Samuel Augustus Ward (December 28, 1848 – September 28, 1903) was an American

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. Born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, the son of a shoemaker, he studied under several teachers in New York and became an organist at Grace Episcopal Church in his home town in 1880. He married Virginia Ward in 1871, with whom he had four daughters. He is remembered for the 1882 tune "Materna", which he intended as a setting for the hymn " O Mother Dear, Jerusalem". This was published ten years later, in 1892. In 1903, after Ward had died, the tune was first combined by a publisher with the

Katharine Lee Bates Katharine Lee Bates (August 12, 1859 – March 28, 1929) was an American author and poet, chiefly remembered for her anthem "America the Beautiful", but also for her many books and articles on social reform, on which she was a noted speaker. B ...

poem "America", itself first published in 1895, to create the patriotic song "

America the Beautiful "America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Church (Newark), Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New ...

." The first book with the combination was published in 1910. Ward never met Bates. Ward was founder and first director of the Orpheus Club of Newark, where he died on September 28, 1903. He is buried in Newark‘s Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Ward was inducted into the

Songwriters Hall of Fame The Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) is an American institution founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer, music publisher/songwriter Abe Olman, and publisher/executive Howie Richmond to honor those whose work represent and maintain the heri ...

in 1970.

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* * * 1848 births 1903 deaths 19th-century American composers 19th-century American male musicians 20th-century American male musicians American classical composers American classical organists American male classical composers American Romantic composers Burials at Mount Pleasant Cemetery (Newark, New Jersey) Classical musicians from New Jersey Classical musicians from New York (state) Musicians from Newark, New Jersey American male classical organists 19th-century American organists {{US-keyboardist-stub