22 Eve has been the subject of one particularly good story for as long as any of us can remember. One with quiet creatures, stockings hung with care, visions of sugar plums, and of course tiny reindeer hooves on the roof. You know the one! First published on December 23, 1823, “Twas the Night Before Christmas” is one of the best-known poems of the Christmas season. Credit for the poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” was long attributed to Clement Clarke Moore. The verse was later renamed to its current title. When it was first published in The Troy Sentinel in Troy, New York, in 1823 it was published anonymously. Therein lies the controversy. Oddly enough, Moore became wealthy as a land developer, but he was best known as a writer and scholar. Moore was known to publish work anonymously. As one example, he had anonymously published a Federalist pamphlet in 1804 the same way. The poem was first published in a book and credited to Moore in 1837 and Moore eventually published it in his own work in 1844. However, a long debate has encircled this writing and through extensive writing analysis, Professor Donald Foster of Vassar College, believes another New Yorker is the more likely author. Foster’s continued writer was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, and resided there until his death. He wrote a long poem entitled “Account of a Visit from St Nicholas.” This poem counted “Twas the night before Christmas” as its first line. It wasn’t until 1859 that Major Henry Livingston Jr.’s family began to dispute Moore’s claim to what they believed to be their father’s poem. Through many years of back and forth controversy over manuscripts, writing, linguistics, and statistical analysis, plus depositions and searches for documents, the search for the true author continued. MacDonald P. Jackson, who is an Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, has spent his career studying the authorship of this poem. His book published in 2016, Who Wrote The Night Before Christmas?: Analyzing the Clement Clarke Moore vs. Henry Livingston Question, concludes that, “Every test applied thus far aligns more closely with Livingston’s verse than with Moore’s.” [Wikipedia: Livingston] While the controversy may continue, the current authoritative analysis conducted by Foster and Jackson means that Livingston, THE SURVEYOR, is the most likely author of the classic poem we all know In the early 1900s, thousands of sheep were killed in range wars that spanned from Prineville to Christmas Valley. In just one raid by five masked men, nearly 3,000 sheep were killed over disputed range. The controversy in Christmas Valley includes Hollywood movies, environmental contamination, and more. and love. We began this year learning of the surveying history of the song “Auld Lang Syne’’ and we end the year with “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” and both are attributed to our “Lost Surveyor” surveying peers of old. As Paul Harvey said on his radio show, now you know... the rest of the story. Happy Christmas to all and to all good surveying! References • Great Basin Sandals | Museum of Natural and Cultural History (uoregon.edu) • Fort Rock Valley Historical Society (fortrockoregon.com) • Full Town History | Christmas Valley Properties (christmasvalleyproperty.com) • Christmas Valley, Oregon - Wikipedia • Oregon Geographic Names, Sixth Edition • Major Henry Livingston, Jr. | Poetry Foundation (poetryfoundation.org/poets/henry-livingston) • Henry Livingston Jr. - Wikipedia • Clement Clarke Moore - Wikipedia The Lost Surveyor The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 6
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