Samuel Wolcott

Samuel Wolcott (1813–1886) was an American Congregationalist minister, missionary, and writer of hymns. During the American Civil War, he regularly gave public speeches about the war. Early life and education Wolcott was born in South Windsor, Connecticut on July 2, 1813. He was a descendant of Oliver Wolcott, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. He graduated from Yale College in 1833 and Andover Theological Seminary in 1837. Career Wolcot was with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions at Boston for two years. He was ordained in November 1839. The following April he went to Beirut, which was then in the Ottoman Empire, where he was a missionary. During that time, he saw the bombardment of Beirut by English and allied forces and Syria retaken from Mehemet Ali of Egypt. Wolcott's experiences in the Middle East–including his work at Jerusalem, Damascus, and other areas in the Palestine–were published in several theological books. His first wife died in Syria in 1841 and his health began to decline, so he returned to the United States in 1843. He then began his work as a pastor, which extended over 30 years. He had pastorates in Longfellow and Belchertown, Massachusetts, Providence, Rhode Island; Chicago, and Cleveland. He began writing hymns in 1869, when he developed a hymn while on a walk. Each stanza began, "Christ for the world we sing, The world to Christ we bring." He composed more than 200 hymns, not all of which were published.