I Am Resolved -- Palmer Hartsough

He sounds like a man on a mission, with the words of his conviction forthrightly in the title of what he crafted at the age of 52. In fact, perhaps it was really someone else’s mission that spurred Palmer Hartsough to pen most of what he had to say in “I Am Resolved” in the latter years of the 19^th Century. Palmer had only recently moved to Cincinnati to work hand-in-hand with a publisher, when in 1896, his boss asked him to stretch his creative muscles, to go further than he had with the song’s original words, evidently with a plan in mind to use the newest words in a wider way. Palmer initially may have had some folks in mind at a mission or a church whose music he guided, but perhaps it was the experience of a lengthy train ride that gave Palmer’s boss the idea for something more wide-ranging. After all, does a person have more than one resolution in life -- perchance multiple sub-resolutions that flow from one that is paramount?

Palmer Hartsough had been a music professional for all of his adult life when he spelled out his convictions in “I Am Resolved”, a musical pledge that someone could say eventually took him deeper into devotion some 10 years later. Hartsough may also have had some musical bloodlines that helped fix his calling in life, even as he progressed through his later years. Another Hartsough, Lewis T. (14 years Palmer’s senior), was active in music-writing and as a Methodist minister in 19^th Century New York, Utah, Wyoming, and finally Iowa; whether Palmer and Lewis T. were related is unclear, however. Palmer’s calling at the time he wrote “I Am Resolved” was music direction at a Baptist church and the Bethel Mission in Cincinnati, concurrent with his association with the Fillmore Music Company in the city. The company’s owner apparently coaxed Palmer's creativity toward some additional words for the song after accompanying several travelers who sang the original song on the way to San Francisco for a convention. This request no doubt posed no serious predicament for the music veteran Palmer, who’d been a travelling music teacher and music studio owner in the Midwest for many years before arriving along the banks of the Ohio River in 1893. Nevertheless, did this episode stick with Hartsough, or cause him to consider a new, tangential direction in its wake? Some 10 years later, as a 62-year old, Hartsough became an ordained Baptist minister, later serving in Michigan in that role until he retired in 1927 at the age of 84. That epilogue to “I Am Resolved” tells us something about Palmer: He wasn’t a malingerer, someone who was satisfied with marking time. He examined himself, and wasn’t afraid of a resolution that challenged his direction – even if it was one that he’d spent decades pursuing.

What was it Palmer resolved, or persuaded others to resolve in 1896? Don’t loiter about with insignificant pursuits in the world (v.1); keep the Savior Jesus in sight, with Him as your guide and end goal (vv. 2-3); doing these will get one to the only destination that really matters, despite potential opposition from others (vv.4-5). Are you set in your ways? Has the direction become a bit predictable, the air a little stale? Can you imagine Palmer Hartsough doing a little self-inspection, and implementing a course correction? Was it a 10-year process? If he could do it, can you or I do the same?       

See information on the song’s author here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/h/a/r/t/hartsough_p.htm (Palmer Hartsough)

See the song’s verses and a brief report on the song’s use here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/i/a/m/r/iamresol.htm

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/h/a/r/t/hartsough_lt.htm (Lewis T. Hartsough)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Hartsough

Sowing the Seed of the Kingdom – Frederick Augustus Fillmore and Palmer Hartsough

He and his brother James were busily producing, editing, and publishing songs in their Cincinnati publishing business, something that was in their blood. Thus, a small product of this effort came very naturally to Fred Fillmore one year very early in the new century. Although he and his family evidently were not farmers, the words he wrote in “Sowing the Seed of the Kingdom” speak of a different time, compared to ours a century later, when the agrarian ways of perhaps many of his acquaintances was their lifestyle. And, the same was also true of the era of the original composer, Palmer Hartsough, who had joined the Fillmores in their Cincinnati business. Planting and growing crops was familiar ground for early 20^th Century American Christians, who lived in an era and a nation where farms had multiplied by leaps and bounds. So, the awareness of their surroundings by Fillmore and Hartsough, and how this agrarian theme would resound in worshippers’ ears, is evident in the musical questions they pose in a message about productivity in the eternal nation.

Frederick Augustus Fillmore and his brothers inherited and carried on the musical life bred from their father. Augustus Fillmore had been a preacher, hymnist, and publisher who moved his wife and seven children from Illinois to Cincinnati where he set up a music business, the same one that Fred and his brother James later continued after their father’s death. Another brother Charles was likewise involved in editing the business’ monthly journal The Musical Messenger.  Palmer Hartsough had joined the Fillmores’ effort by the late 19^th Century upon moving to Cincinnati, and it was probably soon thereafter that Fred became aware of Palmer’s first draft of “Sowing the Seed…”. Hartsough had apparently crafted the words and music while still living in Rock Island, Illinois in 1888, and then reworked it some more in 1896 after joining forces with the Fillmores. Still, it must have been less than perfect, for Fred took hold of it by 1903 and revised it yet again.  That Palmer, a notable writer with a few hundred hymns to his credit, would apparently permit Fred to edit his work suggests Fred had insight for sowing that Palmer had not acquired. Did Fred use other words that would speak more clearly to the anticipated audience? Perhaps it was the musical form that Fred chose to improve. Whatever the cause, 47-year old Fred’s effort evidently satisfied his partner Palmer, since the song survives 113 years later as Fred crafted it. It started out in Illinois, made its way to southwestern Ohio, and has travelled many other places since then, and to more than just farmers.

It’s a few simple thoughts about planting seed at all times of the day and in an area where the kernels can prosper. The words of Palmer and Fillmore plainly coax the worshipper to consider the long-term outlook, for what would there be at the end if the farmer doesn’t plant? What would I be able to eat if some farmer didn’t plan and carry out his life’s work? They must have been trying to reach an agrarian crowd, we can say about the composers, but the terrain of this hymn is not foreign if instead I sit behind a desk all day or at this computer. We all produce for more than just ourselves. Is what I’m planting feeding others well?

Link to site showing the song’s three verses and refrain: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/a/y/s/aysowing.htm

Brief biographies of composer: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/f/i/l/fillmore_fa.htm

http://www.hymnary.org/person/Fillmore_Frederick

Biographies of two other brothers of the composer: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/f/i/l/fillmore_cm.htm

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/f/i/l/fillmore_jh.htm

Some history of the time is discussed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_%281865%E2%80%931918%29