Benjamin Hanby

Composer
BIRTHDAY
July 22,1833
Birthplace
Ohio
Age
Mar 16,1867,age 33
Birth Sign
Cancer
BIRTHDAY
July 22,1833 (age Mar 16,1867,age 33)
Birthplace
Ohio

About

Perhaps most their for his Christmas songs "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" and "Up On the House Top," this nineteenth-century composer also wrote a hymn titled "Who Is He In Yonder Stall?" In addition, he composed a popular song, "Darling Nelly Gray," that tells the story of a slave who has been separated from his love.

Before Fame

After graduating from Otterbein University, he became a pastor at an Ohio branch of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.

Trivia

He died in his thirties of tuberculosis.

Family Life

He and his father, Bishop William Hanby, both helped slaves escape to freedom via the Underground Railroad.

Associated With

Chicago-based music publisher George Frederick Root bought the publishing rights to "Up On the Housetop" in 1865.