Introduction

Biography

Daniel was the son of John Grif­fin Tow­ner and Ju­lia Forbes, and hus­band of Mary E. Mc­Go­ni­gle (mar­ried De­cem­ber 1870).

He stud­ied mu­sic un­der his fa­ther (a well known sing­er and teach­er in his own right), John How­ard, George Root, and James Webb.

He was mu­sic di­rect­or at the Cen­ten­ary Me­tho­dist Church in Bing­ham­ton, New York (1870–82); the York Street Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church, Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio (1882–84); the Un­ion Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church, Cov­ing­ton, Ken­tuc­ky (1884–85); and the Mo­ody Bi­ble In­sti­tute, Ch­ica­go, Il­li­nois (1893–1919).

The Am­eri­can Tem­per­ance Uni­ver­si­ty in Har­ri­man, Ten­nes­see, award­ed Town­er a Doc­tor­ate of Mu­sic in 1900.

Works

• Songs of Free Grace (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio; Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois and St. Lou­is, Mis­sou­ri: Cran­ston & Stowe, 1883)
• Hymns of New and Old (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Flem­ing H. Re­vell, 1887)
• Hymns of New and Old, No. 2 (New York: Flem­ing H. Rev­ell, 1890)
• Bible Stu­dy Songs for Jun­ior So­cie­ties, Jun­ior and Prim­ary Sun­day Schools, with Ber­tha F. Vel­la (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Pil­grim Press, 1899)
• Class and Chor­us, 1901
• Hymns of Faith and Praise (Day­ton, Ohio: Lo­renz Pub­lish­ing, 1901)
• One Hun­dred Gos­pel Hymns for Male Voic­es, with Ed­ward Full­er (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Bi­ble In­sti­tute Col­port­age As­so­ci­ation, 1902)
• Revival Hymns, with Charles Al­ex­an­der (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Bi­ble In­sti­tute Col­por­tage As­so­cia­tion, 1905)
• Famous Hymns, with Ed­win Ex­cell (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Bible In­sti­tute Col­por­tage As­so­cia­tion, 1907)
• The Ideal Song and Hymn Book (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Flem­ing H. Re­vell, 1909)
• Hymns Tried and True (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Bible In­sti­tute Col­port­age As­so­cia­tion, 1911)
• The Voice of Thanks­giv­ing (New York: Flem­ing H. Re­vell, 1913)
• Tabernacle Hymns (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Ra­der & Mc­Kee, 1915)
• Select Re­viv­al Hymns, with J. Ray­mond Hem­ming­er (Car­lisle, Penn­syl­van­ia: Gos­pel Times, 1915)
• Songs of the Great Sal­va­tion, with Will­iam Run­yan (Wi­chi­ta, Kan­sas: Run­yan Mu­sic Pub­lish­ing, cir­ca 1918)
• The Ta­ber­na­cle Hymns, with Ar­thur Mc­Kee (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Ta­ber­na­cle Pub­lish­ing, 1918)