Will L. Thompson

Will Lamartine Thompson (1847-1909)
Born: November 7, 1847, East Li­ver­pool, Ohio.
Died: Sep­tem­ber 20, 1909, New York, New York.
Buried: Ri­ver­view Cem­e­te­ry, East Li­ver­pool, Ohio.

Rebuffed in an ear­ly at­tempt to sell his songs to a com­mer­cial pub­lish­er, Thomp­son start­ed his own pub­lish­ing com­pa­ny. He lat­er ex­pand­ed, open­ing a store to sell pi­an­os, or­gans and sheet mu­sic. Both a lyr­i­cist and com­pos­er, he en­sured he would al­ways re­mem­ber words or mel­o­dies that came to him at odd times:
"No mat­ter where I am, at home or ho­tel, at the store or tra­vel­ing, if an idea or theme comes to me that I deem wor­thy of a song, I jot it down in verse. In this way I ne­ver lose it."
Thompson took ill dur­ing a tour of Eur­ope, and his fam­i­ly cut short their tra­vels to re­turn home. He died a few weeks lat­er.

Music--
1.Jesus Is All the World to Me
2.Lead Me Gently Home, Father
3.Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling
4.There’s a Great Day Coming

--hymntime.com/tch

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Various biographical sketches and newspaper articles about Thompson are available in the DNAH Archives.