Welcome Home!

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He leadeth me! O blessed tho't! O words with heavn'ly comfort fraught! Whate'er I do, where'er I be, still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me!

Sometimes 'mid scenes of deepest gloom, sometimes where Eden's bowers bloom, by waters still, o'er troubled sea, still 'tis His hand that leadeth me!

Lord, I would clasp Thy hand in mine, nor ever murmur nor repine, content, whatever lot I see, since 'tis Thy hand that leadeth me!

And when my task on earth is done, when, by Thy grace, the vict'ry's won, e'en death's cold wave I will not flee, since God thro' Jordan leadeth me!

 Joseph “Henry” Gilmore was born to New Hampshire Governor, Joseph Albert Gilmore, and his wife Ann, on April 29, 1834, in Boston, Mass. Not much is known about his childhood, except that he attended Phillips Academy.  In later school years, he was his father’s assistant and also edited the local newspaper. In 1858, Joseph graduated from Brown University. He went to Newton Theological Seminary and graduated in 1861.  He was ordained as a Baptist minister and was a pastor in Fischerville, NH, for 2 years. On November 21, 1863, Joseph married Mary Josephine Parkhuerst. Mary had one child; a boy named Joseph Henry Jr. She died a year and a half later, at the age of 22. In the spring of 1865, Joseph was asked to be a guest speaker at another church. As he stood up to preach to the congregation, unsure of an opening statement, he remembered a thought he had a few nights before: which was when he was a newly graduated preacher, preaching on Psalm 23.  After preaching the message, the host pastor made a comment on the powerful and moving sermon, and asked to see his notes. Joseph handed him a blank napkin with the words, “He leadeth me”. Everyone was shocked that he had given a sermon without any notes or other passages. Joseph excused himself from the people he was talking to and asked for a pen. He went to a quiet room in the building, and penned the words to the sermon he had just preached.   On September 11, 1865, Joseph married Lucy Brown.  Lucy had 5 children: David, Edward, Martin, Charles, and Ruth.  Not long after Joseph and Lucy were married, Lucy found the napkin that now had the sermon he had preached before they were married, and sent it a newspaper, without his permission. Two years later, he and his family moved to Rochester, NY, where he was pastor at Second Baptist Church. Joseph was bi-vocational and taught Hebrew at Rochester Theological Seminary.  A few years later, he was presented with a hymnal and was confused as to why he was given the book. He opened the hymnal was stunned to find a hymn written by himself.  Joseph was happy, but very confused to see that his poem, now hymn, had made its way into a hymnal. His wife asked him why he was so confused and he responded that he had only shown the poem to a few people and that it had never been set to music. She smiled and admitted that she had it sent to a family friend who set it to music, then she sent a copy to a publishing company.  He said that he had forgotten about the poem and never thought that it would ever become a hymn.  A year later, he became the Rhetoric, Logic, and English professor as well as the Hebrew teacher. He taught all four classes until he retired in 1908, at the age of 74. While teaching, he wrote and published several books to help his students. At this time, he was also world- famous for his hymn, “He Leadeth Me.” The Carnagie Foundation granted Professor Gilmore a retiring allowance upon his retirement. Ten years after retiring, Professor Joseph Gilmore passed away on July 23, 1918, at the age of 84, in Rochester, NY.