Katharine Elinda Nash Purvis (May 19, 1842 – October 23, 1907) is best known as the lyricist for ''When the Saints Are Marching In''. Purvis was the daughter of a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

minister in Pennsylvania. After graduating from a seminary in 1860, she became a music teacher at the seminary of a

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...

Williamsport, Pennsylvania Williamsport is a city in, and the county seat of, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. It recorded a population of 27,754 at the 2020 Census. It is the principal city of the Williamsport Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a popula ...

. In 1896, the hymn ''When the Saints Are Marching In'' was published, with music by

James Milton Black James Milton Black (19 August 1856 – 21 December 1938) was an American composer of hymns, choir leader and Sunday school teacher. Black was born in South Hill, New York, but worked, lived and died in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It is there that h ...

. Later, the song was altered somewhat and published in 1927 as the well known ''

When The Saints Go Marching In "When the Saints Go Marching In", often referred to as simply "The Saints", is a traditional black spiritual. It originated as a Christian hymn and is often played by jazz bands. This song was famously recorded on May 13, 1938, by Louis Armstron ...

''.

References

* Fuld, James J, ''The Book of World Famous Music: Classical, Popular and Folk'', 1966.

External links

The Cyber Hymnal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Purvis, Katharine 1842 births 1907 deaths American lyricists People from Williamsport, Pennsylvania 19th-century American writers 19th-century American women writers Writers from Pennsylvania Songwriters from Pennsylvania