1818 - 1883 Person Name: Silas J. Vail, 1818-1883 Composer of "HELEN" in Psalter Hymnal (Blue) In his youth Silas Jones Vail learned the hatter's trade at Danbury, Ct. While still a young man, he went to New York and took employment in the fashionable hat store of William H. Beebe. Later he established himself in business as a hatter at 118 Fulton Street, where he was for many years successful. But the conditions of trade changed, and he could not change with them. After his failure in 1869 or 1870 he devoted his entire time and attention to music. He was the writer of much popular music for use in churches and Sunday schools. Pieces of music entitled "Scatter Seeds of Kindness," "Gates Ajar," "Close to Thee," "We Shall Sleep, but not Forever," and "Nothing but Leaves" were known to all church attendants twenty years ago. Fanny Crosby, the blind authoress, wrote expressly for him many of the verses he set to music.
--Vail, Henry H. (Henry Hobart). Genealogy of some of the Vail family descended from Jeremiah Vail at Salem, Mass., 1639, p. 234.
S. J. Vail
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