tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502312000087595701.post6196791905140676214..comments2024-03-28T05:18:25.792-07:00Comments on Daytonian in Manhattan: The Lost Clement C. Moore "Chelsea House"Tom Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13542224816886418433noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502312000087595701.post-8039801142259971462023-03-29T14:58:51.583-07:002023-03-29T14:58:51.583-07:00A minor matter, but I should clear it up. Evident...A minor matter, but I should clear it up. Evidently you misunderstood some earlier comment of mine. Three of the adult Clarke children were still living at Chelsea in 1776, but the eldest, Charity, was away with her father -- probably with relations in Queen's County -- for a part of the period in which New York militia under Brigadier General John Morin Scott occupied the Clarkes' house and grounds. She seems to have returned, with or without her aged father, by the time Washington ordered Scott's troops off the property, since in a memorial to Washington asking for his intervention Mrs. Clarke mentions the presence of her "Two Daughters".<br /><br />You imply that Captain Clarke married his wife in England and that she was English. In fact, she was American -- a member of the prosperous Stillwell clan centered on New-York City and Monmouth County, New Jersey. From May 1744, Clarke held a royal commission as captain of one of four independent companies of regular troops stationed in New York (he later sold his commission to Horatio Gates of Revolutionary War fame as the victor at Saratoga). Earlier, he had participated as a captain in the so-called American Regiment in the failed British attack on Cartagena in 1741. Clarke's antecedents are hazy, but he seems to have been a native of New England. Charity was born in 1747 and her sisters in 1748 and 1750, but it isn't altogether clear whether they were born in New-York City or Monmouth County. <br /><br />Another point: Moore was consecrated as coadjutor bishop of New York on September 11, 1801, when the incumbent, Samuel Provoost, retired. when Provoost died in 1815, Moore automatically became the diocesian bishop, though himself largely disabled by a stroke; as you note, he died the following year.<br /><br />I think "the Pulpit" was a separate structure on the grounds, distinct from Chelsea House. I'm pretty sure Moore, not Valentine, wrote the account in Valentine's Manual. <br /><br />Charity Clarke married Moore on April 20, not 30, 1778. Her sister Maria Theresa had married a British officer, William Barrington, just a month earlier; I've encountered no evidence that either couple lived with Mrs. C at Chelsea. Maria Theresa drowned while accompanying her husband on some military expedition; he survived. Benjamin Moore wrote a lousy poem about her death in which he drowns her within 8 months of her marriage and also drowns her in the course of General Clinton's expedition to Charleston, which occurred 21 months after her marriage. He drowns her husband as well, although Barrington in fact survived to inherit an Irish peerage and remarry. <br /><br />These are all minor points; they don't seriously detract from your generally excellent account.Alexander Scalanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502312000087595701.post-2889262891857983172019-11-04T05:47:05.272-08:002019-11-04T05:47:05.272-08:00“Prior to the Bishop Moore's death in 1816, th...“Prior to the Bishop Moore's death in 1816, the family house was enlarged, …..” I believe that the Chelsea House was enlarged shortly after the death of Bishop Moore. Once the Moore’s children started arriving in 1816, Clement C. Moore, probably realized that he needed to enlarge his childhood home. RCBAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502312000087595701.post-21350534521199329312017-12-30T12:54:25.911-08:002017-12-30T12:54:25.911-08:00IMHO the Chelsea House as pictured in the 1816 ill...IMHO the Chelsea House as pictured in the 1816 illustration was sheer perfection.Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12183744621319137043noreply@blogger.com