well joe (and anybody else), here ya go.
Brackett was born 6 may 1797 and was a child of ten when his father united with the Shakers and the society in Gorham, Maine was organized. He was Elder of the Church Family in New Gloucester as well as first Minister of the Maine societies. He died at 85 on 4 july 1882.

the song, in actuality, isn't a hymn at all. it was composed for dancing during Shaker worship. Traditionally, Shakers used one-verse songs (like "Simple Gifts") for dancing while hymns had two or more verses and were generally reserved for the opening and closing of the service. The late 1840's were probably the peak years for vigorous Shaker dancing--"Simple Gifts", being composed in 1848, was also titled "quick dance" in one manuscript.

Despite being one of the more popular dance tunes of its time, it wasn't known to the rest of the "world's people" until Edward Deming Andrews included the song in his collection of Shaker tunes, published in 1940. That's where Copland found it for use in his ballet score of "Appalachian Spring" and later, arranged in his Old American Songs collection.

taken from "Simple Gifts: Shaker simplicity in song" by Roger L. Hall in The Shaker Messenger.