Father Christmas promising baby asleep in a cradle". The figure of Santa Claus had originated in the US, drawing at least partly upon Dutch St Nicolas traditions. A New York publication of 1821, "A New-Year’s Present", contained an illustrated poem "Old Santeclaus with Much Delight" in which a Santa figure on a reindeer sleigh brings presents for good children and a "long, black birchen rod" for use on the bad ones. In 1823 came the famous poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", usually attributed to the New York writer Clement Clarke Moore, which developed the character further. Moore's poem became immensely popular
A Visit from St. Nicholas city". The reported involvement of two women, Harriet Butler and Sarah Sackett, as intermediaries is consistent with the 1862 account of the poem's earliest transmission in which T. W. C. Moore describes two stages of copying, first "by a relative of Dr Moores in her Album" and second, "by a friend of hers, from Troy." Moore preferred to be known for his more scholarly works, but allowed the poem to be included in his anthology in 1844 at the request of his children. By that time, the original publisher and at least seven others had already acknowledged his authorship. Livingston