Captain Lemuel Moody died on August 11, 1846, and was buried the following day in Eastern Cemetery, at the bottom of the hill on which his Observatory stands. The following is the obituary that was published in the Portland Advertiser on August 12, 1846.
We lament to have to record this day the sudden death of our respected townsman, Capt. Lemuel Moody, who died in a fit early this morning. Capt. Moody was the son of Enoch Moody and Ann Weeks, and was born in Portland, June 30, 1767; he was consequently past 79 years of age. His father came from Newbury, and built in 1740, the two story wooden house near the corner of Congress and Franklin Street, which is the oldest house in town, and where the subject of this article was born.
Capt. Moody, like the sons of most of our old families, the Prebles, McLellans, Weeks, Tuckers, &c., embarked on the sea for a livelihood. Our people were thoroughly commercial, their whole energies were employed from their earliest settlement in pursuits connected with the ocean; and our enterprising young men were therefore naturally drawn to that department of life as affording at once the most sure and speedy, and at the same time the most exciting means of advancement in the world. And we do not hesitate to say that no place on the margin of any ocean, has furnished a finer race of hardy, skillful and successful mariners than our own port.
Moody’s tomb
Capt. Moody followed the seas for many years with reputation and success; and forty years ago, he took an active part in getting up an association for the erection of the Observatory, over which he had presided nearly the whole time; keeping a careful watch through his telescope of all occurrences within the range of its vision, and often furnishing the earliest information in regard to disasters happening on our coast, by which effectual relief has been seasonably afforded. And during all that period, constantly sweeping the horizon, his signals have reported to their owners the approach of their vessels. At the same time he has kept accurate tables of the weather, notices of which have repeatedly appeared in our paper. – Nor is this the extent of the benefit he has conferred upon the maritime interest; the whole was crowned by the publication in 1825 of a very carefully prepared chart of Casco Bay, with soundings of the coast, from the mouth of the Saco, to the mouth of the Kennebec, and of the principal channels and harbors.
He imparted freely and kindly to all who sought it, information in regard to the harbors and coast, and on the subjects with which he was familiar, and none could leave his company without a favorable impression of the results of his gathered observation, and of the benevolence of his character.
He died in the strength of his intellect and the mellowed ripeness of his affections; he will leave a space in this community which it may not be easy to fill. It is an interesting fact, and well worthy of notice, that this very morning, previous to his death, he was on top of this Observatory, taking his accustomed observations around the horizon; thus making his final survey over the ocean and land, in the freshness of this beautiful morning, before taking leave of them forever, to enter upon a brighter and better world to which the telescope of his heart has long been directed.
View of Munjoy Hill, Portland, artist unknown, c.1840 (Collection of the Portland Museum of Art)