868 election, he delivered a sermon to President Grant and his White House staff. In June of 1871, at a YMCA convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, he met Ira D. Sankey, the noted Gospel singer, with whom he soon developed a partnership. On Sunday, October 8, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed his church, his home, and the homes of most of his church members. His church was rebuilt within three months at a nearby location as the Chicago Avenue Church. In June of 1873, he and Sankey traveled to England for the first time where he became well-known as an evangelist, delivering hundreds of sermons to thousands of people not only in England, but Ireland and Scotland. He became the bridge between the Catholics and Protestants. Avoiding sermons of the subjects of church doctrines, Darwin's evolution, and other subjects that could cause dissension, he spoke on a literal interpretation of the Bible, Christ's love and forgiveness and the Second Coming. When he returned to the United States in 1875, crowds of 12,000 to 20,000 came to hear his sermons. On his evangelistic tours, he preached from Boston to New York, throughout New England and as far as San Francisco, and other West coast towns from Vancouver to San Diego. With his name known in American households, his image at the pulpit appeared on the cover of "Vanity Fair" magazine in April of 1875. In 1880 he established Northfield Seminary for girls, followed two years later by Mount Hermon School for boys. He used British reform preacher Charles Spurgeon's "The Wordless Book," which was a 3-color educational tool, except Moody added in 1877 the color of gold to represent heaven. This tool could easily explain the Gospel message to thousands of illiterate people around the world, especially China. In 1884, during their second visit to England, he and Sankey met Ada Habershon, who would eventually author at least 17 books on the Christian faith and wrote hundreds of hymns, including the classic 1907 hymn "Will the Circle be Unbroken?" With Moody's encouragement, Habershon came to the United State to give religious lectures, which were later published. In 1886 the Chicago Evangelization Society was established, which was renamed in his honor shortly after his death to the Moody Bible Institute as well as the Chicago Avenue Church was renamed The Moody Church. One month before his death, he preached six sermons a day. Moody's last sermon was on November 16, 1899, in Kansas City, Missouri. He became ill and returned home by train. Although the cause of his death has not been well documented, it is believed to have been congested heart failure as he was retaining fluid in his limbs for the last months of his life. Among his published books are "Heaven" and "Secret Power" both in 1881; "Prevailing Prayer - What Hinders It?" in 1884, which has numerous editions; and in an updated 20th century version, "The Ten Commandments." His books are available in Bible Study form as well as CD's, digital online books, and in a Kindle Edition. The Liberty ship "SS Dwight L. Moody" was launched during World War II.