Rexford’s fam­ily moved to Wis­con­sin in 1855 and set­tled in the town of El­ling­ton. He re­ceived his ear­ly ed­u­ca­tion in the Mea­ger coun­ty schools and at Law­rence Coll­ege, which lat­er award­ed him a Ba­che­lor of Lit­er­a­ture de­gree. His lit­er­ary gi­fts be­came ev­i­dent ear­ly in life, and his first vers­es were pub­lished in the New York Ledger when he was 14 years old.

In 1890, Rex­ford mar­ried Mrs. Har­riet Bau­man Harsh. He served as town clerk of Bo­vi­na for ma­ny years, and dur­ing Gro­ver Cleve­land’s first ad­min­is­tra­tion was post­mast­er of Shi­oc­ton, Wis­con­sin.

Rex­ford com­posed ma­ny hymns, in­clud­ing ones used by Ira Sank­ey, Ed­win Ex­cell, Charles Ga­bri­el, and Billy Sun­day. One of his best known sec­u­lar works was the po­em “Sil­ver Threads Among the Gold,” which was turned into a song that sold over three mil­lion co­pies (mu­sic by Hart Danks).

Sources

Hymns

1. By and By
2. How You Will Love Him!
3. Little Sunbeams
4. Just for Today
5. O Do Some Good Deed Every Day
6. O Where Are the Reapers?
7. Song of Heaven and Homeland, A