“Since it is not granted to us to live long, let us transmit to posterity some memorial that we have at least lived” -Pliny the Younger

Sheldon Moore was born in Southington, Connecticut on October 17, 1798. He was the son of Roswell and Lovina (Phillips) Moore. He graduated from Yale in 1818 with a degree in law, but he didn’t make law his profession. He taught in Maryland for a while and later in Sharon, Connecticut. He played a pivotal role in his father’s cement mill in the Kensington section of Berlin, Connecticut, which is believed to be the first in the State.

On November 1, 1831 he married Susan Langdon Dickinson. They had three children: John born September 10, 1832, Charles born September 3, 1834, and Susan born September 9, 1848. They occupied a house in Kensington for over 30 years that was owned by his father.

Sheldon never did settle on one profession. He tried manufacturing sundials for a time. He was a farmer, who was well known for his award winning apples. He was a Surveyor for Hartford County. He taught Sunday School at the First Congregational Church in Kensington and worked with Mrs. Emma Willard, making improvements to the schools in Berlin.

He was a lifelong friend to poet and geologist, Dr. James Gates Percival, who had a home in Kensington, about a half a mile away. He was also a friend of the Reverend Royal Robbins, who was the reverend of the Congregational Church, who was also, like Emma Willard, a published historian. His nephew was Nelson Augustus Moore, a well known painter and photographer.

Sheldon Moore died on March 20, 1866 in Kensington. Susan L. Moore died in 1897, 31 years later to the day after her husband. They are both buried in West Lane Cemetery in Kensington, less than half a mile from their home.

Banner Picture Source: “Old Dam -Erected about 1820 -Kensington, Conn.” Courtesy of the Berlin Historical Society. Used by Permission.

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