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Henry Thomas Smart

1813 - 1879 Composer of "HEATHLANDS" in The Cyber Hymnal Henry Smart (b. Marylebone, London, England, 1813; d. Hampstead, London, 1879), a capable composer of church music who wrote some very fine hymn tunes (REGENT SQUARE, 354, is the best-known). Smart gave up a career in the legal profession for one in music. Although largely self taught, he became proficient in organ playing and composition, and he was a music teacher and critic. Organist in a number of London churches, including St. Luke's, Old Street (1844-1864), and St. Pancras (1864-1869), Smart was famous for his extemporizations and for his accompaniment of congregational singing. He became completely blind at the age of fifty-two, but his remarkable memory enabled him to continue playing the organ. Fascinated by organs as a youth, Smart designed organs for important places such as St. Andrew Hall in Glasgow and the Town Hall in Leeds. He composed an opera, oratorios, part-songs, some instrumental music, and many hymn tunes, as well as a large number of works for organ and choir. He edited the Choralebook (1858), the English Presbyterian Psalms and Hymns for Divine Worship (1867), and the Scottish Presbyterian Hymnal (1875). Some of his hymn tunes were first published in Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861). Bert Polman

John J. Overholt

1918 - 2000 Person Name: Compiler Alterer of "Now the Busy Week Is Done" in The Christian Hymnary. Bks. 1-4 John J. Overholt was born to an Amish family of limited means in the state of Ohio in 1918. As a child he was soon introduced to his father's personal collection of gospel songs and hymns, which was to have a marked influence on his later life. With his twin brother Joe, he early was exposed to the Amish-Mennonite tradition hymn-singing and praising worship. An early career in Christian service led to a two-year period of relief work in the country of Poland following World War II. During that interim he began to gather many European songs and hymns as a personal hobby, not realizing that these selections would become invaluable to The Christian Hymnary which was begun in 1960 and completed twelve years later in 1972, with a compilation of 1000 songs, hymns and chorales. (The largest Menn. hymnal). A second hymnal was begun simultaneously in the German language entitled Erweckungs Lieder Nr.1 which was brought to completion in 1986. This hymnal has a total of 200 selections with a small addendum of English hymns. Mr. Overholt married in 1965 to an accomplished soprano Vera Marie Sommers, who was not to be outdone by her husband's creativity and compiled a hymnal of 156 selections entitled Be Glad and Sing, directed to children and youth and first printed in 1986. During this later career of hymn publishing, Mr. Overholt also found time for Gospel team work throughout Europe. At this writing he is preparing for a 5th consecutive tour which he arranges and guides. The countries visited will be Belgium, Switzerland, France, Germany, Poland, USSR and Romania. Mr. Overholt was called to the Christian ministry in 1957 and resides at Sarasota, Florida where he is co-minister of a Beachy Amish-Mennonite Church. Five children were born to this family and all enjoy worship in song. --Letter from Hannah Joanna Overholt to Mary Louise VanDyke, 10 October 1990, DNAH Archives. Photo enclosed.

J. S. Jones

1831 - 1911 Person Name: John S. Jones Author of "Now the Busy Week Is Done" in The Cyber Hymnal Born: March 2, 1831, London, England. Died: 1911, London, England. Jones, John Samuel, b. in London in 1831 and ordained in Ireland in 1858. He has held several benefices, including St. Philip, Clerk en well; Christ Church, Liverpool; and Knight's Enham, Hants. His hymns include:— 1. I was made a Christian. [For the young.] Written about 1880 for use at Enham Sunday School, and published in The Children's Hymn Book, 1881, and subsequently in the 1904 ed. of Hymns Ancient & Modern. 2. Now the busy week is done. [Saturday Evening.] This hymn is attributed on p. 1582, ii.. to the Rev. S. J. Jones, Rector of Batsford, in error. It was contributed to the 1889 Suppl. Hymns to Hymns Ancient & Modern. Mr. Jones's latest work is A Christian Week: And other Verse, 1906. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)