Charles Crozat Converse(1834-1918)

Attorney and composer Charles Crozat Converse was born on October 7, 1834 in Warren, Massachusetts. He attended the academy at Elmira, New York and studied music in Leipzig, Germany. Converse returned to Massachusetts in 1857 and graduated from the Albany School of Law in 1861. Charles worked as an attorney in Erie, Pennsylvania. Moreover, Converse wrote musical compositions under the pseudonyms C.O. Nevers, Karl Reden, and E.C. Revons; said compositions include "New Method for Guitar" in 1855, "Musical Bouquet" in 1859, "The Hundred and Twenty-sixth Psalm" in 1860, and "Sweet Singer," "Church Singer," and "Sayings of Sages" in 1863. In 1868 Charles wrote a tune to accompany the poem "Pray Without Ceasing" by Joseph M. Scriven and retitled the composition "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" has gone on to become a well-regarded classic gospel hymn which has been covered by many artists all over the world. Converse also published an arrangement of "The Death of Minnehaha" with words by Longfellow and proposed the use of the gender neutral pronoun "Thon." He received his LLD from Rutherford College in 1895. Charles died at age 84 on October 18, 1918 in Highwood, New Jersey.