Joseph L. Townsend
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Joseph L. Townsend (August 9, 1849 – April 1, 1942) was a writer of many Latter-day Saint hymns including "Choose the Right" and "Oh, What Songs of the Heart".
Biography
Townsend was born in Canton, Bradford County, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Ohio, Kansas and Missouri. Townsend studied at the University of Missouri.[1] He came to Salt Lake City in 1872 to try to improve his health. While there, he joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Townsend later served as a missionary for the church in the Southern States Mission from 1881 to 1882.[2][3]
Townsend ran a drugstore in Payson, Utah, for 15 years. He then taught for two years at Brigham Young Academy, the predecessor of Brigham Young University. After that, he taught at Salt Lake City High School.[2] He died at Utah County Infirmary in Provo. His poetry included many published works that were not made hymns.[4]
Hymns
A number of Townsend's hymns are included in the 1985 Latter-day Saint hymnal:
- #52 "The Day Dawn is Breaking"
- #99 "Nearer, Dear Savior, to Thee"
- #185 "Reverently and Meekly Now"
- #232 "Let Us Oft Speak Kind Words To Each Other"
- #239 "Choose the Right"
- #258 "O Thou Rock Of Our Salvation"
- #259 "Hope of Israel"
- #271 "Oh, Holy Words of Truth and Love"
- #274 "The Iron Rod"
- #286 "Oh, What Songs of the Heart"
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
External links
- Pages with script errors
- 1849 births
- 1942 deaths
- 19th-century American writers
- 19th-century Mormon missionaries
- American Latter Day Saint hymnwriters
- American Latter Day Saints
- American Mormon missionaries in the United States
- Brigham Young Academy faculty
- Converts to Mormonism
- People from Payson, Utah
- University of Missouri alumni
- 19th-century American male writers
- People from Canton, Pennsylvania
- Latter Day Saints from Pennsylvania
- Latter Day Saints from Utah