Introduction

Biography

Frank was the son of Tho­mas M. Hus­ton and Ma­ry E. Har­ris, and hus­band of Ber­tha Ev­el­ene Mar­tin.

He at­tend­ed school in Fay­ette Coun­ty, and lat­er at the Moo­dy Bi­ble In­sti­tute, Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois.

For one year he taught school, then be­came an ev­an­gel­is­tic sing­er, a vo­ca­tion he fol­lowed for 19 years in ma­ny states.

He was al­so an or­dained min­is­ter of the Church of Christ, and for a num­ber of years served in towns and dis­tricts around In­di­an­apo­lis. He was al­so pas­tor of the Oak­lan­don, In­di­ana, con­gre­ga­tion near In­di­an­apo­lis.

He was com­mand­er of Ben Har­ri­son Camp 356, In­di­an­apo­lis, Ma­ri­on, In­di­ana (1919), and In­di­ana Di­vi­sion Com­mand­er (1925–26).

In 1899, ev­an­gel­ist Charles Sco­ville en­gaged Hus­ton as his sing­er. He served in 180 ev­an­gel­is­tic cam­paigns from No­va Sco­tia to Flo­ri­da.

Huston was or­dained a Dis­ci­ples of Christ min­is­ter in 1915 in In­di­an­apo­lis. He lived in In­di­an­apo­lis 1909–41, then moved to Jack­son­ville, Flo­ri­da.

During World War I, Gov­er­nor Good­rich of In­di­ana ap­point­ed Hus­ton chap­lain of the 150th Field Ar­til­le­ry, Rain­bow Di­vi­sion, but through some mis­take he was ne­ver called to join the re­gi­ment be­fore the war end­ed.

His ser­vic­es, how­ev­er, were in great de­mand in his home state and ci­ty, and he be­came wide­ly known as the Sing­ing Chap­lain. In World War II, Hus­ton vol­un­teered his ser­vic­es to the Coast Guard Aux­ili­ary. He was made a boat­swain’s mate when he was 74 and giv­en du­ty as a r­ecruit­er. He was dis­charged as an en­sign.

Works

While still in the min­is­try, he found­ed the Frank C. Hus­ton pub­lish­ing house. This com­pa­ny pro­duced some of the most po­pu­lar pa­tri­ot­ic songs of World War I, with Hus­ton him­self writ­ing the words and mu­sic of ma­ny of them, in­clud­ing My In­di­ana Home, Sing Again Those Old-Time Me­lo­dies, For the Hon­or of Old Pur­due, When Our Boys Come March­ing Home Again, and scores of oth­ers wri­tten ev­en be­fore war was de­clared.

Huston al­so pub­lished a col­lect­ion of 100 hymns and Gos­pel songs, in­clud­ing 84 he wrote.

• Selected Sac­red Songs (Jack­son­ville, Flo­ri­da: Frank C. Hus­ton, 1937)