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Spencer Lane

1843 - 1903 Hymnal Number: 252 Composer of "[In the hour of trial]" in Greater Christian Hymns Spencer Lane USA 1843-1903. Born at Tilton, NH, he served in the 8th NH Infantry during the American Civil War. After the war, he studied at the New England Conservatory and taught vocal and instrumental music at Oneida and Utica, NY. He married Isabel F. (no information on children was found). He later moved to Woonsocket, RI, where he ran a music store and served as organist and directed the choir for the St. James Episcopal Church for 13 years. He moved to Monson, MA, then to Richmond, VA, and in 1896 to Baltimore, MD. In Baltimore he worked for the music firm of Sanders & Stayman and was music director at the All Saints Protestant Episcopal Church. While at Woonsocket, his pastor gave him the hymns for an evening service, one of whose tune he didn’t care for, so he composed another tune for it, ‘Penitence’. That is his only hymn contribution. He was an author and music composer: “My beloved, I’ll think of thee”, “A dream – grand march”, others. He died at Reedville, VA. John Perry

J. W. Dadmun

1819 - 1890 Hymnal Number: 32 Composer of "[In the Christian's home in glory]" in Greater Christian Hymns Rv John William Dadmun USA 1819-1890. Born at Cambridge, MA, he completed his education at the Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, MA. At 22 he joined the New England Methodist Conference and pastored churches in the towns of Ludlow, Southhampton, South Hadley Falls, Enfield, Ware, Monson, Ipswich, and Lowell, the first Methodist Church and Grace Church, Boston and First Church, Boston Highlands. For a number of years he was also prison Chaplain and Superintendent of schools in the city institutions of Boston at Deer Island, off the coast of Maine. He married Lucy Ann Dutton, and they had seven children: Lucy, Wiletta, Francina, Charles,William and two others. He was initiated into Masonry at the Mt. Lebanon Lodge in Boston, MA, and served as Grand Chaplain and District Deputy Grand Master, which he immensely enjoyed. He rose in ranks within the organization and was instrumental in forming the Mt. Vernon Chapter in Roxbury, MA. He was elected Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of MA. He was Knighted into the De Molay Commandery in Boston, serving several years and rising to Grand Prelate of MA & RI, and attained to a number of other significant positions within the Masons. In later years, after Lucy died, he married Martha Jane Rogers. He collected songs and contributed lyrics to some, publishing a number of song books: “Army & Navy melodies” (1862), “The Melodian” (1862), “Revival melodies” , “The Eolian harp” (1860), “The sacred harmonium”, “new revival melodies”, “Musical string of pearls”, The Masonic choir” (1864), “The humming bird”, “Union league melodies”, “The new golden chain of Sabbath school melodies”, “The olive leaf”, “The timbrel” (1866), and others. Copies of these works have been sold around the world. He died at Boston, MA. John Perry

Frances Jane Van Alstyne

Hymnal Number: 76 Author of "Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross" in Greater Christian Hymns See Crosby, Fanny, 1820-1915

William Miller

1801 - 1878 Person Name: Dr. Wm. Miller Hymnal Number: 30 Composer of "[O land of rest, for thee I sigh]" in Greater Christian Hymns

Caroline L. Smith

1827 - 1886 Person Name: Mrs. C. S. Smith Hymnal Number: 319 Author of "Tarry With Me, O My Savior" in Greater Christian Hymns Smith, Caroline Louisa, née Sprague, was born at Salem, Massachusetts, and married to the Rev. Charles Smith, pastor of the South Congregational Church, Andover. Mrs. Smith is the author of:— Tarry with me, O my Saviour. An Old Man's Prayer. Mrs. Smith's account of this hymn is "About the year 1853 [in the summer of 1852], I heard the Rev. Dr. H. M. Dexter preach a sermon on 'The Adaptedness of Religion to the Wants of the Aged.' I went home and embodied the thought in the hymn 'Tarry with me, 0 my Saviour!' I sent it to Mr. Hallock, for The Messenger. He returned it as 'not adapted to the readers of the paper.' Years after I sent it, without any signature, to the little Andover paper .... I send it to you in its original form, in a little paper of which my sister, Mrs. Terry [Rochester, N.Y.], is editoress." (Hatfield's Poets of the Church, N.Y., 1884, p. 564.) Hatfield gives the full text in 1 stanza of 6 lines. In the Plymouth Collection, 1855, No. 1337, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines, was compiled from st. i., ii., vi., vii. This was repeated in The Sabbath Hymn Book, 1858, and others. Of this text st. ii. is sometimes omitted. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

