It was on February 1, 1818, that Thomas Verner Moore (1818-1871) was born in Newville, Pennsylvania. He would grow up to study for the ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary, and later succeed William Swan Plumer (1802-1880) as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Richmond, Virginia, before ending his ministry in Nashville, Tennessee.
He is, perhaps, most famous today for his well-regarded commentaries on Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, which have been republished by Banner of Truth as part of the Geneva Commentary Series. He is less well-known for his poetry. But another noteworthy work of his would be his history of The Culdee Church (1868), in which he traces the Presbyterian links in the chain between the ancient and Reformation-era Church of Scotland.
His grandson, Thomas Verner Moore (1877-1869), was a Roman Catholic monk and pioneer of modern psychology. Three other members of his family would go on to share the same name. But today we honor the bicentennial of a 19th century Presbyterian minister who left his mark as a pastor, a Biblical commentator, and as a church historian.