Benjamin Moore (October 5, 1748 – February 27, 1816) was the second Episcopal bishop of New York and the fifth

President of Columbia University The president of Columbia University is the chief officer of Columbia University in New York City. The position was first created in 1754 by the original royal charter for the university, issued by George II, and the power to appoint the presiden ...

. He is remembered for having given Holy Communion to

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...

on his deathbed, and for being the father of

Clement Clarke Moore Clement Clarke Moore (July 15, 1779 – July 10, 1863) was an American writer, scholar and real estate developer. He is best known as author of the Christmas poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas." Moore was Professor of Oriental and Greek Literature ...

, the reputed author of the Christmas poem "

A Visit From St. Nicholas ''A Visit from St. Nicholas'', more commonly known as ''The Night Before Christmas'' and ''Twas the Night Before Christmas'' from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously under the title ''Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas'' i ...

Early life

Moore was born in Newtown, New York, now known as

Elmhurst, Queens Elmhurst (formerly Newtown) is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City. It is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the north; the Long Island Expressway on the south; Junction Boulevard on the east; and the New York Connecting Railr ...

, in 1748, the son of Samuel Moore and Sarah (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Fish) Moore. He was the great-great-grandson of John Moore, the first

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

minister allowed in New England, and great-grandson of Capt. Samuel Moore, on whose property the Newtown Pippin apple was first cultivated.Moore, 99; Brown, 531 He attended King's College (now

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

), graduating in 1768 with a degree of

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

Perry, 21 Moore received a master's degree from King's College in 1771, alongside

Founding Father The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...

Gouverneur Morris Gouverneur Morris ( ; January 31, 1752 – November 6, 1816) was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. He wrote the Preamble to the U ...

. He traveled to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and was ordained deacon in the

Anglican Church Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

by Bishop

Richard Terrick Richard Terrick (baptised 20 July 1710 – 31 March 1777) was a Church of England clergyman who served as Bishop of Peterborough 1757–1764 and Bishop of London 1764–1777. Life Terrick was born in York, the eldest son of Samuel Terrick, rec ...

Fulham Palace Fulham Palace, in Fulham, London, previously in the former English county of Middlesex, is a Grade I listed building with medieval origins and was formerly the principal residence of the Bishop of London. The site was the country home of the ...

on June 24, 1774. He was advanced to the priesthood the next day.

Career

Not long after returning to America, in 1775, Moore was made assistant rector at Trinity Church,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

's original Anglican church, located then as now on Broadway at the western end of Wall Street.Batterson, 66 He was also named president pro tempore of Kings College and served until the arrival of the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

in the city in April 1776 caused the college to close and disperse. Trinity rector Charles Inglis was an outspoken Tory who welcomed the subsequent British occupation of New York. Moore continued to work at his side but stayed publicly neutral on the political questions surrounding the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. After the British defeat Inglis left for England, and Moore was elected Trinity's rector in 1783. Returning

Patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution * Patriot m ...

church members, among them Declaration of Independence co-author

Robert R. Livingston Robert Robert Livingston (November 27, 1746 (Old Style November 16) – February 26, 1813) was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat from New York, as well as a Founding Father of the United States. He was known as "The Chancellor", afte ...

and soon-to-be New York Mayor

James Duane James Duane (February 6, 1733 – February 1, 1797) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father, attorney, jurist, and American Revolutionary War, American Revolutionary leader from New York (state), New York. He serve ...

, objected to the choice, and in early 1784 Moore agreed to step aside in favor of

Samuel Provoost Samuel Provoost (March 11, 1742 – September 6, 1815) was an American Clergyman. He was the first Chaplain of the United States Senate and the first Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, as well as the third Presiding Bishop of the Epis ...

, the only Anglican priest in New York who had openly supported the Revolution. The

Episcopal Church of the United States of America The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of ...

(ECUSA) became independent of the Anglican Church after the war, establishing its own organization of dioceses, and Provoost was elected the first bishop of New York in 1786, a position he held concurrently with the Trinity rectorship. Moore continued in his duties as assistant rector until 1800, when Provoost resigned and Moore was elected rector. Concurrently with his church work Moore served from 1784 to 1787 as professor of rhetoric and logic at Columbia College, which in 1789 awarded him the degree of

doctor of sacred theology The Doctor of Sacred Theology ( la, Sacrae Theologiae Doctor, abbreviated STD), also sometimes known as Professor of Sacred Theology (, abbreviated STP), is the final theological degree in the pontifical university system of the Catholic Church, ...

