Old Order Hymn Composer Has Valley Roots

This rare photo of Harry Showalter, with oldest daughter Esther (on his right) and surviving sister Mary Beery, was taken at a reunion six weeks before his 100th birthday. (photocopy courtesy of granddaughter Elizabeth Showalter)

Not to the strong is the battle,

Nor to the swift is the race,

But to the true and the faithful

Vict'ry is promised through grace.

- Harry Showalter, 1957*

Harry Showalter, a little known Old Order Mennonite (a member of the Ohio Wisler group), composed the words and melodies of 18 gospel songs and hymns, and wrote tunes for four more. He lived to be over 102, and wrote most of his published songs and hymns when he was in his 80's and 90's.

Born on August 13, 1889, Harry was the fifth child of Hettie (Rohrer) and Daniel Pennybaker Showalter who lived near Singers Glen, just north of Harrisonburg. His parents named him Henry R. (for Rohrer), after Hettie's oldest brother, but growing up with his four older siblings (and later four younger ones), he acquired the nickname "Hen," which he very much disliked. So over time he became known by his family and others as "Harry," the name he went by for the rest of his life.

Harry's parents' farm along Snapp's Creek was not far from the village of Singers Glen, sometimes referred to as the birthplace of gospel music in the American South. It was here that Joseph Funk had set up a printing press over fifty years earlier and published, among other works, Mennonite Hymns and the Harmonia Sacra. Joseph Funk's mother was the daughter of Jacob Showalter, Hettie's ancestor who emigrated to the new world in 1750, so the two families were related.

Music was always an important part of Harry's life. According to his sister Mabel, "When Harry was just a boy, he sat on the back step with a songbook while other children played." And at the early age of ten, soon after his family moved to a farm near Rushville, he attended his first singing school at the Bank Mennonite Church, taught by Jake Showalter, which added to his interest in hymns and hymn singing.

Harry and his siblings were known to have strong voices that blended well. He enjoyed singing tenor with his siblings at home, harmonizing with his brother John, who sang bass, and his sisters Ida and Annie, who sang alto and soprano.

In December of 1910, at age 21, Harry embarked on a year-long trip by train that took him all the way to California, visiting relatives and working part-time jobs along the way. Upon his return he became a baptized member of the Pleasant View Old Order Mennonite Church near Dayton, but in the summer of 1913 he moved to Columbiana, Ohio, and became an active part of the Wisler Old Order group, with whom he lived and served the rest of his life as a song leader and trustee.

One of his primary reasons for his move to Ohio was his romantic interest in Sadie Weaver, and the couple were happily married at her home in November 24, 1914. It was was during the year prior to his marriage that he composed his first song that was later published, one that seems fitting in its references to both the blessings and griefs that were to become a part of his remarkable life:

Often when we sit and ponder o'er the cares that life may bring,
We can only look to Jesus, our Redeemer and our King;
Tho sore trials may surround us, or our way may be more smooth,
'Tis by these blessings or afflictions that He doth our motives prove.

While mistakes are ever near us, and our motives miss their aim,
We should not become discouraged, but believe that Christ, the same;
Yesterday, today, tomorrow, will forgive us if we come
With hearts possessing godly sorrow and an honest, pleading tongue.

Disappointments may surround us, chastenings may come severe,
But we have the blessed promise that a comforter is near;
Whom the Lord loves He will chasten, and He scourgeth every son
Whom He receiveth into glory, ever say, "His will be done."

In our upward, pilgrim journey, may we to each other show
Love unchangeable, unfading, that in peace we onward go;
Till the summons at death's portals shall our weary eyelids close,
Then may we meet those gone, immortal, who are free from cares and woes.

Harry and Sadie were blessed with their first child, Esther Virginia, on December 18, 1915. Tragically, their joy turned to grief as Sadie developed a high fever, became extremely ill and died the day after Christmas, leaving Harry to care for little Esther with the help of friends, relatives, and Sadie's sister Melissa.

On August 19, 1920, Harry married Melissa, and the couple had five children together, three girls and two boys. Their first child, a daughter, lived only two days, and the fourth, a son, died of pneumonia at five months of age. Then his beloved Melissa died of heart failure on June 27, 1963, leaving him a widower for the second time at age 73.

Esther, his firstborn daughter, looked after her father as long as she was able, but died December 16, 1990, nearly two years before Harry's death on August 10, 1992. Harry was buried on what would have been his 103rd birthday, three days later.

Harry had composed only one other published hymn, Not To The Swift Is The Battle, by 1957, and it was not until he was a widower in his 80's and 90's that he went on to write texts and tunes for a total of 16 others. He also composed tunes for four other texts, two written by his granddaughter Elizabeth. John Overholt, publisher of the Christian Hymnary, did most of the four-part harmonizations for his songs.

All of these 22 hymns and gospel songs were published by his son Elmer Showalter in 1988 as Hymns of Tribute. Six of the hymns can also be found in Overholt's Christian Hymnary, and eight in the 1987 Zion's Praises. 

Here is the last verse of Harry's final composition, Love of Jesus, written in 1986, when Harry was in his late 90's:

Why not work for Jesus while it's called today,
For the night will come when when work is done away;
You'll receive a bright reward, To be present with the Lord,
And the saints that reign throughout eternity.

His granddaughter Elizabeth wrote the following tribute:

To write a hymn is not so hard

When inspirations come.

Take up your pen and write them down

To fit the tune you hum.

This talent God has given you

Will be remembered long;

For near and far hearts will be blest

Who sing your sacred songs.

Sources

"The Swift Years Come and Go--Life of Harry Showalter" by Naomi Rosenberry and Alta  Showalter, self published 1989.

"Hymns of Tribute II" published by Elmer Showalter in 1988 (second printing 1991).

Phone conversations with granddaughter Elizabeth Showalter of Columbiana, Ohio and with niece Lois Showalter of Dayton, Virginia.

* These words, the first lines of verse one of Showalter's Not to the strong is the battle, appear to have been borrowed from the refrain of  Fannie Crosby's Conquering now and still to conquer. Crosby lived from 1820-1915.