John Menzies Macfarlane (October 11, 1833 – June 4, 1892)[1][2] was a Scottish-born Latter-day Saint hymnwriter, choir director and civic leader who spent most of his life in Utah Territory.
John Menzies Macfarlane | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 October 1833 Stirling, Scotland |
| Died | 4 June 1892 (aged 58) Utah Territory, United States |
| Occupation | Hymn writer, militia, judge and academic |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Notable works | "Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains", "Dearest Children, God is Near You" |
Life
editMacfarlane was born in Stirling, Scotland. He came to Utah Territory in the early 1850s and settled in Cedar City in 1853.[3] In 1852, Macfarlane married Ann Chatterley. Multiple sources identified him as one of the many Iron County Militia men involved in the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre.[4]
Macfarlane served as superintendent of schools from 1866 to 1868 for Iron County, Utah,[3] and the leader of the choir in Cedar City which he took to St. George. Erastus Snow urged Macfarlane to move to St. George and start a choir there, which he did.
Besides leading the choir, Macfarlane served as a district judge and worked as a surveyor and a builder. In St. George, he was involved in founding an academy in 1888 that was the predecessor to Dixie State College of Utah.[5]
Among Macfarlane's hymns are "Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains" and the music to "Dearest Children, God is Near You".
Notes
edit- ^ Pyper, George D. (1939). Stories of Latter Day Saint Hymns Their Authors and Composers. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News Press. p. 81. ISBN 9781417968565. Retrieved 14 December 2009.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "John Menzies Macfarlane, 1833-1892". Macfarlane-Sinclair Family Website. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
- ^ a b Seegmiller, Janet Burton (1998). A History of Iron County: Community Above Self (PDF). Utah Centennial County History Series. Salt Lake City, Utah: Utah State Historical Society, Iron County Commission. pp. 191–192. ISBN 0-913738-19-0. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
- ^ "List of those Accused of Being Present at the Massacre". The 1857 Iron County Militia Project. Archived from the original on 4 September 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
- ^ Washburn, Lorraine T. (1961). "Culture in Dixie". Utah Historical Quarterly. 29: 257. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
References
edit- Cornwall, J. Spencer Stories of Our Mormon Hymns (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1975) pp. 40–41
Further reading
edit- Macfarlane, Lloyd Wayland (1980), Yours Sincerely, John M. Macfarlane, Salt Lake City, Utah: L. W. Macfarlane.
External links
edit- Free scores by John Menzies Macfarlane in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
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