"Professor Adams was 'a manly man,' well-proportioned, broad-shouldered, with a commanding presence and amiable countenance. He was bold, earnest, energetic, persevering; artless, and honest as the day. He said exactly what he meant. His mental vision was clear, strong, and accurate. Imagination was never active; oratory was not his forte. Demonstrative evidence suited him best. In his religious character he was conscientious, devout, and reverent, never excited nor sentimental."
In "Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit" we find this account of Prof. Zephaniah Swift Moore. "He was the son of Judah and Mary (Swift) Moore, and was born at Palmer, Mass., November 20, 1770. His parents were in the middle walks of life, and were much esteemed for their integrity and piety. When he was seven or eight years old, he removed with his father's family to Wilmington, Vt., where he worked upon a farm till he was about eighteen. From his early childhood he evinced great inquisitiveness of mind, and an uncommon thirst for knowledge; in consequence of which, his parents consented to aid him in acquiring a collegiate education. Having prosecuted his preparatory studies at an academy in Bennington, Vt., he entered Dartmouth College, when he was in his nineteenth year. He graduated in 1793, and delivered on the occasion a philosophical oration on the 'causes and general phenomena of earthquakes,' which was received with marked approbation.
"On leaving college, he took charge of an academy at Londonderry, N. H., where he gained the reputation of an able and faithful teacher. Having occupied this post for a year, he repaired to Somers, Conn., and commenced the study of Theology under the direction of the Rev. Dr. Charles Backus; and, having gone through the usual course of preparation for the ministry, was licensed to preach by a committee of the Association of Tolland County, February 3, 1796. After preaching to good acceptance in various places, and receiving several invitations to a permanent settlement in the ministry, he finally accepted a call from the Congregational church and congregation in Leicester, Mass. Here his labors proved alike acceptable and useful. Very considerable additions were made to the church, and the spirit and power of religion became increasingly visible under his ministrations. During a part of the time that he resided at Leicester, he joined to his duties as a minister those of principal of the Leicester Academy; and here, also, he acquitted himself with much honor.
"In October, 1811, he accepted the chair of professor of Languages in Dartmouth College. Here he was greatly respected as a man, a teacher, and a preacher; and if his attainments in his department were not of the very highest order, they were at least such as to secure both his respectability and usefulness.
"In 1815, he was elected to the presidency of Williams College, then vacant by the resignation of Dr. Fitch. He accepted the appointment, and was regularly inducted into office at the annual Commencement in September of that year. Shortly after his removal to Williamstown, Dartmouth College, which he had just left, conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He adorned this new station, as he had done those which he had previously occupied. His connection with the college was attended by some circumstances of peculiar embarrassment, in consequence of an effort on the part of the Trustees to remove the college to Northampton or some other town in Hampshire County. The measure failed in consequence of the refusal of the Legislature to sanction it. Dr. Moore, however, decidedly favored it from the beginning, but in a manner that reflected not in the least upon his Christian integrity and honor.
"In the spring of 1821, the collegiate institution at Amherst, Mass., having been founded, he was invited to become its President, and was inaugurated as such in September following. The institution, then in its infancy, and contending with a powerful public opinion, and even with the Legislature itself, for its very existence, put in requisition all his energies; and the ultimate success of the enterprise was no doubt to be referred, in no small degree, to his discreet, earnest, and untiring efforts. In addition to his appropriate duties as president and as chairman of the Board of Trustees, he heard the recitations of the Senior class, and part of the recitations of the Sophomore class, besides taking occasional agencies with a view to increase the funds of the institution. His constitution, naturally strong, was over-taxed by the efforts which he felt himself called to make, and had begun perceptibly to yield, before the last violent attack of disease which terminated his life.
"On Wednesday, the 25th of June, 1823, he was seized with a bilious colic, which reached a fatal termination on the Monday following. During the brief period of his illness, the greatest anxiety prevailed in the college, and unceasing prayer was offered in his behalf. His own mind was perfectly tranquil, and he anticipated the closing scene and passed through it without a word or look that told of apprehension. In the very moment of breathing out his spirit, he uttered in a whisper,—'God is my hope, my shield, my exceeding great reward.' The funeral solemnities were attended on the Wednesday following, and an appropriate sermon was delivered on the occasion by the Rev. Dr. Snell, of North Brookfield.
"Dr. Moore lived to celebrate the first anniversary of the institution, and to see more than eighty of its students professedly religious, and preparing for extensive usefulness among their fellow men.
"Shortly after his settlement at Leicester, he was married to Phebe, daughter of Thomas Drury, of Ward, now Auburn, Mass., who survived him. They had no children.