Downtown Charleston Graveyards: In the "Mood" for Silver Spoons

Rev. John Mood (courtesy green-wood.com)

If you ever walk into one of the many antique stores on King Street and find a silver spoon with the engraving "Mood", you've found a treasure of Charleston.

Rev. John Mood (1792-1864) was a Charlestonian silversmith and Methodist minister from the 1800s. He was also a husband and father of six children. His name is well-known to antique store owners in Charleston because of his exquisite works. He made spoons, gravy boats, and platters all made out of silver. Having parents who trained him in this field made it easy for him to become a professional silversmith. Growing up, he and his brother apprenticed with their father for their company "Peter Mood and Sons". During this time, they actually made all of the slave badges for the city of Charleston in 1832 according to green-wood.com. Slave badges were made of copper or tin and were given to every slave as their identity. Each one sold for around $2 which added up to $7,000 in profit for the brothers. Although, his brother, Peter Mood, moved to New York City to pursue his silversmith career where he became very wealthy and had a family so John was left to work on his own.

(courtesy geni.com)

Mood appears in the 1860 City of Charleston Census. His name is signed in the 12th row (although it's hard to read in the picture). His occupation is listed as "silversmith". Besides being a dedicated silversmith, he was also an active member of the Methodist Church where he created and taught Sunday school for black children. The Mood family was against slavery. Well, for the most part. John's brother, Peter Mood, had a handful of slaves but left them all behind when he moved to New York. His father-in-law even died while in Africa working to free former slaves and John himself once bought a slave for the sole purpose to free him right after.

Neck Stock Buckle by Mood (courtesy mesa.org)

Mood died in 1864 where he lays in the graveyard of Bethel United Methodist Church in downtown Charleston. With him is his wife and one of his sons, Surgeon Dr. James Reader Mood. Thanks to findagrave.com, his ledger can be made out to read "Born in Charleston, where he spent all his life except eight years of active and Labor in connection with the South Carolina Conference. Joined Methodist church in boyhood & first in City of Charleston to establish a Sabbath school for the negro."