1848–1926

Introduction

illustration

Born: June 28, 1848, Port­land, In­di­ana.

Died: Ju­ly 13, 1926, Se­at­tle, Wash­ing­ton.

Buried: Mount Hope Ce­me­te­ry, Lo­gans­port, In­di­ana.

portrait

Biography

William was the hus­band of Nan­cy J. Booth.

He grew up in Col­lege Cor­ners, In­di­ana (near Port­land), and served in the ar­my dur­ing the clos­ing days of the Am­eri­can ci­vil war.

After the war, he at­tend­ed Li­ber Col­lege, Jay Coun­ty, In­di­ana, and stu­died law for two years.

While in col­lege, he was a mem­ber of the col­lege glee club, and took les­sons in the col­lege sing­ing school. Lat­er, he stu­died with teach­ers such as J. W. Suf­fern, George Root, Lu­ther Em­er­son, Hora­tio Pal­mer, and Hen­ry Per­kins.

Giffe had a fine ba­ri­tone voice, and was in de­mand as a con­cert sing­er. He soon be­came po­pu­lar as a chor­us di­rect­or and con­ven­tion con­duct­or.

The Ol­iv­er Dit­son Com­pa­ny of Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts, pub­lished ma­ny of his ear­ly works, but Giffe went on to form his own pub­lish­ing house, the Home Mu­sic Com­pa­ny, in Lo­gans­port, In­di­ana. He al­so ed­it­ed the Home Mu­sic Jour­nal for se­ver­al years.

Later, Giffe be­came su­per­vis­or of mu­sic in the pub­lic schools in his home town. And he was one of three men chos­en to de­li­ver an ad­dress in Lo­gans­port, In­di­ana, at the me­mo­ri­al ser­vic­es for as­sas­sin­at­ed Am­eri­can pre­si­dent Will­iam Mc­Kin­ley.

Works

Sources

Lyrics

  1. All the Bells of Heav’n Go Ring­ing
  2. Are Your Lamps All Brigh­tly Burn­ing?
  3. By and by the Mists Shall All Be Cleared
  4. Cheer Up, Wea­ry Heart
  5. Christian, Thy Night May Be Long
  6. Come, Let Us Sing of Fount and Spring
  7. Come, Ye Bless­ed of My Fa­ther
  8. Do We Fol­low Je­sus Tru­ly?
  9. Every One That Thirst­eth
  10. Father, I Come to Thee, in My Hu­mi­li­ty
  11. Hark! Hear the Christ­mas Bells!
  12. I Am Look­ing To­night at the Stars So Bright
  13. I Do Be­lieve That Je­sus Hears
  14. I Know That My Re­deem­er Lives
  15. I Love the Name of Je­sus
  16. I Would Bathe in the Fount­ain of the Love of Je­sus
  17. I’ll Not Give Up the Bi­ble
  18. In Hea­ven Above, in That Land of Love
  19. In Peace I Lay Me Down and Sleep
  20. In the Lamb’s Book of Life That Is Kept
  21. In the Lov­ing Care of Je­sus
  22. Jesus Will Help You the Vic­to­ry to Win
  23. Jesus, Wilt Thou Guard the Slum­ber?
  24. Like a Shep­herd, His Flock He’ll Feed
  25. Lord of Life and Glo­ry Knocks, The
  26. Nearer the Crys­tal Sea, Near­er Eter­ni­ty
  27. Nearing the Crys­tal Sea
  28. New Pearls of Song for Je­sus We Bring
  29. Night Has Let Her Sa­ble Cur­tain Fall
  30. O Spir­it of Song, Go Forth
  31. O Won­der­ful Place Where Je­sus Prayed
  32. O Wond­er­ful Pray­er That Je­sus Prayed
  33. Oh, I Love to Hear the Sto­ry
  34. Oh, the Com­ing of the King
  35. Onward and Up­ward
  36. Over Hill, Ov­er Dale
  37. Ring, Glad Bells! Oh, Ring Your Joy­ful Lay!
  38. Send a Shout Along the Line
  39. Send Out the Life-Boat Across the Dark Wave
  40. She Is Wait­ing by the Ri­ver
  41. Slowly Where the Winds Are Swell­ing
  42. Tell the Joy­ful Tid­ings Far and Wide
  43. There Is a Place I Love to Go
  44. There’s Sun­shine and Love in My Soul To­day
  45. They Tell Me of a Man of Old
  46. Tho’ We’re Tossed on Life’s Rough Ocean
  47. Under the Sha­dow of His Wing
  48. Up Above the Stars
  49. Way of the Lord Is Best, The
  50. We Are Al­most Home
  51. We Are Child­ren of a King
  52. We Are March­ing Home to Zi­on
  53. We’ll Ga­ther from the East
  54. We’ll Shout Aloud Through All the Land
  55. When the Last Fare­well Is Spok­en
  56. When the Last Gos­pel Mes­sage Is Told
  57. With a Song on Our Lips and a Pray­er

Music

  1. Sierra Ne­va­da
  2. Tunguska
  3. Weary Not in Well Do­ing
  4. Wien
  5. Windhoek