Samuel Woodworth (January 13, 1784 – December 9, 1842) was an American author, literary journalist, playwright, librettist, and poet.

Life

Woodworth was born in

Scituate, Massachusetts Scituate () is a seacoast town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on the South Shore, midway between Boston and Plymouth. The population was 19,063 at the 2020 census. History The Wampanoag and their neighbors have inhabited ...

, to Revolutionary War veteran Benjamin Woodworth and his wife Abigail Bryant. He was

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

d to Benjamin Russell, editor of the ''Columbian Sentinel''. He then moved to

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, where he briefly published the ''Belles-Lettres Repository'', a weekly. He next moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, but recalled New Haven in his ''A Poem: New Haven''.Old New Haven
, Juliet Lapidos, '' The Advocate'', March 17, 2005 Woodworth married Lydia Reeder in New York City on September 23, 1810. They had ten children between 1811 and 1829. Woodworth remained in New York for the rest of his life, dying there on December 9, 1842. Woodworth's son,

Selim E. Woodworth Selim E. Woodworth (November 27, 1815 – January 29, 1871) was a commander in the United States Navy, prominent San Francisco businessman, and member of the Woodworth political family. Early years Woodworth was born in New York City, the secon ...

, was a

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

officer who took part in the rescue of the snowbound

Donner Party The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in th ...

in California. The USS ''Woodworth'' (DD-460) was named for him.

"The Old Oaken Bucket"

The Cambridge book of poetry and song (1882) (14780320915)

Woodworth is best known for the poem "The Old Oaken Bucket" (1817). The first stanza reads: In 1826 the poem was set to music by

George Kiallmark George Kiallmark (1781 – March 1835) was a British violinist and composer. Life Kiallmark was born in King's Lynn in 1781, son of John Kiallmark, an officer in the Swedish navy, and of Margaret Meggitt, a Yorkshire heiress, who lived in Wakefi ...

and by the early 20th Century it became one of America's most popular songs. It was recorded in 1899 by

The Haydn Quartet The Haydn Quartet, later known as the Hayden Quartet, was one of the most popular recording close harmony quartets in the early twentieth century. It was originally formed in 1896 as the Edison Quartet to record for Edison Records; it took its new n ...

, a famous barbershop quartet, and was released on

Berliner Gramophone Berliner Gramophone – its discs identified with an etched-in "E. Berliner's Gramophone" as the logo – was the first (and for nearly ten years the only) disc record label in the world. Its records were played on Emile Berliner's invention, the ...

The Old Oaken Bucket House

The Old Oaken Bucket House in

is on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. A sign on the house reads: "1630-1930 THE OLD OAKEN BUCKET Homestead and well made famous by Samuel Woodworth in his poem 'The Old Oaken Bucket.' Homestead erected by John Northey in 1675: Poet born in Scituate January 13, 1784. Massachusetts Bay Colony Tercentenary Commission."

The Old Oaken Bucket trophy

The

Old Oaken Bucket The Old Oaken Bucket is a traveling trophy awarded in American college football as part of the rivalry between the Indiana Hoosiers football team of Indiana University and Purdue Boilermakers football team of Purdue University. It was first awa ...

trophy has been awarded every year since 1925 to the winner of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

game between

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

and

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

. Although Woodworth was not from Indiana, the trophy's name refers to the sentiment that

Hoosier Hoosier is the official demonym for the people of the U.S. state of Indiana. The origin of the term remains a matter of debate, but "Hoosier" was in general use by the 1840s, having been popularized by Richmond resident John Finley's 1833 poem "T ...

s have for their home state.

Works by Samuel Woodworth

Published poetry

The Hunters of Kentucky "The Hunters of Kentucky", also called "The Battle of New Orleans" and "Half Horse and Half Alligator", was a song written to commemorate Andrew Jackson's victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans. In both 1824 and 1828 Jackson used ...

" *The Heroes of the lake : a poem, in two books *Ode written for the celebration of the French Revolution, in the city of New York *An excursion of the dog-cart : a poem *Bubble & squeak, or, A dish of all sorts : being a collection of American poems *New-Haven : a poem, satirical and sentimental, with critical, humorous, descriptive, historical, biographical, and explanatory notes *The poetical works of Samuel Woodworth *Quarter-day, or, The horrors of the first of May : a poem *Erie and Champlain, or, Champlain and Plattsburg : an ode
"American Music: Remembering Samuel Woodworth" - excerpts of his verse and songs

Plays

*La Fayette, or, The Castle of Olmutz *King's Bridge Cottage : a revolutionary tale founded on an incident which occurred a few days previous to the evacuation of N. York by the British : a drama in two acts *The widow's son, or, Which is the traitor : a melo-drama in three acts *Bunker-Hill, or, The death of General Warren : an historic tragedy, in five acts *The Foundling of the Sea

Opera librettos

*The deed of gift : a comic opera in three acts *The forest rose, or, American farmers : a drama in two acts

Novel

*The Champions of Freedom; or, The Mysterious Chief. A Romance of the Nineteenth Century, Founded on the War between the United States and Great Britain.

Hymn

*Samuel was a founding member of the New York Society of the New Church ( Swedenborgian) and one of his poems became a hymn - "Oh for a seraph's golden lyre" - which is still sung by some New Church congregations.

References

External links

Scituate Historical Society

A family tree of Samuel Woodworth

The Old Oaken Bucket

* ttp://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/piece-info.cgi?id=436 Recording of the song ''The Old Oaken Bucket''
Parody of the song
by

Nat M. Wills Nat M. Wills (born Louis McGrath Wills; July 11, 1873 – December 9, 1917) was a popular American stage star, vaudeville entertainer, and recording artist at the beginning of the 20th century. He is best known for his "tramp" persona and for per ...

Singer songwriter Greg Cherone's 2008 contemporary version of "Old Oaken Bucket."

"Introduction to THE POETICAL WORKS OF SAMUEL WOODWORTH"
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodworth, Samuel 1785 births 1842 deaths People from Scituate, Massachusetts American Swedenborgians 19th-century American poets American male poets Writers from New Haven, Connecticut

Samuel Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bibl ...

19th-century American dramatists and playwrights