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Gill, George, son of William Gill, was born at Tiverton, Devonshire, Jan. 23, 1820, and was for some time a missionary in the South Sea Islands. His hymn, "Beautiful Zion, built above " (Heaven), was "written" the author says, "on the island of Mangaia, South Seas, April, 1850." It was printed in the Juvenile Missionary Magazine in 1852. His re-written form of Phoebe Cary’s “One Sweetly Solemn Thought” beginning “this sweetly solemn thought” is dated 1861 and also appeared in the Juvenile Missionary Magazine, Gill left the South Sea in 1860, and in 1861 became pastor of Wesgate Congregational Chapel, Burnley. He died Aug. 19, 1880.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)