John Dobell

1757 - 1840 Hymnal Number: 318 Author of "How pleasing to behold and see" in Greater Christian Hymns Dobell, John, b. 1757, d. May, 1840, was a port-gauger under the Board of Excise, at Poole, Dorset, and a person of some local note. In 1806 he published:— A New Selection of Seven Hundred Evangelical Hymns for Private, Family, and Public Worship (Many Original) from more than two hundred of the best Authors in England, Scotland, Ireland, and America, Arranged in alphabetical order; Intended as a Supplement to Dr. Watts's Psalms and Hymns. By John Dobell. Lond., Williams and Smith, 1806. Subsequently this Selection was increased to "More than Eight Hundred" hymns, and the wording of the title-page was changed in several instances. Dobell's account of this work is:— "The hymns here presented to the public I have collected from more than two hundred authors; many of them are taken from Manuscripts which I deemed too valuable to be suffered to remain in obscurity, and some have been supplied by friends. As this work has been the labour of years, and the choice of many thousand hymns, it will, I trust, give satisfaction to the Church of God." Preface, p. iii. In addition to a work on Baptisms,1807, and another on Humanity, 1812, Dobell also published:— The Christian's Golden Treasure; or, Gospel Comfort for Doubting Minds, 1823. This work was in two vols., the first of which contained 124 hymns, several of which were by Dobell. Of this writer's hymns very few are found in modern hymn-books. We have from the 1806 book:—(1) "Come, dearest Lord, and bless this day" (Sunday Morning); (2) "Great Ruler of the earth and skies” (In time of War); (3) "Now is the accepted time," (Invitation) — in common use in Great Britain and America, out of twenty or more. It is not as a hymn-writer, but as a diligent and successful hymnologist, that J. Dobell is best known. -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

L. C. Everett

1818 - 1867 Hymnal Number: 256 Composer of "SPRING" in Greater Christian Hymns L. C. Everett's largest and most popular collection was The Wesleyan Hymn and Tune Book (1859), published by the Methodist Episcopal Church South. The denominational dedication page in that collection says it was "prepared by Mr. L.C. Everett, of Virginia, a gentleman well-known through the South and Southwest, as an author and teacher of sacred vocal music." In his own introductory remarks, Everett's instincts as an educator are clear. He advised churches to offer a weekly congregational singing class "for the purpose of meeting together frequently, say one evening each week, to practice the tunes under the direction of a suitably qualified chorister or leader, and ... that the entire congregation be invited to attend the rehearsals of the class and join in learning the tunes." For Everett, musical worship was not just the duty of a choir, it was the duty of everyone. Leonard’s brothers were Asa Brooks Everett (1828-1875), N.E. Everett, & Benjamin Holden Everett. Leonard and Asa developed a successful music education system called "The Everett System," and together with R.M. McIntosh they formed the L.C. Everett Company, which employed approximately fifty music teachers throughout the American south and middle Atlantic. —Chris Fenner see also J.H. Hall, Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1914), pp. 96-100.

William Ellsworth Witter

1854 - 1931 Person Name: W. E. Witter Hymnal Number: 284 Author of "While Jesus Whispers To You" in Greater Christian Hymns Witter, Will Ellsworth, was born Dec. 9, 1854, near La Grange, New York, and educated at the Genessee State Normal School, New York, and the University of Rochester. From the latter he passed in 1880 to the Rochester Baptist Theological Seminary, and in 1884 he entered the Baptist Ministry. He has written several songs and poems, one of which:— While Jesus whispers to you (The Divine Call) has come into somewhat prominent use. It was written in July 1878, and originated mainly in the great anxiety of the author respecting two of his pupils. In 1878 it was set to music by H. R. Palmer, and included in his Book of Anthems, 1878: from whence it passed into Good as Gold, and I. D. Sankey's Sacred Songs and Solos, London 1881. -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

