1887–1960

Introduction

portrait

Born: Jan­ua­ry 21, 1887, Spring Hill, Penn­syl­van­ia.

Died: Ju­ly 3, 1960, Whit­ti­er, Ca­li­for­nia.

Buried: Rose Hills Me­mo­ri­al Park, Whit­ti­er, Ca­li­for­nia.

Biography

Alfred was the son of Stan­ley Frank Ack­ley and Ophe­lia A. Cogs­well, and bro­ther of Bent­ley Ack­ley. He mar­ried twice: to Hel­en Ar­ma­cost (1909, West­min­ster, Ma­ry­land) and Al­ice Clare Sproatt.

He re­ceived mu­sic­al train­ing from his fa­ther in New York Ci­ty and at the Roy­al Aca­de­my of Mu­sic in Lon­don, and be­came a ac­comp­lished cel­lo play­er.

After gra­du­at­ing from West­min­ster Theo­lo­gic­al Sem­ina­ry in Ma­ry­land, he was or­dained a Pres­by­ter­ian min­is­ter in 1914, and served pas­tor­ates in Wilkes-Barre and Elm­hurst, Penn­syl­van­ia, and in Es­con­di­do, Ca­li­for­nia.

For a few years he worked with ev­an­gel­ist Bil­ly Sun­day, and was as­sist­ant pas­tor of the Sha­dy­side Pres­by­teri­an Church in Pitts­burgh, Penn­syl­van­ia. He wrote some 1,500 re­li­gious and se­cu­lar songs, and was as­so­ci­at­ed with the Ro­de­hea­ver Mu­sic Com­pa­ny.

John Brown Uni­ver­si­ty in Si­lo­am Springs, Ar­kan­sas, award­ed him an hon­or­ary Doc­tor of Sac­red Mu­sic de­gree.

Works

Sources

Lyrics

Music

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