Born: Feb­ru­a­ry 27, 1838, Dun­can­non, Penn­syl­van­ia.

Died: Sep­tem­ber 20, 1921, Ger­man­town, Penn­syl­vania.

Buried: Laur­el Hill Cem­e­te­ry, Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia.

Son of a school teach­er and mu­si­cian, Kirk­pat­rick grew up in a mu­sic­al at­mo­sphere. In 1854, he went to Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia, to stu­dy mu­sic and learn a trade; he spent over three years as a car­pen­ter. But he was more in­ter­est­ed in mu­sic than me­chan­ics, de­vot­ing all his lei­sure time to its stu­dy. His am­bi­tion at the time was to be­come a vi­o­lin­ist.

In 1855, Kirk­pat­rick joined the Whar­ton Street Meth­od­ist Epis­co­pal Church in Phil­a­del­phia, and from then on de­vot­ed him­self most­ly to sac­red mu­sic, giv­ing his serv­ices to the choir and Sun­day school. As there were few church or­gans in that day, his vi­o­lin and cel­lo were in con­stant de­mand for choir re­hears­als, sing­ing so­ci­e­ties, and church pro­grams. Dur­ing this time he wrote a num­ber of un­pub­lished hymn tunes and an­thems.

Kirkpatrick stu­died vo­cal mu­sic un­der Pro­fess­or T. Bi­shop, then a lead­ing ora­tor­io and bal­lad sing­er. He be­came a mem­ber of the Har­mon­ia and Han­del and Hay­dn Sac­red Mu­sic So­ci­e­ties, where he heard the great­est sing­ers of the day and be­came fa­mil­iar with the prin­ci­pal chor­al works of the great com­pos­ers. Kirk­pat­rick’s first pub­lished com­po­si­tion was When the Spark of Life Is Wan­ing, which ap­peared around 1858 in the Mu­sic­al Pi­o­neer in New York. He went on to pub­lish about 50 hymn col­lect­ions, ma­ny in col­lab­o­ra­tion with John Swe­ney. His works in­clude:

Sources

Lyrics

  1. Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?

Music

  1. All over the World
  2. Alone with God
  3. Annetta
  4. Are You Com­ing to the Feast?
  5. Beautiful Robes
  6. Beautiful Sab­bath
  7. Blessed Be the Name
  8. Blessing in Pray­er, A
  9. Buda
  10. Buried with Christ
  11. By Grace I Will
  12. Calling for You
  13. Calvary’s Stream Is Flow­ing
  14. Come, for All Things Are Rea­dy
  15. Come, Lord, and Let Thy Pow’r
  16. Comforter Has Come, The
  17. Cozumel
  18. Cradle Song
  19. Crispus
  20. Dear Je­sus, Canst Thou Help Me?
  21. Dear to the Heart of the Shep­herd
  22. Deeper Yet
  23. Father All Ho­ly
  24. Gathering Out of Tears
  25. Give Me Thy Heart
  26. Glory To God, Hal­le­lu­jah
  27. God So Loved the World
  28. Golden Bells, The
  29. Greenwell
  30. Hallelujah! Amen!
  31. Happy Crown­ing Day, The
  32. Hear and An­swer Pray­er
  33. He Came to Save Me
  34. He Died for Thee
  35. He Hid­eth My Soul
  36. He Is All in All to Me
  37. Healing at the Fount­ain
  38. He’ll Come and Tar­ry Not
  39. His Blood
  40. His Grace Abound­eth More
  41. Home at Last
  42. I’ll Bear It, Lord, for Thee
  43. In Beth­a­ny
  44. In the Book Which Thou Art Keep­ing
  45. In the Twink­ling of an Eye
  46. Jesus On­ly
  47. Jesus Un­der­stands!
  48. Just a Lit­tle Sun­shine
  49. Keep in the Line
  50. Keep Me Ev­er Close To Thee
  51. Kirkpatrick
  52. Landås
  53. Lead Me to Cal­va­ry
  54. Let the Light Stream In
  55. Like an Ar­my We Are March­ing
  56. Like as a Fa­ther
  57. Lilliard
  58. Listen to the Bless­èd Invita­tion
  59. Lo! the Gold­en Fields Are Smil­ing
  60. Lord, I’m Com­ing Home
  61. Meet in the Morn­ing
  62. Meet Me There
  63. Mercy Is Bound­less and Free
  64. Minnewaska
  65. Moline
  66. Music and Love
  67. My Heart’s Dear Home
  68. No King but Christ
  69. O to Abide in Je­sus
  70. O to Be Like Thee!
  71. Oh, for a Heart Whit­er Than Snow
  72. On the Cross of Cal­va­ry
  73. Only His Love
  74. Open Bi­ble for the World, An
  75. Praise Je­ho­vah
  76. Praise Ye the Lord
  77. Redeemed
  78. Salva­tion
  79. Sands
  80. Saved to the Ut­ter­most
  81. Saxony
  82. Sing, My Soul!
  83. Sing un­to God
  84. Singing I Go
  85. Sometime
  86. Stepping in the Light
  87. Still Out of Christ
  88. Tell It Over Again
  89. Ten Thou­sand Thanks to Je­sus
  90. Thy Ho­ly Spir­it, Lord, Alone
  91. ’Tis Burn­ing in My Soul
  92. ’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Je­sus
  93. True Shep­herd, The
  94. Turn a New Leaf for Me
  95. ’Twill All Be Right at Last
  96. Under the Blood
  97. Very Friend I Need, The
  98. Very Same Je­sus, The
  99. Wait, and Mur­mur Not
  100. Washed in the Blood of My Re­deem­er
  101. Watch and Pray
  102. Watchman, Blow the Gos­pel Trum­pet
  103. We Have an An­chor
  104. We Walk by Faith
  105. Welcome for Me
  106. What Will It Mat­ter?
  107. When Love Shines In
  108. When the Bride­groom Comes
  109. Wingate
  110. You May Have the Joy-Bells