1813–1905

Introduction

Born: Au­gust 12, 1813, Lon­don, Eng­land.

Died: Ap­ril 7, 1905, Brock­port, New York.

Buried: Man­li­us Vil­lage Ce­me­te­ry, Man­li­us, New York.

Biography

Alfred was the son of John Gra­ley and Anne Green­wood. He mar­ried three times: to Al­ley Ma­ria Van Eps (June 1843, Ge­ne­va, New York), Mar­ga­ret Ann Dies (1849), and Ca­ther­ine Me­li­ta Je­rome of Pom­pey (1861).

Around 1842, he and an old­er bro­ther sailed from Li­ver­pool, reach­ing New York Ci­ty aft­er a five week voy­age.

He worked as a cob­bler for sev­er­al years, then at age 25 made a pub­lic con­fes­sion of faith in the Pres­by­ter­ian Church at Wamps­ville, New York, and gave him­self to Chris­tian min­is­try.

He stu­died at the Ham­il­ton Aca­de­my, then en­tered Prince­ton Se­mi­na­ry in 1840. Gra­ley was li­censed Sep­tem­ber 4, 1844, by the Pres­by­te­ry of Onon­da­ga (later Sy­ra­cuse) and or­dained on Christ­mas Day, 1844.

He served as pas­tor of the Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church at Len­ox, New York, un­til June 12, 1856. He went on to serve in Pom­pey Hill, New York (1857–63); Tri­ni­ty Pres­by­ter­ian Church, Man­li­us, New York (1863–69); Me­di­na, New York (1869–70); Knowles­ville, New York (1870–72), and was state sup­ply and mis­sion at Clark­son, New York (1872–78). He then re­tired and lived in Clark­son un­til 1903, when he moved to Brock­port, New York.

Works

Graley is said to have writ­ten words or mu­sic for 150 hymns. His oth­er works in­clude:

