by Wayne S. Walker<\/p>\n
A name which may be a little more familiar, or at least recognized, than Skene but still not as well-known as Campbell or Stone is Tullius Clinton O’Kane, who was born in Fairfield County, in the vicinity of Lancaster, Ohio, on March 10, 1830, and educated at the Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, with a bachelor’s degree in 1852 and a master’s in 1855. After serving at his alma mater as a tutor in mathematics for a couple of years, he became a public school principal at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1857. In 1864, he became associated with the piano firm of Philip Phillips and Company, remaining with them for three years. Then, in 1867, he returned to Delaware and, for the next six years, travelled the state of Ohio as a representative of the Smith American Organ Company of Boston, Massachusets.<\/p>\n
During this time, O’Kane attended county and state Sunday School conventions regularly and soon started publishing his own Sunday school song collections, for which he produced many tunes. The first of these publications was Fresh Leaves<\/em> in 1868. Later that year, he published Additional Fresh Leaves, a Supplement to Fresh Leaves<\/em>, which contained one of his best-known tunes with the hymn, “O Think of the Home Over There,” written by DeWitt Clinton Huntingdon (1830-1912). A later edition of Fresh Leaves<\/em>, printed around 1870, included a tune often accompanied with a chorus beginning, “We shall stand the storm,” by O’Kane, or perhaps a traditional melody arranged by him, that has been used with several different hymns, including Isaac Watts’s “When I Can Read My Title Clear” and “Am I a Soldier of the Cross?”<\/p>\n One of O’Kane’s tunes that has become very popular among churches of Christ was composed for “Is It For Me, Dear Savior?” written by Frances R. Havergal (1836-1879). Miss Havergal’s poem was published in her 1874 Under the Surface<\/em>, but it must have been written earlier because the date usually given for the first publication of the song is 1871. The following year, O’Kane provided a melody and added a refrain for an anonymous poem beginning, “There Stands a Rock,” which first appeared in the Sunday School Journal of 1871 (sometimes erroneously ascribed to a non-existent author S. S. Journal) and is also much used among brethren. These may have been first published in his 1873 Dew Drops of Sacred Song, Songs of Worship<\/em>.<\/p>\n O’Kane’s next work, Jasper and Gold, published in 1877, contained what is probably his most famous melody, “Evergreen Shore,” used with the old hymn “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand,” which had been written in 1787 by Samuel Stennett (1717-1795). Again, O’Kane added the chorus, which begins, “We will rest in the fair and happy land by and by.” Also, at some time or another, he arranged a traditional air for use with the hymn, “There Is A Spot” written by William Hunter (1811-1877), which may have first been published in Joy to the World<\/em>, which O’Kane co-edited in 1878 with C. C. McCabe and John R. Sweney. Also, he assisted with the compilation of Songs of Redeeming Love No. 1<\/em> in 1882 and No. 2 in 1887 with McCabe, Sweney, and William J. Kirkpatrick.<\/p>\n The preceding paragraphs identify almost all of O’Kane’s tunes, at least those that I am aware of, which have been included in books published for use among churches of Christ. Max D. Wheeler, in his 1992 booklet Reflections on Our Hymns<\/em>, a compilation of articles he had written for the Christian Journal<\/em>, affirmed that O’Kane “was a member of the Church of Christ.” It seems to me that I have also read this statement made in some other book as well, although I cannot remember or find where just now. I have not been able to confirm the truthfulness of this claim, but neither do I know of any evidence to doubt it. This may explain why so many of O’Kane’s melodies remain in our books but not in most denominational books. While searching through several hymnbooks from different sources, I found one other tune he composed for a text, “Church of God Whose Conquering Banners,” by Mrs. Emily Bugbee, but I have no further information about it. O’Kane died in Delaware, Ohio, on February 10, 1912.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Wayne S. Walker A name which may be a little more familiar, or at least recognized, than Skene but still not as well-known as Campbell or Stone is Tullius Clinton O’Kane, who was born in Fairfield County, in the vicinity of Lancaster, Ohio, on March 10, 1830, and educated at the Ohio Wesleyan University…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[520,521],"class_list":["post-85608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-music","tag-songs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":85794,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/songs-of-the-saints-james-w-mcfadden\/","url_meta":{"origin":85608,"position":0},"title":"Songs of the Saints: James W.\u00a0McFadden","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker In his book Hymns and History, Forrest M. McCann wrote, \"Various individual Christians have published hymnals used more or less regionally in the United States and by segments of the Stone-Campbell Movement. Among these, without any effort to be definitive, are the following: S. H. and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35011,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-history-of-our-hymnbooks\/","url_meta":{"origin":85608,"position":1},"title":"A History of Our Hymnbooks","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker originally published in Faith and Facts, October 1999 Back in the very late 1700s and early 1800s, the conditions in this new nation appeared just right for a number of different men from different denominational backgrounds in different parts of the country to begin calling for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86384,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wolf-creek-church-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":85608,"position":2},"title":"Wolf Creek Church of Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Floyd Chappelear via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 16 No. 4, December 31, 1990 From the Belmont Bible Banner. Paul Caldwell, editor, November 19, 1974, we reprint the following: \"'For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Wolf-Creek-Church-of-Christ-png.avif","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Wolf-Creek-Church-of-Christ-png.avif 1x, https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Wolf-Creek-Church-of-Christ-png.avif 1.5x, https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Wolf-Creek-Church-of-Christ-png.avif 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58718,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/please-knock-on-my-door\/","url_meta":{"origin":85608,"position":3},"title":"Please Knock on My Door!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dick Cupp Have you ever hesitated to knock on someone's door, afraid that those inside don't want to hear anything about the gospel of Christ? Let me tell you of a young man who would have given a great deal just to have some Christian knock on his door\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/02\/knocking.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":63652,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-are-going-down-the-valley\/","url_meta":{"origin":85608,"position":4},"title":"We are Going Down the Valley","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 28, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Let us read I Cor. 15:50-58 II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In our song books there is a spiritual song written by Jessie Brown Pounds \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0She lived from 1861 to 1921 in Hiram, Ohio. Both she and her family were members of the Lord\u2019s church. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We sing many songs that are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37295,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/debate-thy-cause\/","url_meta":{"origin":85608,"position":5},"title":"Debate Thy Cause","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Earl Kimbrough Searching the Scriptures, January 1984 Religious debating in the nineteenth century became what one historian calls a \"serious American indoor sport.\" Many at the time certainly practiced this method of defending and spreading their beliefs. But no people used it more effectively than the restorers of New\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}