Moody, Sylvester

Sylvester Moody (1820-1890)

Fitzwilliam, NH

Born around 1820 to John and Lydia (Humphrey) Moody, Sylvester spent the earliest part of his childhood living in Fitzwilliam, NH.  While primary source materials related to the family’s time in southwest New Hampshire are difficult to locate, the US Federal Census and Cheshire County deeds place the family in Fitzwilliam in the late 1810s and early 1820s.

Sylvester’s father, John Moody, died in July 1823 of lung fever (pneumonia).  This left the family in a difficult situation causing the children to get placed within the care of multiple families.  While Sylvester’s siblings are known to have lived in homes in Fitzwilliam and Keene, his own whereabouts as a child are not yet known.

By the mid-1860s, Sylvester had moved to Norwich, CT, and was working as a stone cutter at a local quarry.  He remained in that line of work into the early 1890s, residing at 12 Quarry Street in Norwich.

At the age of 54, Sylvester Moody married 44 year old Elizabeth Saunders/Swan in Norwich, CT, on July 2, 1874.  Both husband and wife were listed as ‘Colored’ on the marriage record.  One year later, their daughter Elizabeth was born.  And son Leonard was born in 1878.  The family remained in the Norwich area into the early 20th century.

Sylvester Moody died on August 20, 1890.  Wife Elizabeth died on December 21, 1914 at the age of 82.  Their daughter Elizabeth (Moody) Santos remained in the area.

SOURCE MATERIALS

Connecticut Marriage Record Index, 1874- Ancestry.com

New Hampshire Church Records, Fitzwilliam, 1823- Familysearch.org

Norwich Bulletin. “Mrs. Sylvester Moody.” December 22, 1914, p.5- Newspapers.com

U.S. City Directories, Connecticut, Norwich, 1867-1892- Ancestry.com

U.S. Federal Census, 1820, 1880- Ancestry.com

GENEALOGICAL SUMMARY

SYLVESTOR MOODY was born c.1820 in Fitzwilliam, NH, son of John and Lydia (Humphrey) Moody.  He married ELIZABETH SAUNDERS/SWAN on July 2, 1874 in Norwich, CT.  They had: Mary (1875), Leonard (1878).