Sources

Lyrics

  1. All Is Well, All Is Well, for My Sav­ior Is My Friend
  2. Arm, Sol­diers, Arm
  3. As the Birds in Sha­dy Wild­wood
  4. Be the Mat­ter What It May
  5. Beautiful Morn­ing Star
  6. Believe It, Dear Child­ren, That Now Is the Time
  7. Bethlehem Song, The
  8. Bound for a Home in the Good­ly Land
  9. Brethren at the Mer­cy Seat
  10. Christ Is Born, and Heav’n Re­joic­es
  11. Come Boys, Come Girls, Won’t You Vol­un­teer?
  12. Come Seek the Shade
  13. Come to the Sab­bath School
  14. Come Where the Wild Flow­ers Grow
  15. Dear Child­ren, Heed the Shep­herd’s Call
  16. Dear Jesus, My Shep­herd, I Would in Thy Fold
  17. Don’t Think There Is No­thing for Child­ren to Do
  18. Down the Stream of Life They Glide
  19. Faithful Shep­herd, Meek and Mild
  20. Flowers of the Gar­den
  21. Go to the Mer­cy Seat
  22. Gone, Gone, Loved One, Gone from Our Home
  23. Happy New Year to Thee, Fa­ther, A
  24. Hark, ’Tis the Trum­pet of Li­ber­ty Sound­ing
  25. Hasten to Cal­va­ry’s Mount­ain
  26. His Voice No More I Dis­re­gard
  27. Home, Dear Home, We Nev­er Can For­get
  28. Home of the Blest, The
  29. Hosanna to the Son of Da­vid
  30. How Can I Be a Hap­py Child?
  31. How Small Are the Dew­drops
  32. How Sweet Are the Flow­ers
  33. I Am but a Lit­tle Child, and of Fro­lic Full
  34. I Know There’s a Crown for the Saints of Re­nown
  35. I Love a Lit­tle Child with His Spark­ling Eye
  36. I Want to Love My Sav­ior
  37. I’d Ra­ther Be a Child of God
  38. If You Would Find Sal­va­tion
  39. I’m but a Pil­grim Here Be­low
  40. In Man­sions Bright the Glo­ri­fied Be­hold
  41. In Thy Child­hood’s Sun­ny Morn­ing
  42. Jesus, Be Near Me
  43. Jesus, How Can I but Love Thee?
  44. Jesus My Sav­ior, Set Up Thy Throne
  45. Jesus, My Song Shall Be, O How He Loves
  46. Jesus, Sav­ior, Friend Di­vine
  47. Jesus Sought and Saved Me
  48. Jesus Wel­comes, When They’ve Crossed the Ri­ver
  49. Let Us Dai­ly Bet­ter Grow
  50. Let Us Work for the School with Our Hearts
  51. Little Child May Do Much Good, A
  52. Lo the An­gel Band Des­cend­ing
  53. Mother Dear, I’m Hap­py Now
  54. My Coun­try, I Cher­ish Thee Still
  55. Never Mourn if Pain or Loss
  56. Now Ev­er the Sun­ny Morn
  57. No Gau­dy Glo­ries Crown Thy Head
  58. No Long­er at Ease Will I Slum­ber
  59. Now, Ere the Sun­ny Morn of Life Is O’er
  60. Now While the Heart’s Warm
  61. O Come, Let Us Sing to the Praise of the School
  62. O, Come to the Sav­ior, Dear Child­ren
  63. O Re­mem­ber the Sab­bath School
  64. O Say Not That the Chris­tian Life
  65. O the Green Grass Waves
  66. O There Is a Beau­ti­ful Ci­ty
  67. O There Is a Fount­ain That Nev­er Is Dry
  68. O Think Not, Dear Child­ren, Be­cause You Are Young
  69. O Turn, Sin­ner, Turn to Thy Fa­ther and God
  70. O What Are the Sor­rows That Bur­den?
  71. O Why Do I Find It So Hard to Do Right?
  72. O Why Will You Seek for a Por­tion Be­low?
  73. O’er the Flow­ing Ri­ver
  74. Oh, Won’t You Be a Chris­tian?
  75. Old, Old Year with Its Joys, The
  76. Once I Wan­dered on the Mount­ain
  77. Over the Mount­ains, Bar­ren and Cold
  78. Press on Lit­tle Pil­grims and Nev­er Give Up
  79. Prophets and Sag­es with Rap­ture
  80. Round the Throne in Glo­ry
  81. Saints Above with Joy Be­held, The
  82. Send the Tid­ings of Sal­va­tion to the Hea­then
  83. Shall We Meet in Hea­ven Above
  84. Strike, Strike Your Bright Harps
  85. Sun Shines Bright, and It Pours Its Light, The
  86. Sweetly Ring­ing Hear the Sab­bath Bell
  87. There Came an Hour When All My Pride
  88. There Is a Rose Whose Beau­ties Grace
  89. There’s a Beau­ty in the Sun­shine
  90. There’s a Bright Un­fad­ing Crown
  91. There’s Beau­ty in the Sun­shine
  92. They Are Gone to the Land o’er the Ri­ver
  93. This Life Is a Race, and Brief Is the Space
  94. This World Is Not My Home, I Know
  95. This World’s a Wil­der­ness, and Dan­gers Clus­ter
  96. ’Tis the Sweet Spring Time
  97. To Toil and Pray in Hea­then Lands
  98. Valleys and the Mount­ains, The
  99. Wake, Bro­ther, Wake
  100. Walk in the Nar­row Way
  101. We Are Home­ward Bound
  102. We’re March­ing to the Camp Above
  103. We’re Pass­ing Along to Our Home in the Skies
  104. When Chas­ing the Phan­toms
  105. When Grove and When Gar­den Have
  106. When Je­sus, the Meek, and the Low­ly, Was Here
  107. When Many to the Sav­ior’s Feet
  108. When o’er Us Waves of Trou­ble
  109. When Pant­ing Neath the Hea­vy Cross
  110. When We Are Twen­ty One Boys
  111. Winter’s Reign Is Ov­er
  112. Would You Be a Chris­tian Child?
  113. Wouldst Thou Save the Wan­der­er?
  114. Youthful Pil­grims, Whi­ther Bound?
  115. Youthful Sin­ner, Though Less

Music

  1. St. Eu­phra­sia

Help Needed

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Gra­ley (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),