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Certain names seem to show
up on every other page in a
hymnal, and one of those is
William J. Kirkpatrick. The
other famous William (along
with Bradbury), Kirkpatrick
lived a little after the elder
William and wrote in a style
more reminiscent of Bliss,
Sweney, Gabriel, and other
contemporaries—a little more
lively and upbeat than the
style of their predecessors.
During those 83 years,
Kirkpatrick wrote the tunes to
famous classics by Fanny J.
Crosby, Eliza E. Hewitt, and a
host of other famous
hymnwriters.
Kirkpatrick was one of those
who adopted America as his
native country—he was
actually born in Ireland. The
Kirkpatrick family emigrated
to the United States in 1840
but waited a bit before
bringing William in, so they
could settle. (His younger
sister made it to the U.S.
first, born on ship on the way
over.) William eventually
arrived and proved to be a
musical prodigy, learning to
play instruments as diverse as
the cello, the fife, the
flute, the organ, and the
violin. T. Bishop was his
vocal professor, and
Kirkpatrick used his talents
for the lord, singing in the
choir at the Wharton Street
Methodist Episcopal Church in
Philadelphia, which he joined
in 1855. He also joined the
Harmonia and Haydn Sacred
Music Societies. Yet music
wasn’t his only source of
income—Kirkpatrick also
trained as a carpenter and
served in that capacity for
many years.
Despite his organ talents,
Kirkpatrick was frequently
called upon to play violin and
cello—due to the scarcity of
pipe organs, the more portable
strings were often used in
rehearsals. Presumably, this
was just fine with
Kirkpatrick, who wanted to be
a concert violinist growing
up. He also wrote hymns
during this time and saw his
first collection,
“Devotional Melodies,” get
published in 1859.
1861 was a major year in
Kirkpatrick’s life, as he
married Susanna Doak. The
couple would go on to have
three children, including May
D. Kirkpatrick, who followed
in her father’s footsteps as
a hymnwriter. Kirkpatrick
also joined the army in 1861,
serving as the fife major for
the 91st Regiment of
Pennsylvania Volunteers. He
was the last the regiment
would ever have, as the
position was eliminated the
next year. Kirkpatrick then
became the head organist at
the Ebenezer Street Methodist
Episcopal Church in
Philadelphia, still writing
hymns. He met John R. Sweney,
a fellow hymn tune composer,
during this time, and the two
worked together a lot the next
several years in writing and
publishing hymns.
Susanna passed away in 1878,
and after her death,
Kirkpatrick threw himself more
fully into a music career,
giving up carpentry. Between
1880 and 1897, Kirkpatrick
attended the Grace Methodist
Episcopal Church, where he
became the music director. In
addition to the many books he
published, he would also write
special music for Christmas
and Easter each year. He and
Sweney put out 49 major books
of hymns during this time.
In 1893, Kirkpatrick
remarried. He and his new
wife, Sarah Kellogg Bourne,
travelled the world together.
Following her death in 1917,
Kirkpatrick married one last
time, this time to Lizzie
Sweney, widow of his good
friend John. The night he
died in 1921, he went to his
study, telling her that he had
a tune he wanted to write down
before she got it. It was
there, at his desk, that he
went to be with the Lord.
Well, Kirkpatrick wrote many
hymns in his lifetime, and
many of those went on to be
famous. He wrote the
“Cradle Song” tune to
“Away in a Manger,” which
still is heard frequently at
Christmastime and is actually
the more famous of the two
tunes those words are sung
with outside the United
States. Kirkpatrick also
wrote the music to many of
Fanny Crosby’s hymns. His
tune for “Redeemed” still
competes with the newer one by
Aubrey L. Butler published in
1967, and while Butler’s is
good, I like Kirkpatrick’s
way better. Kirkpatrick also
wrote the music to “Lord
I’m Coming Home,” based on
the story of the Prodigal Son
and still often sung during
the invitation portion of the
service.
This collection doesn’t
contain the Christmas hymn,
nor does it contain
“Redeemed” (in my Fanny
Crosby collection) or “Lord,
I’m Coming Home” (in my
invitation collection). It
does, however, contain some of
Kirkpatrick’s other most
famous tunes. “Jesus
Saves” is a lively, succinct
statement of the joy
Christ’s salvation brings to
our lives—it was famous as
the intro music for “The
Old-Fashioned Revival Hour”
for many years. “’Tis So
Sweet to Trust in Jesus” is
still often heard during
baptisms. “We Have an
Anchor” and “Stepping in
the Light” are still
commonly-heard favorites, as
well. Other pieces contained
in this volume are “Lead Me
to Calvary,” “The
Comforter Has Come,” “Meet
Me There,” “O to Be Like
Thee,” “Give Me Thy
Heart,” and “You May Have
the Joy-Bells.” I hope you
enjoy these hymns as much as I
have!