1808 - 1865 Author of "Jesus Reigns" West, Robert Athow, an editor and author, was born in England in 1802. In 1843 he went to America, and was the official reporter of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1844. He was also one of the committee appointed by that Conference to prepare a Standard edition of the Methodist Hymn Book. That collection appeared as Hymns for the Use of The Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1849. To it West contributed two hymns—(1) "Come, let us tune our loftiest song" (Praise of Jesus), and (2) "Now, Lord, fulfil Thy faithful word" (On behalf of Ministers). (Nutter's Hymn Studies, 1884, p. 32.)
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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West, Robert Athow. (1809 [sic]--February 1, 1865). The commonly accepted date of West's birth is 1809, not 1802 as given in Julian. He was a Methodist Episcopal layman, editor of the Columbia Magazine, New York, 1846-1849, and for a time, beginning 1858, of the New York Commercial Advertiser. The last years of his life were spent in Washington, D.C., where he was connected with the office of the Judge-Advocate General. He died at his home in Georgetown, D.C. He published Sketches of Wesleyan Preachers (1848) and A Father's Letters to His Daughter (1865).
--Robert G. McCutchan, DNAH Archives
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