Silas Jones Vail (1818–1883) was an American

hatter Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of g ...

and composer, notable for hymns such as "Scatter Seeds of Kindness", "The Guiding Hand", "Nothing But Leaves", "O, Be Saved" and "The Gate Ajar for Me."Reynolds, William Jensen. ''Hymns of Our Faith''. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1964. Silas Jones Vail was born on October 16, 1818, at

Southold, New York The Town of Southold is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York, United States. It is located in the northeastern tip of the county, on the North Fork of Long Island. The population was 23,732 at the 2020 census. The town also contains a ...

. He was a hatter by trade, but a musician and composer by passion, notable for writing hymns, some of which were set to music by Mrs. Albert Smith.

Phillip Phillips Phillip LaDon Phillips Jr. (born September 20, 1990) Note: An inaccurate birthdate (Sept. 29, 1990) and birthplace (Leesburg, Georgia) appear in is an American singer-songwriter who rose to fame after winning the eleventh season of ''Americ ...

published his first book of hymns. He was also associated with famous hymnists such as

Fanny J. Crosby Frances Jane van Alstyne (née Crosby; March 24, 1820 – February 12, 1915), more commonly known as Fanny J. Crosby, was an American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. She was a prolific hymnist, writing more than 8,000 hymns ...

Stephen Foster Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826January 13, 1864), known also as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour and minstrel music during the Romantic period. He wrote more than 200 songs, inclu ...

and William Sherwin. Publications include ''The Athenaeum Collection'' (1863) and ''Songs of Grace and Glory'' (1874). Vail died in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

, New York on May 20, 1883.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vail, Silas Jones American Christian hymnwriters American milliners 1883 deaths 1818 births People from Southold (town), New York 19th-century American writers 19th-century American musicians