O Thou in whose pres/Redeemer of Israel

Subject: O Thou in whose pres/Redeemer of Israel
From: Haruo
Date: 11 Feb 09 - 02:27 PM

There's a family (with at least three boys) of hymn texts; one of the boys is married to a Southern Harmony tune named Samanthra (that boy's name is "His voice as the sound of the dulcimer sweet"). But it's the other two boys, who between them are married to the three triplet daughters of another family (one of these boys is 19th-century LDS, so it's not surprising he's got two tunes), that I'm mainly interested in here, or rather my focus is mainly on the triplets they married. All of the boys are sons of Joseph Swain, who begat them, it is said, on his epic poem Redemption. The boy who didn't follow the Saints to Missouri and ultimately Deseret is named "O Thou in whose presence my soul takes delight", and his wife is DAVIS. The one who followed the Smiths is known as "Redeemer of Israel" (not to confuse him with the Almighty ;-)) and his spouses are MEDITATION, nicknamed BELOVED, who stayed with Emma in Missouri, and DULCIMER (sorry, no midi yet; #6 in the 1985 LDS hymnal), who made the trek to Utah. The girls were all daughters of one Freeman Lewis. What I'd like to know is any of the history surrounding their separation at birth. Is anything known of the redactional history of Lewis's composition that has given us these three purportedly separate tunes? I'm also interested in the specific part of Redemption that the hymn texts draw on; I read the poem one time and couldn't identify any direct antecedents in it. Also, this being black history month and all, does anybody know if Freeman Lewis was of African ancestry?

Haruo

Subject: RE: O Thou in whose pres/Redeemer of Israel
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Feb 09 - 09:52 PM

Freeman Lewis (1780-1859), mother Mary Beabout, father Jacob Lewis, Uniontown PA.
Descendants of Edmond Lewes??

Subject: RE: O Thou in whose pres/Redeemer of Israel
From: Haruo
Date: 11 Feb 09 - 11:30 PM

Oops, looks like I made a couple of the triplets Siamese there. Could a clone fix the Davis link (it needs its < / a >)?

Thanks,
Haruo

Subject: RE: O Thou in whose pres/Redeemer of Israel
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 01:03 AM

Oy.
When you get fancy, test on the "preview" function, please. My eyes got bleary finding the mistake....
-Joe-

Subject: RE: O Thou in whose pres/Redeemer of Israel
From: Haruo
Date: 12 Feb 09 - 03:32 AM

Yeah, I should know better. Thanks!

But I am really interested in any light anybody can throw on the text(s) and tune(s) involved...

Haruo