Pliny Moore, the Founder of Champlain

            Pliny Moore was born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, on April 14, 1759.  When he was a child, his family moved to Spencertown, New York, just south of Albany.  He also lived in Kinderhook.  In 1776, at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Pliny enlisted in the New York militia.  After his term expired, he enlisted several more times and earned considerable bounties of land from the state for his service. 

             In 1785, Pliny applied for a 11,600-acre grant of land in what is now the Town of Champlain.  The land was for him and 17 of his fellow soldiers.  He surveyed the land in 1785 and 1786 and built Champlain’s first sawmill near Perry’s Mills in 1788.  In February of 1789 he permanently moved to Champlain.  Pliny lived in Champlain for most of his life and died August 18, 1822, at the age of 63.  His Champlain land grant is called the Smith and Graves Patent or the Moorsfield Grant and he is known as Champlain’s founder.

             Pliny married Martha Corbin on January 22, 1787.  She was the daughter of Captain John and Abigail (Cabot) Corbin, of Bennington, Vermont.  Martha was born on August 24, 1764, and died in Champlain on May 2, 1825, at the age of 60.  Pliny and Martha are buried in Glenwood Cemetery.  Pliny’s father-in-law, John Corbin, was a Revolutionary War veteran and was born around 1728.  His stone is directly behind Pliny’s.  He is likely the oldest born person in Glenwood Cemetery. 

               Pliny Moore was one of the many descendants of Andrew Moore as compiled in the book “Andrew Moore and his Descendants,” 1901.  His life is also chronicled in the book “Pliny Moore, North Country Pioneer,” 1991, published by Allen Everest of Plattsburgh, New York.