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E. O. Excell
1851 - 1921 Person Name: Edwin O. Excell, 1851-1921 Composer of "[A sunbeam, a sunbeam!]" in Sacred Songs of the Church Edwin Othello Excel USA 1851-1921. Born at Uniontown, OH, he started working as a bricklayer and plasterer. He loved music and went to Chicago to study it under George Root. He married Eliza Jane “Jennie” Bell in 1871. They had a son, William, in 1874. A member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he became a prominent publisher, composer, song leader, and singer of music for church, Sunday school, and evangelistic meetings. He founded singing schools at various locations in the country and worked with evangelist, Sam Jones, as his song leader for two decades. He established a music publishing house in Chicago and authored or composed over 2,000 gospel songs. While assisting Gypsy Smith in an evangelistic campaign in Louisville, KY, he became ill, and died in Chicago, IL. He published 15 gospel music books between 1882-1925. He left an estate valued at $300,000.
John Perry
E. O. Excell
L. O. Sanderson
1901 - 1992 Person Name: Lloyd O. Sanderson, 1901-1992 Arranger of "I'll Be a Sunbeam" in Sacred Songs of the Church See also Vana R. Raye (pseudonym).
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Lloyd Otis Sanderson was born May 18, 1901 near Jonesboro, Arkansas. His father was a singing teacher. There were a variety of musical instruments in the home, so all of his children learned to sing and play instruments from early in life. He studied and taught music most of early teens and twenties and then began to serve churches for Churches of Christ.
Among Churches of Christ, L.O Sanderson is one of a handful of significant individuals who helped to codify the hymnody of this denomination in the early and mid 20th century. Dozens of his songs remain at the core of this group’s hymnody. As Musical Editor for the Gospel Advocate Company of Nashville during the hymnal heyday of the mid 20th century, Sanderson was responsible not only for the editing of a number of important hymnals, but for helping to shape the church’s song. He composed a number under the pen name of Vana Raye in tribute to his wife. As a composer of both lyrics and music, Sanderson collaborated with a number of individuals, the most notable being his friend, Thomas O. Chisholm, with whom he wrote “Be With Me, Lord,” perhaps his most popular hymn.
Dianne Shapiro, from Sanderson's autobiography (http://www.therestorationmovement.com/_states/tennessee/sanderson.htm) and D. J. Bulls
L. O. Sanderson
Nellie Talbot
1861 - 1950 Person Name: N. Talbot Author of "A sunbeam, a sunbeam" in CSSM Choruses (No. 1) Ellen Alice Talbot was born in 1861 in Debenham, Suffolk, England. Her father pastored the local Congregational church from 1855 to 1876. In 1876, the family moved to Cores End near Wooburn, Buckinghamshire, England. As a young adult, Ellen began to become active in the ministry of the church; in 1882 she served tea to seventy teachers and members of the senior Sunday school class; in 1893 she organized a prayer group which prayed for missionaries; in 1894 she was conductor of the parise band and established a branch of the Society of Christian Endeavor. In 1897 her father retired and the family moved to Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, where her brother pastored a church. Ellen was again active in working with youth, the Sunday school, and the temperance movement. In 1898 she attended the world's Third Sunday School Convention as a delegate from Portsmouth, while there she was inspired by the children of her host to write "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam." The song became popular across England. In 1900 E. O. Excell published the song in Make His Praise Glorious, which includes favorite hymns from a survey of 50 clergymen from across the U.S. Ellen (Nellie) Talbot published two additional hymns, "How can we live for Jesus" and "Sing a hymn of praise to Jesus" which appeared in the 1914 Supplement: a Collection of Hymns and Tunes (London: Morgan & Scott, Ltd.) and a poem, "Our Prayer for 1916" appearing in The Jewish Missionary Herald (January 1916), p3. She died in 1950 in Portsmouth.
Dianne Shapiro from "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam" and the Mystery of Nellie Talbot" by Toni Thomas, Brett Nelson, and Brent Yorgason in The Hymn: a journal of congregational song (Vol 76, No. 3, Summer 2025)
Nellie Talbot
