Precious Name (Take the Name of Jesus With You)

DESCRIPTION: "Take the name of Jesus with you, Child of sorrow and of woe, It will joy and comfort give you, Take it then where're you go. Precious name, O how sweet." It is hope, it is a shield from temptation; all should fall at his feet and crown him
AUTHOR: Words: Lydia Odell Baxter (1809-1874) / Music: William Howard Doane (1832-1915) (Souce: hymnal.net)
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (High-OldOldFolkSongs); words reportedly written 1870 and the music in 1871
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad Jesus
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
High-OldOldFolkSongs, p. 37, "Take the Name of Jesus With You" (1 text)
NOTES [298 words]: Julian, pp. 304-305, has this to say about the author of this tune: "Doane, W. H., b[orn] in Preston, Connecticut in 1831, and educated for the musical profession by eminent American and German masters. He has had for years the superintendence of a large Baptist Sunday School in Ohio, where he resides.... His most popular melodies include 'Near the Cross,' "Safe in the Arms of Jesus,' "Pass me not,' 'More Love to Thee,' 'Rescue the perishing,' 'Tell me the old, old story,' &c."
His work was as a composer, not a writer of lyrics.
EncycAmericanGospelMusic, p. 103, credits him with "well over two thousand gospel melodies" but describes this as a sideline: "He was a very successful manufacturer of woodworking machinery, the president of several businesses, and an inventor with more than seventy patents to his credit." His business success allowed him to become a substantial philanthropist later in life. He became a serious composer when he suffered a near-fatal heart attack at age thirty.
Julian, pp. 118, tells us that author Baxter, "an American Baptist, was b[orn] at Petersburg, N[ew] York, Sept. 2, 1809, married to Mr. Baxter, and d[ied] in N[ew] Y[ork] June 22, 1874. In addition to her Gems by the Wayside, 1855, Mrs. Baxter contributed many hymns to collections for Sunday Schools, and Evangelistic Services." Julian lists nine songs of importance from her pen: "Cast thy net again, my brother," "Go, work in my vineyard," "I'm kneeling, Lord, at mercy's gate." "I'm weary, I'm fainting, my day's work is done," "In the fadeless spring-time," "One by one we cross the river," "The Msater is coming," "There is a gate that stands ajar," and this. Of which it is said, "Written late in 1870, or early in 1871, for W. H. Doane, and pub[lished] in Pure Gold, 1871." - RBW
Bibliography

EncycAmericanGospelMusic: W. K. McNeil, editor, Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music, Routledge, 2005
Julian: John Julian, editor, A Dictionary of Hymnology, 1892; second edition 1907 (I use the 1957 Dover edition in two volumes)

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File: High037

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