Born: Sep­tem­ber 16, 1796, Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia.

Died: Ap­ril 8, 1877, New York Ci­ty.

Buried: St. John­land, Suf­folk Coun­ty, Long Is­land, New York.

Grand­son of Hen­ry Mel­chi­or Mühl­en­berg, pa­tri­arch of Amer­i­can Lu­ther­an­ism, Wil­liam grad­u­at­ed from the Un­i­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­van­ia (where he helped found the Phil­o­ma­the­an So­ci­e­ty), and was or­dained an Epis­co­pal min­is­ter in 1817. He served at St. James Church, Lan­cas­ter, Pen­nsyl­van­ia, and Church of the Ho­ly Com­mun­ion, New York. He found­ed the Flush­ing In­sti­tute, New York, in 1828, and St. Luke’s Hospital in 1855. He al­so found­ed The Evan­gel­ic­al Ca­tho­lic, a church news­pa­per, and was in­stru­ment­al in get­ting the Epis­co­pal church to ex­pand its use of hymns in wor­ship. His works in­clude:

Mühl­en­berg al­so served on the com­mit­tee that pro­duced the 1828 Pro­test­ant Epis­co­pal hym­nal.

Sources

Hymns

  1. Carol, Brothers, Carol
  2. How Short the Race Our Friend Has Run
  3. I Would Not Live Alway
  4. Jesus’ Name Shall Ever Be
  5. King of Kings, and Wilt Thou Deign
  6. Like Noah’s Weary Dove
  7. Savior, Who Thy Flock Art Feeding
  8. Shout the Glad Tid­ings
  9. Since o’er Thy Footstool Here Be­low
  10. The Mellow Eve Is Glid­ing
  11. Thine Handmaid, Savior, Can It Be?