Clement Clarke Moore (September 18, 1843 – December 15, 1910) was an American architect and soldier who was prominent in New York society during the

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...

Early life

Moore was born in Ossining in

Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...

on September 18, 1843. He was the son of Benjamin Moore (1818–1886) and Mary Elizabeth (

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 ...

Sing) Moore (1820–1895). His younger siblings were brother Casimir de Rham Moore, and sister Katherine T. Moore. His father was the eldest son of Catharine (née Taylor) Moore and

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 ...

, today 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 ...

". His paternal grandfather was the son of Bishop Benjamin Moore, the head of the

Episcopal Diocese of New York The Episcopal Diocese of New York is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, encompassing three New York City boroughs and seven New York state counties.

and

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 ...

. His paternal grandmother was a descendant of the

Van Cortlandt family The Van Cortlandt family was an influential political dynasty from the seventeenth-century Dutch origins of New York through its period as an English colony, then after it became a state, and into the nineteenth century. It rose to great promine ...

. His aunt Margaret Moore, and after her death, his aunt, Mary Clarke Moore, were married to John Doughty Ogden of the Ogden family. His father's first cousin,

Nathaniel Fish Moore Nathaniel Fish Moore (December 25, 1782 – April 27, 1872) was the eighth president of Columbia College; he had earlier been a lawyer and served on the faculty. He was the nephew of the college's former president Benjamin Moore. In 1820, M ...

, also served as president of Columbia University from 1842 to 1849.

Career

During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, Moore was a major in the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

. Following the War, he was a cotton broker until he received his share of his grandfather's estate in 1901, at which point he moved to Paris with his family.

Chelsea estate

Moore inherited his grandfather's estate, named ''Chelsea'', located on the west side of the island of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

above

Houston Street Houston Street ( ) is a major east–west thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs the full width of the island of Manhattan, from FDR Drive along the East River in the east to the West Side Highway along the Hudson River in t ...

, which was mostly open countryside before the 1820s. It had been owned by his grandfather's maternal grandfather, Maj. Thomas Clarke, a retired British veteran of 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 ...

(the North American front of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

). Clarke named his house for 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 ...

London 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 majo ...

that served war veterans. His grandfather inherited the property from his mother, Charity Clarke Moore in 1813. In 1883, the elder Moore was offered $40,000 for the Chelsea farm. He seriously considered selling, but decided to keep the property and its value grew exponentially as the area developed. The estate was later passed down to his father, Benjamin Moore, and then to Moore and his family upon his father's death. The contemporary Manhattan neighborhood is known as

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

after his estate.

Society life

In 1892, Moore and his wife were both included in

Ward McAllister Samuel Ward McAllister (December 28, 1827 – January 31, 1895) was a popular arbiter of social taste in the Gilded Age of late 19th-century America. He was widely accepted as the authority as to which families could be classified as the cream o ...

's "

Four Hundred 400 (four hundred) is the natural number following 399 and preceding 401. Mathematical properties 400 is the square of 20. 400 is the sum of the powers of 7 from 0 to 3, thus making it a repdigit in base 7 (1111). A circle is divided into ...

", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into

Mrs. Astor Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn Astor (September 22, 1830 – October 30, 1908) was a prominent American socialite of the second half of the 19th century who led the The Four Hundred (1892), Four Hundred. Famous for being referred to later ...

's ballroom. Mrs. Moore was "the first society woman to ride a bicycle in Newport."

Personal life

In 1879, Moore was married to Laura Martha Williams (1856–1919). Laura was the daughter of William S. Williams of New York City and Mrs. Martha Church Williams, of Philadelphia. In New York, they lived at 57 East 54th Street, and in Paris, they lived at 82 Avenue Monceau. Together, Clement and Laura were the parents of: * Mary Elizabeth Moore (1879–1883), who died young. * Clement Clark Moore (1881–1883), who died young. * William Scoville Moore (1882–1944), a real estate dealer and an organizer with President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

of the Warm Springs Foundation in Georgia and who married Edith Pulitzer (1886–1975), daughter of

Joseph Pulitzer Joseph Pulitzer ( ; born Pulitzer József, ; April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911) was a Hungarian-American politician and newspaper publisher of the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' and the ''New York World''. He became a leading national figure in ...

, in 1911. * Barrington Moore Sr. (1883–1966), a

forester A forester is a person who practises forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Foresters manage forests to ...

who was married to Muriel Hennen Morris, the daughter of Frances Isabel Morris (then wife of

Lewis Cass Ledyard Lewis Cass Ledyard (April 4, 1851 – January 27, 1932) was a New York City lawyer. He was a partner at the firm Carter Ledyard & Milburn, personal counsel to J.P. Morgan, and a president of the New York City Bar Association. Early life Lewis ...

) and Thurlow Weed Barnes, in 1910. * Benjamin Moore (1886–1938), who married Alexandra Emery (1894–1983), sister of Lela,

Audrey Audrey () is an English feminine given name. It is the Anglo-Norman form of the Anglo-Saxon name ''Æðelþryð'', composed of the elements '' æðel'' "noble" and ''þryð'' "strength". The Anglo-Norman form of the name was applied to Saint Aud ...

, Thomas, and John Emery, in 1920. After his death in 1938, she remarried to Robert McKay. A month after his wife suffered a stroke of paralysis, Moore died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

at the Hotel Belmont in New York City on December 15, 1910. After a funeral held at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, he was buried at Dale Cemetery in Ossining. His wife, who later lived at 960

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenu ...

in New York City, died in

Saratoga Springs, New York Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over 2 ...

in 1919.

Descendants

Through his son William, he was the grandfather of four boys, Adrian P. Moore, David E. Moore (1923–2011), Richard Moore, and William S. Moore Jr., the last two both died in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Through his son Barrington, he was the grandfather of

Barrington Moore Jr. Barrington Moore Jr. (12 May 1913 – 16 October 2005) was an American political sociologist, and the son of forester Barrington Moore. He is well-known for his ''Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy'' (1966), a comparative study of ...

(1913–2005), a

political sociologist Political sociology is an interdisciplinary field of study concerned with exploring how governance and society interact and influence one another at the micro to macro levels of analysis. Interested in the social causes and consequences of how ...

known for his work ''Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World'', and Dr. Peter Van Cortlandt Moore (–2006), a physician who was a professor of psychiatry at

Georgetown University Hospital MedStar Georgetown University Hospital is one of the Washington, D.C. area's oldest academic teaching hospitals. It is a not-for-profit, acute care teaching and research facility located in the Georgetown neighborhood of the Northwest Quadrant ...

. Through his son Benjamin, he was the grandfather of Alexander Moore (1923–2000), a Harvard graduate and decorated

fighter pilot.

References

;Notes ;Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Clement Clarke 1843 births 1910 deaths American people of English descent Cornell family Woolsey family People included in New York Society's Four Hundred