Theodore Sedgwick Gold, commonly referred to by his initials as T. S. Gold (March 2, 1818 — March 20, 1906), was an American farmer and schoolteacher who served as Secretary of the State of Connecticut Board of Agriculture (1866–1901) and trustee of the Connecticut Agricultural College from its founding in 1881 through 1901. He played a vital role in establishing the college and fostering agriculture in the state. Early life and education Gold was born in Madison, New York, on March 2, 1818. He was a son of Dr. Samuel Wadsworth Gold and Phebe (Cleveland) Gold. His family moved to Cornwall, Connecticut, that same year, returning to his father's ancestral farm. In 1824, the family moved to Goshen, where the doctor practiced medicine for fifteen years before returning to Cornwall to cultivate the family farm. Gold attended local public schools and Goshen Academy. Like his father and grandfather before him, Gold attended Yale University, graduating with his bachelor's degree in 1838. He spent the following three years teaching in Goshen and Waterbury academies while pursuing graduate coursework in medicine, botany, and mineralogy at Yale. Career Gold believed that agricultural education was key to improving the quantity and quality of crops for Connecticut's struggling farmers. In 1845, Gold and his father founded the Cream Hill Agricultural School on their family farm. The school remained in operation until Samuel Gold's death in 1869. The all-boys school never had more than 24 students at a time, but it graduated a total of 272, some as far afield as Louisiana, Michigan, Germany, and Peru. Gold and his father were the only full-time instructors, teaching subjects from practical farming and military drill to foreign languages and piano. Gold was a charter member of the Connecticut State Agricultural Society in 1852. He and his wife were charter members of the Cornwall Grange and held most meetings in their home. Gold edited The Homestead, an agricultural paper, from 1856 to 1861. In 1864, he obtained from the Connecticut General Assembly a charter for the Connecticut Soldiers' Orphans' Home in Mansfield. He served as secretary of the corporation until 1874. In August 1866, Gold was appointed Secretary of the Connecticut Board of Agriculture, established by the General Assembly earlier that year. After his father's death and Cream Hill's closure in 1869, Gold devoted himself to the work of the board. Initially formed as a clearinghouse for the state's