Born to an ‘antient family’ in Newbury, Moses Little was a close friend of prolific diarist William Bentley, who lovingly eulogized him upon his death (and vented his personal political grievances). 22 year old Moses graduated from Harvard College in 1787 and went on to study medicine under John Barnard Swett, before beginning a medical practice in Virginia. The Virginia climate did not agree with him and Moses quickly returned to New England, establishing himself in Salem. In 1799 he would marry Elizabeth Williams. Elizabeth’s mother was a Pickering, which connected Moses to a family of powerful, old-money Federalists. The two of them would have three children before she died in 1808.
Moses ran a respectable medical practice, known for being especially skilled at delivering children and treating fevers. For all his medical skill, he was not immune to disease himself, especially one as deadly as tuberculosis (at least 100 deaths in Charter St are attributed to ‘consumption’) After a long illness, Moses died, and his friendship with Bentley resulted in the minister’s invitation to the funeral, even if many of Little’s relations did not want a Republican minister there. Bentley states, “His life was upright, his duty submission, and his last hours silence and peace.”
Upon his death, Little’s vast collection of books (along with his surgical instruments) were auctioned off to the public, of which a complete list of titles survives. Though many of these books seem standard for a medical career,, he also collected titles of philosophy, geography, history, grammar, and others- including “History of Poland”, “Ramsay’s Life of Washington”, “Darwin on Female Education”, and “Paley’s Natural Theology”.
Little’s stone is unique for Charter, but much in a way that might be expected of a 19th century physician. It features a latin inscription and inverted pentagrams (an extremely versatile symbol, but likely being used in a medical context, considering the source). His epitaph is fitting, Phthisis Insatiablis Patrem Matremque Devorasti Parce O Parce Liberis (Insatiable Consumption, you devour the father and the mother, have mercy, have mercy on the children).