SOURCE URL: https://archive.org/details/troysonehundredy00weis
DOCUMENT: Arthur James Weise, Troy's One Hundred Years, 1789-1889 (Troy, N.Y.: William H. Young, 1891; preface dated 1 Dec. 1891), pp. 96-97: Harriet Butler story; Holley's Troy Sentinel note of 20 Jan. 1829 quoted in full; Myron King woodcut "about the year 1830".
PROVENANCE OF THIS TEXT: OCR (djvu text) of the archive.org scan.
VERIFICATION STATUS: [V] verified directly against a scan or OCR of the original document / period printing
RETRIEVED: 2026-09-14
NOTES: Norsworthy's transcription from the NYS Historic Newspapers scan of the 20 Jan. 1829 Sentinel reads "manuscript copy" (Weise: "manuscript") and italicizes "more" ("a gentleman of MORE merit"). The Troy Library file copy of that issue has the poem itself clipped out.
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by  the  same  honorable  and  noble  spirit  of  ambition."
The  charming  and  widely-known  Christmas  legend,  "  A  Visit  from  Saint
Nicholas,"  written  by  Clement  Clarke  Moore,  LL.  D.,  professor  of  Oriental
and  Greek  literature  in  the  General  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Protestant
Episcopal  Church,  in  New  York  City,  was  first  published  and  illustrated  in
Troy.  In  1823,  Harriet,  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  Rev.  David  Butler,  rector
of  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church,  while  visiting  the  family  of  Professor  Moore,
heard  the  erudite  linguist  read  to  his  children  the  metrical  composition  which
he  had  written  for  their  entertainment.  Delighted  with  its  agreeable  rhythm
and  happy  conceits,  she  requested  the  privilege  of  making  a  transcript  of  it.
On  her  return  to  Troy,  she  sent  it  to  the  editor  of  the  Troy  Sentinel,  who  pub-
lished the  delightful  contribution  in  the  issue  of  that  newspaper  on  December
23d,  1823.  In  an  introductory  paragraph  he  thanked  the  unknown  sender
and  complimented  the  unknown  author  of  the  unique  verses.  The  publica-
tion of  it,  anonymous  as  it  was,  caused  Professor  Moore  some  regrets  regard-
ing it.  For  a  number  of  years  thereafter,  although  the  field  of  its  popularity
was  annually  widening  by  the  publication  of  it  at  Christmas-tide  by  the  news-
papers throughout  the  country,  the  name  of  the  author  was  known  only  to  a
few  persons  intimate  with  the  members  of  the  Moore  family.  Five  years
after  the  first  publication  of  the  legend  in  the  Troy  Sentinel,  the  name  of  the
TROY'S  ONE  HUNDRED   YEARS.  9/
author  was  disclosed  to  the  editor  of  that  journal.  With  considerable  delicacy
of -manner,  he  disguisedly  confessed  his  knowledge  of  it  on  January  20th,
1829,  by  saying  :
"A  few  days  since  the  editors  of  the  New  York  Courier,  at  the  request  of
a  lady,  inserted  some  lines  descriptive  of  one  of  the  Christmas  visits  of  that
good  old  Dutch  saint,  St.  Nicholas,  and  at  the  same  time  applied  to  our
Albany  neighbors  for  information  as  to  the  author.  That  information,  we  ap-
prehend, the  Albany  editors  cannot  give.  The  lines  were  first  published  in
this  paper.  They  came  to  us  from  a  manuscript  in  possession  of  a  lady  in
this  city.  We  have  been  given  to  understand  that  the  author  of  them  belongs
by  birth  and  residence  to  the  city  of  New  York,  and  that  he  is  a  gentleman
of  more  merit  as  a  scholar  and  a  writer  than  many  of  more  noisy  pretensions.
We  republish  the  lines  in  a  preceding  column  just  as  they  originally  appeared,
because  we  still  think  of  them  as  at  first,  and  for  the  satisfaction  of  our
brethren  of  the  Courier,  one  of  whom,  at  least,  is  an  Arcadian."
The  additional  fame  of  first  illustrating  the  attractive  story  is  also  claimed
by  Troy.  Myron  King,  now  deceased,  made,  about  the  year  1830,  the  wood-
cut which  embellished  the  popular  poetical  composition,  which  was  printed  at
the  Troy  Sentinel  office  for  a  number  of  successive  years,  and  sold  by  the
newsboys  of  the  city  at  the  approach  of  Christmas.  Since  that  time,  although
far  better  illustrated  by  more  accomplished  engravers,  the  quaint  legend  has
never  lost  its  endearing  associations  with  the  advent  of  Christmas  and  the
happy  recollections  of  the  childhood  of  millions  of  men  and  women.