[4][5] With his brother Thomas, Moody arrived in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada in about 1861, initially engaging in mining investment and trading.

[4] Moody moved to the Burrard Inlet in 1865, eventually acquiring a bankrupt water-powered sawmill, and established the first non-native settlement in the area, in what is now North Vancouver.

[1] In July 1869, Moody married Janet Watson (1849-1901) and they had two children,[1] Florence and Sewell Prescott Jr. Moody's lumber business was successful, supplying markets in Great Britain and around the Pacific Rim, and adding a larger steam-powered mill in 1868.

[3][4] This mill was burned in December 1873, but replaced with another, powered by the steam engines from retired warship HMS Sparrowhawk.

[4] Moody died on November 4, 1875, in the sinking of the passenger steamer SS Pacific following a collision off Cape Flattery, Washington.