William B. Stevens
Musician · 1862–1940 · Scotland County, Missouri
Best known for
Songwriter
William B. Stevens was a Missouri-born Holiness preacher and tent evangelist most commonly credited with the gospel standard “Farther Along,” a hymn of comfort widely recorded across the bluegrass, country, and Southern-gospel repertoires. The song’s authorship has been disputed, but Stevens’s name — and his story of writing it after the death of one of his children — remains the most widely accepted attribution.
Assisted by AI.
Spot something off? Help us fix it.
- Born William Buel Stevens in 1862, in the Lawnridge community of Scotland County, Missouri.
- Was sanctified with his wife and joined the Church of God (Holiness); the two spent years on the road as tent evangelists across rural America.
- Pastored in small towns including Queen City, Missouri.
- Outlived all six of his children, many of whom died young; family tradition holds that he wrote “Farther Along” after the sudden loss of one of his sons.
- “Farther Along” first appeared in print, unsigned, in the 1911 hymnal Select Hymns for Christian Worship and General Gospel Service; it is most often credited to Stevens, though W. A. Fletcher, W. E. Lindsay, and W. P. Jay have also been advanced as possible authors.
- Died in 1940.
