Moore, Francis Van Rensselaer, Rev.

Biography

Reverend Moore was the son of the Rev. John Wells Moore, and the great-grandson of William Kerin Constable [1752-1803], subject of a portrait now in the NGA [1954.9.1]. Constable [1752-1803] was born in Ireland; his father, a surgeon in the British army, moved the family in 1762 to Montreal, where he served during the French and Indian War, then to Schenectady, where he was a part of the New York State Regiment. William grew up to be a wealthy New York merchant, ship owner, and land speculator; he owned the six-hundred ton America, considered the finest ship built in New York. During the American Revolution, William Constable was an aide-de-campe to the Marquis de Lafayette, but his financial dealings led some to suspect his patriotism. After the war, Constable was a leader in the New York financial community, with great successes in the China trade. In 1791-1792 he was a partner in the celebrated Macomb Purchase of nearly four million acres of land in upstate New York. William Constable married Anna White of Philadelphia, with whom he had a daughter, Emily [later Mrs. Samuel Moore of New York]; she had a daughter, Maria T. Moore, and a son, the Rev. John Wells Moore. On Constable, see William Allen David, William Constable, New York Merchant and Land Speculator, Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1955; Franklin B. Hough, History of Lewis County in the State of New York, Albany, 1860, 238-243; James W. Moore, Rev. John Moore of Newton, L.I., and Some of His Descendants, Easton, PA, 1903, 118. [Compiled from sources and references recorded on CMS]

Bibliography

1903

Moore, James W. Rev. John Moore of Newton, L.I., and Some of His Descendants. Easton, PA, 1903.

1955

David, William Allen. William Constable, New York Merchant and Land Speculator, Ph.D. diss., Harvard University (1955)

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