Bishop of New York

Moore was elected

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...

of New York in 1801 to assist Provoost, who wished to retire. The diocese of New York covered the entire state and the population was rapidly increasing upstate, with many migrants from New England. This area had been opened up for settlement and development as agricultural lands after the war due to the cession by the Iroquois League, allies of the British, of nearly five million acres of land. Moore was the

9th 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

bishop in the ECUSA, and was consecrated in St. Michael's Church,

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.William White,

Thomas John Claggett Thomas John Claggett (October 2, 1743 – August 2, 1816) was the first bishop of the newly formed American Episcopal Church, U.S.A. (also known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.) to be consecrated on American soil and the first bi ...

, and

Abraham Jarvis Abraham Jarvis (May 5, 1739 – May 3, 1813) was the second American Episcopal bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut and eighth in succession of bishops in the Episcopal Church. He was a high churchman and a loyalist to the crown. ...

.Batterson, 67 That same year, Moore was elected President of Columbia College, as the compromise choice of a board of trustees deadlocked between Episcopal and non-Episcopal members. A contemporary explained the choice thusly: "While he was a true, consistent, and I may add, an uncompromising Episcopalian, he was neither an aggressive or prescribing one." Because of his church responsibilities he neither taught nor was involved in the details of administration. In 1811, Moore had a stroke. He resigned as Columbia's president, and asked for the election of an additional coadjutor bishop to assist him.

John Henry Hobart John Henry Hobart (September 14, 1775 – September 12, 1830) was the third Episcopal bishop of New York (1816–1830). He vigorously promoted the extension of the Episcopal Church in upstate New York, as well as founded both the General Th ...

was elected to the post that year. In 1815, Bishop Provoost died, and Moore succeeded him to become the second full bishop of New York.

Last communion for Hamilton

On July 11, 1804, Moore was summoned to the deathbed of

, who had been fatally wounded in a

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...

with

Aaron Burr Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805. Burr's legacy is defined by his famous personal conflict with Alexand ...

; Hamilton asked to receive

holy communion The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instituted ...

. Moore made two objections: that to participate in a duel was a

mortal sin A mortal sin ( la, peccatum mortale), in Catholic theology, is a gravely sinful act which can lead to damnation if a person does not repent of the sin before death. A sin is considered to be "mortal" when its quality is such that it leads to ...

, and that Hamilton, although he was undoubtedly a sincere Christian in his later years, was not an Episcopalian. Moore withdrew, but was persuaded by the urgent pleas of Hamilton's friends to return. On receiving Hamilton's solemn assurance that he repented for his part in the duel, Moore gave him communion.

Personal life

In 1779, Moore married Charity Clarke, daughter of English officer Major Thomas Clarke, who had stayed in the colony after his service in the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

, and Mary Stilwell Clarke. Thomas Clarke had acquired a large country estate along the Hudson River in Manhattan that he dubbed Chelsea, after the

Royal Hospital Chelsea The Royal Hospital Chelsea is a retirement home and nursing home for some 300 veterans of the British Army. Founded as an almshouse, the ancient sense of the word "hospital", it is a site located on Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea. It is an ...

, a retirement home for soldiers in

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

, and his widow and daughter continued to live there after his death in 1776. Charity Clarke wrote letters to a cousin in London in the 1760s and 1770s that are still cited as examples of early patriotic sentiment, but she and her mother stayed in British-occupied New York during the Revolutionary war. The Moores had one child together,

(1779–1863), who is credited and is most widely known as the author of the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

poem "

A Visit from St. Nicholas ''A Visit from St. Nicholas'', more commonly known as ''The Night Before Christmas'' and ''Twas the Night Before Christmas'' from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously under the title ''Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas'' i ...

." They inherited the Chelsea estate and passed it on to their son, who developed it into the neighborhood of

Chelsea, Manhattan Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The area's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, the Hudson River and West Street to the west, and Sixth Avenue to the east, with its northern b ...

. On February 27, 1816, Moore died in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

, New York. He was buried at Trinity Church.

North Moore Street North Moore Street is a moderately trafficked street in TriBeCa, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs roughly east–west between West Broadway and West Street. Automotive traffic is westbound only. Naming On street ...

, Manhattan is named in his honor.

Notes

References

* * * * *

External links

Documents by and about Moore

Benjamin Moore records at Trinity Wall Street Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Benjamin 1748 births 1816 deaths Episcopal bishops of New York Clergy in the American Revolution 18th-century American Episcopal priests Columbia College (New York) alumni Presidents of Columbia University People of the Province of New York 19th-century Anglican bishops in the United States American people of English descent People from Elmhurst, Queens People from Chelsea, Manhattan