Posted on 12/15/2024 12:00:28 PM PST by mairdie
A 30 min documentary put together for a charitable event in Troy NY, where Night Before Christmas was first published in the Troy Sentinel on December 23, 1823. For years it was assumed to be written by Clement Moore, a professor at a theology school and one of the richest men in NYC. Then, in 1859, the family of Henry Livingston began making known the family story of having seen the poem written and heard it performed by their father and grandfather years before the publication. Every 20 years the media rediscovers the controversy between a poet with no other decent poetry and an obscure Revolutionary War major who spent his spare time writing and drawing for anonymous publication.
I was a young student in upstate NY from kindergarten through 9th grade (Utica, Ithaca & Syracuse). We studied a lot of NY history, but I don’t recall much about Livingston. I’ve read a lot of colonial history, Revolutionary history, and history of the Constitution since graduating from college, but am only vaguely familiar with Livingston. Thanks for the recommendation!
I worked China Fall '76 - Spring '77 at three different, very remote construction sites. In the Spring, they gave us foreign workers a spring concert. A couple of people had mastered the ancient erhu and I still recall it was quite stirring hearing that in the hands of masters.
https://henrylivingston.com/history/
https://henrylivingston.com/bios/
Henry enlisted as Major under his cousin’s husband, General Montgomery, to invade Canada in 1775 after Bunker Hill.
https://henrylivingston.com/writing/prose/revdiary.htm
On the way home, he stayed over with his second cousin, Major General Schuyler, until he recovered from illness.
https://henrylivingston.com/history/conventions/nycongressinpoughkeepsie.htm
Henry’s brother was in the NY Congress.
https://henrylivingston.com/history/conventions/ratifyingusconstitution.htm
Brother Gilbert voted to Ratify
The Ifs of History
Joseph Edgar Chamberlin, 1907 - Chapter 14
Brother Gilbert and John Lansing (later Chancellor Lansing) wrote Anti-Federalist Paper No. 65, “On the Organization and Powers of the Senate (Part 4).” In the end, New York ratified the Constitution by just one vote, with Gilbert voting to ratify.
https://henrylivingston.com/history/clermont/index.htm
Fulton’s experiments began while he was in Paris, and may have been stimulated by his acquaintance with Chancellor Livingston, who held the monopoly, offered by the legislature of the State of New York, for the navigation of the Hudson River, to be accorded to the beneficiary when he should make a successful voyage by steam. Livingston was now ambassador of the United States to the Court of France, and had become interested in the young artist-engineer, meeting him, presumably, at the house of his friend Barlow. It was determined to try the experiment at once, and on the Seine.
https://henrylivingston.com/history/eriecanal/index.htm
Henry’s brother-in-law, Judge Jonas Platt, initiated the Canal.
https://henrylivingston.com/history/inauguration/index.htm
Cousin Robert R. Livingston gave the oath of office to President Washington.
https://henrylivingston.com/history/lafayette/index.htm
LaFayette in Poughkeepsie - he was hosted by Henry nephew, Henry Alexander Livingston. Lafayette was also hosted in Oriskany by Henry’s daughter’s father-in-law, Colonel Gerrit G. Lansing.
Wow, what an amazing family! Thanks.
His connections are endless. Cousin John Jay wanted to leave his son with Henry when he became ambassador to Spain because he trusted Henry’s care for the boy. Just before he died, Henry wrote about testifying in a case in NYC and visiting Jay’s fireproof new brick mansion. Henry’s grandson Sidney Breese was a Senator from IL, as well as Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court and the one who started the Illinois Central Railroad. His grandson Samuel Sidney Breese was an Admiral. Brother-in-law US Supreme Court Justice Smith Thompson, whose wife firmly believed in Henry’s authorship of the poem.
Drives me batty when the Moore people ALWAYS put Henry down as a farmer, not to be compared with their mighty, rich professor.
https://henrylivingston.com/xmas/livingstonmoore/allmoorepoetry.htm
I went to the Museum of the History of NY and captured all of Moore’s poetry manuscript book, then transcribed it that night to mail to Mac. That was the first time that poetry had seen the light of day.
Moore had one or two decent poems in that one, unlike the majority of his work.
From 1844, Poems, positively reviewed only by one pseudonymed author, identified by Don Foster as Moore, himself
https://henrylivingston.com/xmas/livingstonmoore/mooresnow.htm
Lines Written After a Snow-Storm
Come children dear, and look around;
Behold how soft and light
The silent snow had glad the ground
In robes of purest white.
then just when you think you’re going to get a nice poem, he pulls out the rug.
But see, my darlings, while we stay
And gaze with fond delight,
The fairy scene soon fades away,
And mocks our raptur’d sight.
And let this fleeting vision teach
A truth you soon must know —
That all the joys we here can reach
Are transient as the snow.
Troy, New York, which is near Albany, was one of the towns visited by the Marquis de Lafayette on his tour of the United States in 1824-1825. That was mentioned by one of the speakers at a program on Lafayette held at Fairfield University on Sept. 7, 2024, which was rebroadcast today on C-SPAN.
Beneath these twin oak trees, which once bordered the drive leading to Col. Lansing's home, the Marquis de Lafayette was received by Col. Lansing, his compansion in arms at Yorktown, on June 10, 1825. The trees, which have been gone for many years, are marked by a commemmorative placque installed by the Oriskany Chapter of the D.A.R. in 1923.
Here at the entrance of the grounds of Col. Gerrit G. Lansing stood the two oaks underneath which the Marquis de Lafayette, Col. Lansing's Companion in Arms at Yorktown was received on the morning of June 10, 1825 by the residents of Oriskany.
Another member of that family was John Lansing, Jr., who was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention but left because of his opposition to the direction things were going and also opposed New York’s ratification of the Constitution. He vanished mysteriously on Dec. 12, 1829.
Henry’s daughter Elizabeth Davenport Livingston was married first to US Supreme Court Justice Smith Thompson. When he died, she married Richard Ray Lansing, who was the son of Col Gerrit G Lansing and the brother of Barent Bleecker Lansing, the husband of Henry’s granddaughter Sarah Breese.
Their father, Gerrit G. Lansing was the brother of Chancellor John Lansing, and the brother-in-law of Barent Bleecker. The other important brothers of Gerrit and John Lansing were Abraham G. Lansing and Sanders Lansing.
Gerrit G. Lansing’s wife was Mary Antill, the great granddaughter of Governor Lewis Morris.
Oh, I forgot before. One of the stories from my childhood was that my grandmother still had the crystal goblets in which they served Lafayette, but no one knew any longer which it was.
Having not been in the military, I may not understand some of the terminology, but it’s awfully funny. Thank you for sharing, and THANK YOU for your service!!
Have a safe and very Merry Christmas!
Bookmark.
A most Happy Christmas, Inyo-Mono. With love and family and joy in your heart. Let us NEVER allow THEM to steal the beauty of our word JOY.
Mary
Thank you and a very joyful and merry Christmas to you too!
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