William Hunter
Musician · b. 1811 · Ballymoney, County Antrim, Ireland
Best known for
Songwriter
William Hunter was an Irish-born American Methodist Episcopal minister, Hebrew professor, and prolific hymn writer who wrote roughly 125 of the hymns collected in his 1859 anthology Songs of Devotion. His “I Feel Like Traveling On” (1838) became a country, bluegrass, and Southern-gospel standard through later arrangements by James D. Vaughan.
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- Born May 26, 1811, near Ballymoney, County Antrim, Ireland.
- Moved with his family to the United States in 1817.
- Served as a Methodist Episcopal Church minister and as Professor of Hebrew at Allegheny College.
- Wrote “I Feel Like Traveling On” in 1838.
- Edited the 1859 hymn anthology Songs of Devotion, which contained more than 125 of his own hymns.
- The James D. Vaughan Music Publishing Company arranged “I Feel Like Traveling On” in the early twentieth century; the arrangement is the version most commonly carried by bluegrass and Southern-gospel acts.
