Introduction

Biography

Clement was the son of Ben­ja­min S.T.D. Moore and Cha­ri­ty Clarke.

He gra­du­at­ed at the top of his class from Co­lum­bia Col­lege in 1798.

Having in­her­ited large hold­ings in what is now Green­wich Vill­age in New York Ci­ty, Moore in 1819 of­fered the ci­ty 60 lots (in­clud­ing Chel­sea Square) to build a se­mi­na­ry.

Two years ear­li­er, Moore had be­come a pro­fess­or of Bib­li­cal learn­ing at a Pro­test­ant Epis­co­pal dio­ces­an se­mi­na­ry, which sub­se­quent­ly merged with the Ge­ne­ral Theo­lo­gic­al Se­mi­na­ry as a re­sult of Moore’s gift. Moore then be­came a pro­fess­or of Ori­ent­al and Greek li­te­ra­ture, a post he held ov­er 20 years.

In 1851, he helped found St. Pe­ter’s Church near the school, and was the church’s first or­gan­ist.

The se­cu­lar world best re­mem­bers Moore as the au­thor of The Night Be­fore Christ­mas (A Vi­sit from Saint Ni­cho­las).