Amos Sutton Hayden

Hayden, Amos Sutton. (Youngstown, Ohio, June 17, 1813--September 10, 1880, Collamer, Ohio). Disciple. He was the founder in 1830 of The Wester Eclectic Institute in Hiram, Ohio, which became Hiram College> "He had a natural gift for music and was one of the earliest compilers of hymns and tunes for use in the churches of the Disciples." (Dictionary of American Biography) Compiled An Introduction to Sacred Music (1834), Sacred Melodeon (1849), and The Hymnist; the 1834 book was probably the first tunebook in the Campbell tradition. Hayden was a member of the five-man committee "mutually agreed on" by Campbell and the national Disciple convention to prepare the Christian Hymn Book of 1865 (two of his hymns appeared in this); member of a similar committee to make the 1882 revision of this book's successor, The Christian Hymnal, but died before the work began (one of his hymns appeared in the revised book); he also composed hymn tunes. His brother, William Hayden (1799-1863) is referred to in the DAB as "the Sankey of his day." Both Haydens were associated with the evangelist Walter Scott.

--George Brandon, DNAH Archives (with addition by Mary Louise VanDyke)