When They Learned of Moore's Claim
A Mouse in Henry Livingston's House
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Today we think of Moore's claim as having been widely known in 1844, but the book was not widely distributed, and the only really great review of the book had been written by Moore, himself, under a pseudonym. Published copies of the poem after 1844 sometimes had Moore's name on them, and sometimes didn't. Copies up through 1900 exist without Moore's name attached.

Eliza Clement Brewer, the child who had heard Henry read the poem at Christmas, and then had married Henry's son Charles, was first shown a copy of the poem with Moore's name attached around 1859. By then, she had spent 30 years telling her children and her grandchildren that the famous Christmas poem had been written by Henry Livingston.

Sidney's son writes that his side of the family had discovered the claim in 1862. By then, Sidney had died, and the original manuscript of the poem, which Sidney had given his brother Edwin, was in ashes in Wisconsin. But Henry Livingston of Babylon LI had been hearing that Henry had written the poem for 25 years before his family heard Moore's name attached to their poem.





Chapter 1:   0,   1,   2,   3,   4,   5,   6,   7,   8,   9,   10,   11,   12,   13,   14,   15,   16,   17,   18,   19,   20,   21,   22,   23

Slideshow Index,
Introduction,   Ch1: Mouse,   Ch2: Sarah,   Ch3: After Sarah,   Ch4: Locust Grove,   Ch5: Know,  
Ch6: Dunder,   Ch7: War,   Ch8: Unexpected,   Ch9: Economy,   Ch10: Dutch,  
Ch11: Politics,   Ch12: Religion,   Ch13: Work,   Ch14: Myths,   Ch15: Happy Xmas,   Epilog





        
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Slideshow Index

All Henry Livingston's Poetry,     All Clement Moore's Poetry     Historical Articles About Authorship

Many Ways to Read Henry Livingston's Poetry

Arguments,   Smoking Gun?,   Reindeer Names,   First Publication,   Early Variants  
Timeline Summary,   Witness Letters,   Quest to Prove Authorship,   Scholars,   Fiction  


   Book,   Slideshow,   Xmas,   Writing,   The Man,   Work,   Illos,   Music,   Genealogy,   Bios,   History,   Games  


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