Person Results

Edwin F. Parry

1850 - 1935 Person Name: Edwin F. Parry, 1850–1935 Composer of "[Hail to the brightness of Zion’s glad morning!]" in Hymns of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

1852 - 1938 Person Name: Wm. B. Blake Composer of "[Hail to the brightness of Zion's glad morning]" in Sweet Fields of Eden William Burdine Blake, 1852-1938. William B. Blake, Sr., was born January 21, 1852, in London, Ohio; went to Virginia in the early 1870s and became connected with the music publishing house of the Ruebush-Kieffer Company, and remaining with this firm until 1889, when he moved to Ronceverte. He married Miss Alice Mary Horne, of Augusta county, Virginia, a daughter of Strother P. and Sarah Home. (Strother P. Horne was a Confederate soldier throughout the Civil war.) To this union were born seven children: Charles Stanley Blake, Bessie Mabel, William B,. Jr.. Henry St. John, Robert Russell, Mary Ellen and Edward Lester. At Ronceverte, Mr. Blake, Sr., associated himself in partnership with J. W. Hess in the publication of the Ronceverte News, a newly-established paper in the new lumber town, buying out the interest of Richard Burke, who had been a prominent figure in West Virginia journalism for a number of years. Burke had been the publisher of a vigorous newspaper at Union, Monroe county. About the year 1891, Mr. Blake bought out the interest of Mr. Hess and became the sole proprietor of the enterprise, changing the name of the paper to the Valley Messenger and News. This publication continued until April 21, 1901. Several years prior to this, in December, 1897, The West Virginia News had been established with Mr. Blake as publisher, and from one newspaper plant two newspapers were issued until April 21, 1901, when the latter publication, which covered a more extensive field, absorbed the Valley Messenger. This consolidation brought to the newer paper the good will of the older and the growth of the West Virginia News has been steady and continuous to this day. At the present time and for a number of years the News has enjoyed a larger circulation than any other weekly newspaper published in the State. History of Greenbrier County J. R. Cole, Lewisburg, WV, 1917 (accessed 12/25/2023 from http://www.leighlarson.com/william_burdine_blake.htm)

James M. Dungan

1851 - 1925 Person Name: J. M. D. Author (chorus) of "Zion Triumphant" in Sifted Wheat Born: Circa 1852, Indiana. The 1880 census shows Dungan in Franklin, Indiana, with his wife Helen. --www.hymntime.com/tch

B. C. Unseld

1843 - 1923 Composer of "[Hail to the brightness of Zion's glad morning]" in Children of Zion Benjamin Carl Unseld, 1843-1923 Born: October 18, 1843, Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Died: November 19, 1923. Buried: Elmwood Cemetery, Shepherdstown, West Virginia. After leaving school at age 14, Unseld worked as a clerk in a country store. He received his first musical instruction around age 15, from a companion who had attended a singing school. He was shown the representation of the scale in the old Carmina Sacra, and had it sung for him. At the friend’s suggestion, he got permission from his pastor to practice on the church organ. Since both boys worked, their only chance to practice was after the store closed at 9:00 p.m., and occasionally at noontime. They went to the church together and took turns, one at the keyboard and the other at the bellows. Shortly after the Battle of Antietam in September 1862, some of which Unseld witnessed, he left home and became a bookkeeper in the general offices of a railroad in Columbia, Pennsylvania. He sang in a choir, and gained further practice reading music. He rented a melodeon and spent much time in his room improvising on it. He bought a copy of Woodbury’s Harmony and Musical Composition, and studied it as well as he could without a teacher. He accepted an invitation to play the organ in the local Methodist church, on the condition that he received the tunes early in the week so he could learn them. This was his first position as an organist. In the spring of 1866, he entered the Musical Institute in Providence, Rhode Island, conducted by Eben Tourjée (founder of the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts, and father of Lizzie Tourjée). There he studied voice, piano, organ, and harmony. After learning of Unseld’s business experience, Dr. Tourjée made him secretary of the school; in 1867, Unseld became the first secretary of the New England Conservatory. Starting in 1870, Unseld attended schools led by Theodore F. Seward. There he met George Webb, Lowell Mason, James McGranahan, Charles Case, and other notables in the music community. In 1874, Unseld taught at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, and helped train Fisk’s Jubilee Singers for their European trip. In 1877 and 1878, he was organist and choir master at St. James’ Episcopal Church, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1879, Unseld moved to New York City, and for 15 years taught, led choirs, composed and published. In New York, his musical headquarters was the publishing house of Biglow & Main Company, where he was in almost daily contact with the popular composers and teachers of the day: Ira Sankey, Horatio Palmer, Hubert Main, Robert Lowry, et al. In 1894, Unseld moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and worked as an editor for the Fillmore Music House. In 1898, he moved to Dayton, Ohio, and worked in a similar capacity for the Lorenz Publishing Company. He moved back to New York City in 1901, then to Hagerstown, Maryland in 1905. He and his wife Sallie were apparently living in Tennessee as of 1920. Unseld’s works include: The Choral Standard (New York: Fillmore Brothers, 1895) Progress in Song, with E. T. Hildebrand (Cincinnati, Ohio: The Fillmore Brothers Company) Unseld was inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 2004. Sources-- Hall, pp. 239-44 Music-- Ancyra Euphemia He Is Risen Hordville Make Haste! Meschach Twilight Is Falling Unseld Wonderful Message --www.hymntime.com/tch

William Lester

1889 - 1956 Person Name: William Lester, b. 1889 Composer (descant) of "WESLEY" in Worship and Service Hymnal Lester, Thomas William; b. 9-17-1889, Leicester, d. 12-4-56, Berrien Springs, Mich.; English organist and composer; came to the US in 1902

Johann Georg Hille

Composer of "EINER IST KONIG" in Service Book and Hymnal of the Lutheran Church in America

Anonymous

Person Name: Anon. Composer of "HAIL TO THE BRIGHTNESS" in The Brethren Hymnody In some hymnals, the editors noted that a hymn's author is unknown to them, and so this artificial "person" entry is used to reflect that fact. Obviously, the hymns attributed to "Author Unknown" "Unknown" or "Anonymous" could have been written by many people over a span of many centuries.

T. M. Bowdish

1860 - 1937 Composer of "[Hail to the brightness of Zion's glad morning]" in Kingdom of Song for the Sunday School T. M. Bowdish was born on February 28, 1860 in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania and died on July 26, 1937 in Brockway, Pennsylvania. His works include: The Kingdom of Song (Toledo, Ohio: The W. W. Whitney Company, 1900) © The Cyber Hymnal™ (www.hymntime.com/tch)

Thoro Harris

1874 - 1955 Composer of "[Hail to the brightness of Zion's glad morning]" in Echoes of Paradise Born: March 31, 1874, Washington, DC. Died: March 27, 1955, Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Buried: International Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery, Eureka Springs, Arkansas. After attending college in Battle Creek, Michigan, Harris produced his first hymnal in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1902. He then moved to Chicago, Illinois at the invitation of Peter Bilhorn, and in 1932, to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. He composed and compiled a number of works, and was well known locally as he walked around with a canvas bag full of handbooks for sale. His works include: Light and Life Songs, with William Olmstead & William Kirkpatrick (Chicago, Illinois: S. K. J. Chesbro, 1904) Little Branches, with George J. Meyer & Howard E. Smith (Chicago, Illinois: Meyer & Brother, 1906) Best Temperance Songs (Chicago, Illinois: The Glad Tidings Publishing Company, 1913) (music editor) Hymns of Hope (Chicago, Illinois: Thoro Harris, undated, circa 1922) --www.hymntime.com/tch