Joseph Scriven was never paid for writing hymn

I am reading for a second time Foster Russell's book on the life story of Joseph Scriven. Scriven was the author of the beloved hymn What a Friend We Have in Jesus, and this is the book's title.

Northumberland County will remember Foster Russell as a great newspaper man, a prolific writer and the performer of more community works and achievements than I can mention here. I like the Russell style. He called a spade a spade but tempered it with full compassion towards those who needed and deserved it.

And Joseph Scriven deserved it. He received no monetary reward for the famous hymn that he wrote in the middle 1800s. He carried it around in his pocket until Charles Converse set it to music. It was many years after his death in 1886 before he was credited as having written it. Converse lived until 1918 and was able to see credit given to his lovely melody that was a favorite of U.S. President Eisenhower.

What A Friend We Have In Jesus has been a popular choice of Billy Graham's and has consequently been sung on every continent. Its simple words that strike to the heart has made it a vital part of the lay preacher service. In this, I especially recall the late Herbert Lander of Gore's Landing who for […]a history bluff as well, and Joseph Scriven is part of the process. Before you follow the trail of the three monuments erected in Scriven's memory, you should read Foster Russell's book. You will find it in local libraries.

You'll learn that Scriven lived for some years on Strachan Street in Port Hope. He gave to the poor until he had nothing. The Sackville family of Bewdley took him to their home when illness overcame him, and his funeral was from that house.

Joseph Scriven was a learned man. He tutored Theodore Pengelley. Indeed, he was to have married Eliza Catherine Roche of the Pengelley family, but tragically she died. They are buried together in the Pengelley private cemetery […] Pengelley lived in until quite recently. She died two and-a-half years ago at 95. Across the road lives the present-day Pengelley family. I talked with them about […]monument erected to Joseph Scriven's memory is in park in downtown Port Hope, just north of the police station.