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He was a pastor, editor and secretary born in Mount
Vernon, Indiana. He studied
initially at Simpson College before moving to further education at Iowa
Wesleyan University. After
graduation he entered the Boston University School of Theology and became a
pastor. His career saw him
pasturing in Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, New York and Rhode Island and while in
New York he would also work for the Methodist Episcopal Church where he
would be the editor of their Sunday School materials. He would also hold the position of
Secretary of the Board of Sunday Schools and the Sunday School Union. He was the joint author/editor of
The Encyclopaedia of Sunday Schools and Religious Education with
Benjamin S. Winchester, which was published after his death in 1915. Around 1904 he is credited with
writing the third verse to the popular Christmas carol "Away in a Manger",
which would be published with the music in Dainty Songs for Little Lads
and Lasses where it was initially entitled "Luther's Cradle Hymn" by
the composer, James Ramsey Murray. He died at his home in Maplewood, New Jersey, when
he was 62 years old.
Away in a Manger recordings
Leroy Anderson and His Orchestra
Decca B0003552-02 (CD: A Leroy Anderson Christmas)
Sources:
- http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/m/c/mcfarland_jt.htm
- http://worldcat.org/wcpa/ow/c5a4b729f495f885.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Away_in_a_Manger
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