John Kempthorne

1775 - 1838 Person Name: J. Kempthorne Hymnal Number: 110 Author of "Praise The Lord, Ye Heavens, Adore Him" in Greater Christian Hymns Born: June 24, 1775, Plymouth, England. Died: November 6, 1838, Gloucester, England. Kempthorne, John, B.D., s. of Admiral Kempthorne, was born at Plymouth, June 24, 1775, and educated at St. John's, Cambridge (B.A. 1796, B.D. 1807), of which he subsequently became a Fellow. On taking Holy Orders, he became Vicar of Northleach, Gloucestershire, in 1816; Vicar of Wedmore, Somersetshire, 1827, and the same year Rector of St. Michael's, and Chaplain of St. Mary de Grace, Gloucester. He was also a Prebendary in Lichfield Cathedral from 1826, and sometime Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of that diocese. He died at Gloucester, Nov. 6, 1838. His hymnological work is:— Select Portions of Psalms from Various Translations, and Hymns,from Various Authors. The whole Arranged according to the yearly Seasons of the Church of England , with attempts at corrections and improvements. By the Rev. John Kempthorne, B.D.....London. Batchard. 1810. In this collection there are a few hymns of merit, as ”Forgive, O Lord, our wanderings past," "Great God, to Thee our songs we raise," and "Praise the Lord, ye heavens adore Him," which are usually ascribed, on D. Sedgwick's authority, to J. Kempthorne. These hymns, however, are not by Kempthorne, but were taken by him for his collection from the Foundling Hospital Psalms & Hymns, 1796 and 1801-9; and there is no evidence whatever that he had anything to do with that hymn-book. As that book is frequently quoted by hymnologists, we append the title-page of the 1801 ed., which is a reprint of that of 1797:— Psalms, Hymns, and Anthems; sung in the Chapel of the Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children. London, Printed in the Year M.DCCC.I. At the end of some copies of this edition there is pasted in a four-paged sheet of hymns which include, with others, "Praise the Lord, ye heavens, adore Him (q.v.) In the first edition of his own Selection of Portion of Psalms, &c, 1810, Kempthorne did not in any way indicate his own hymns, but in the 2nd ed. of 1813 (which is a reprint of the 1st ed. with an Appendix of 11 hymns) he says in his Preface:— “For Hymn 140 and Hymn, p. 267. Appendix; for almost all of Ps. 42, p. 197; Ps. 51, p. 57 and 61; Ps. 84, p. 195; Ps. 86, p. 134; Ps. 115, p. 49; Hymn 127 ; and for a considerable part of Ps. 22, p. 64; Ps. 122, p. 103; Ps. 133, p. 141; Ps. 139, p. 38; Hymns 20, 43, 54, 81, 97, 101, 118, and several others, the Editor is responsible, and acknowledges his obligations to some kind friends." Of these hymns and psalm versions, which Kempthorne claims as his own, only one or two are in common use. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

R. S. Ambrose

1824 - 1908 Person Name: Robert S. Ambrose Hymnal Number: 313 Composer of "[One sweetly solemn thought]" in Greater Christian Hymns Robert Steele Ambrose United Kingdom 1824-1908, Ambrose grew up in Chelmsford, attending the parish church of St. Mary the Virgin, where his father was organist. He received early musical training from his father and probably sang in the church choir. His family emigrated to upper Canada in 1837 and purchased land near Guelph, intending to farm it. But lacking training and experience, he found it too much of a challenge. He moved to Hamilton, Ontario, in 1845 to become an organist of Christ's Church, leaving Robert to run the farm. That same year, Robert became the organist at St. George's Church in Guelph and gave piano lessons to several local pupils. He wrote to his father complaining that he did not like farming, as plowing was too rough on his hands and interfered with his musical efforts. He moved to Kingston in 1847 and joined his brother teaching music. His brother, Charles, left there,and Robert took over his students. He took on pianoforte tuning, organist for St. George's Church and a choirmaster position to make ends meet. In 1863 Robert moved to Hamilton as organist and choir director of Church of the Ascension and stayed there 20 years. The following year he became music director for Wesleyan Female College. He stayed there 25 years, teaching hundreds of students over the years. He was also a prolific composer, having 100+ musical works (anthems and instrumentals). In recognition of his musical contributions, he was elected president of the Canadian Society of Musicians. John Perry