Anthony J. Showalter
Musician · 1858–1924 · Cherry Grove, Virginia
Best known for
Composer
Anthony J. Showalter was a Virginia-born shape-note teacher, music publisher, and Presbyterian elder who founded the Showalter Music Company of Dalton, Georgia in 1884 and who, in 1887, wrote the tune and refrain to “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” — with Elisha A. Hoffman supplying the verses — in a moment of pastoral correspondence to two recently widowed former students.
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- Born Anthony Johnson Showalter on May 1, 1858, in Cherry Grove, West Virginia.
- Trained at the Ruebush-Kieffer Singing School, the leading shape-note institution of the post-Civil War South.
- Was teaching shape-note singing schools by age fourteen.
- Founded the Showalter Music Company in Dalton, Georgia in 1884; published more than twenty books on music theory, harmony, and shape-note technique.
- Served as an elder of First Presbyterian Church in Dalton.
- Wrote “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” in 1887 while teaching at a Hartselle, Alabama singing school after receiving letters from two former students who had recently lost their wives; he wrote the refrain and tune and asked Elisha A. Hoffman to supply the verses.
- Composed nearly two hundred hymns across his career.
- Traveled to Europe in 1895 for further music study.
- Died September 14, 1924.
