GOLDEN HILL
& THIRTIETH

also
THE GENERAL DOOM
ABBEVILLE 

I. THIRTIETH

THIRTIETH is the oldest of a series of variations on the same tune. The oldest example comes from a manuscript collection by Amzi Chapin (1768–1835), presently held in the private collection of David C. Thomas of Peninsula, Ohio. According to Nikos Pappas, the manuscript is believed to date ca. 1800 because “It includes tunes apparently crafted in Kentucky, post-dating its compilation from Virginia . . . [and] the latest items from printed sources included in it are from 1796.” Plus it includes his tune VERNON: “Vernon was the name of his estate in Pennsylvania and was named for George Washington’s estate following the numerous memorials made in honor of his passing [on 14 Dec. 1799]. Chapin moved to Pennsylvania by 1798.”[1]

In this instance, the tune is labeled 30th, scored for four voices in G major, metered 3/2, G-clef, C-clef, G-clef, and F-clef (treble, alto, treble, bass), melody in the third voice. The penmanship is neat and clear, easily readable.

The hallmarks of the tune, phrase by phrase, include (1) tonic rising to 3, down to 6, rising back to 1; (2) 5 lifting to 6, then rising to upper 1, returning down to 5; (3) a repeat of 5 lifting to 6, then rising to 1, but then falling back down to lower 1; and (4) a repeat of the first phrase. The tune is hexatonic, lacking 4, and at times, the sequence 5-6-8 gives it a pentatonic sound, even though 7 is present twice in the lower octave.

Even though this tune appeared in Amzi Chapin’s manuscript, scholars are generally reluctant to assign the tune directly to him as composer.[2] Instead, the tune is regarded as a folk tune he merely collected and arranged.

This tune appears in another early manuscript, produced by John Ketcham (1782–1865), held by Indiana University at the Bloomington campus music library. The title page is dated 1802, but 30TH appears in the last of three gatherings, potentially inscribed a decade or more after the collection was started. Ketcham was living in Shelby County, Kentucky, in 1802, moved to Jackson County, Indiana, in 1811, then to Monroe County, Indiana, in 1818.[3] Ketcham’s version, scored in three parts, is note-for-note identical to Chapin’s score, minus the alto part, even including a C in the bass line, pickup to the last phrase, where later editors made this a B.

The first publication of this version of the tune was in Patterson’s Church Music (Cincinnati: Brown & Looker, [1813]), compiled by Robert Patterson. Patterson is known to have solicited material from Amzi Chapin for this tunebook, in spite of Chapin not being credited.[4] Patterson’s version is unmistakably reprinted from Chapin’s arrangement.

The text here, “And am I born to die?” is by Charles Wesley, from Hymns for Children (1763).

This version was also printed in The Pittsburgh Selection of Psalm Tunes (Pittsburgh: Cramer, Spear & Eichbaum, 1816), compiled by John Armstrong, credited simply to “Chapin.”

A slightly different version was printed in Samuel Wakefield’s The Ecclesiastic Harmony (Pittsburgh: Eichbaum and Johnston, 1825), melody and bass, credited to Ananias Davisson, even though it doesn’t follow the melodic shape or the bass line of Davisson’s GOLDEN HILL (see Section III below). The text here, “My soul repeat his praise,” is Isaac Watts’ paraphrase of Psalm 103.

When this tune was included in The Sacred Harp (Philadelphia: T.K. & P.G. Collins, 1844), it was called ABBEVILLE, the arrangement credited to E.J. King, melody in the third voice. King’s version of the tune differs from Chapin’s in small ways, but it is clearly the same. The text “Come, Holy Spirit, come,” is by Benjamin Beddome, from Addenda in the Tenth—An Enlarged Edition of a Selection of Hymns (London: J. Bateson, 1800) edited by John Rippon.

II. THE GENERAL DOOM

One early variant with an ominous-sounding name appeared in Jeremiah Ingalls’ The Christian Harmony (Exeter, NH: Henry Ranlet, 1805). Ingalls’ version, melody in the middle voice, had been adapted for duple time, 4/4. It bears the same general shape, except in the third phrase, the descending sequence is missing, replaced by an octave leap. In this instance, the text “Behold! with awful pomp” is by Joseph Hart, from Hymns &c Composed on Various Subjects (1759).

According to Pappas, the early collection of this tune variant by Chapin and Ingalls suggests a New England origin:

The tune was perhaps circulating in the 1780s in western New England before Amzi left Massachusetts. This tune, like 93d and MINISTER’S FAREWELL (among others) appear in variant form in collections associated with the Chapins and in Ingalls, suggesting a connection via the Connecticut River. This area of New England was one of the first places to experience the effects of the Great Awakening and English Presbyterian folk hymns of the 1750s found their way north from Long Island/Connecticut into Massachusetts by the 1780s. The differences between GENERAL DOOM and THIRTIETH could be explained by the separation of Chapin’s removal from New England in the early 1790s and Ingalls' setting from 1805, a fifteen-year gap in the compiler's residence in New England.[5]

This version of the tune later appeared in C.C. Arnold’s The Young Convert's Pocket Companion (Boston: James Loring, 1822), melody in the top voice of a three-part arrangement. Some of the rhythms are different, otherwise the tune is nearly identical to Ingalls’ copy. Arnold’s system involved printing the texts and tunes separately. The corresponding text, “Mount Zion is my home,” an anonymous American text found in A New and Beautiful Collection of Select Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1801) compiled by Josiah Goddard. The tune name given with the text is THE CHRISTIAN PILGRIM, which corresponds to number 8 in the tunebook.

Another notable early appearance of this variant was printed in Joshua Leavitt’s Christian Lyre (1830) under the name WALBRIDGE, given in two parts, bass and melody. The text “Awake, and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb” is by William Hammond, from his Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs (1745).

One other appearance worth noting, printed later in the nineteenth century, was in Joseph Hillman’s The Revivalist, rev. and enl. (1869), where it was called THE BACKSLIDER .

III. GOLDEN HILL

A closer variant to THIRTIETH, and arguably the most popular variant in this family, is GOLDEN HILL, first printed by Ananias Davisson in his Kentucky Harmony, 2nd ed. (Harrisonburg, VA: Davisson, 1817). In the index to this volume, Davisson credited himself as author, although in this context he most likely was claiming the arrangement rather than the tune itself. The main difference between GOLDEN HILL and THIRTIETH is the way GOLDEN HILL descends to 6 sooner in the first and last phrases, somewhat simplifying and inverting the order of notes in the second full bar.

The text here, “With joy the people stand,” is an alteration of the second stanza of “Far as thy name is known,” a paraphrase of Psalm 48 by Isaac Watts, from Psalms of David Imitated (1719).

This entire page was copied verbatim in Allen D. Carden’s The Missouri Harmony (St. Louis: Allen Carden, 1820) without credit.

Davisson’s harmonization has also appeared in Johnson’s Tennessee Harmony, 2nd ed. (Cincinnati: Morgan, Lodge & Co., 1821), compiled by Alexander Johnson, and in The Ecclesiastic Harmony (Pittsburgh: Eichbaum and Johnston, 1825), compiled by Samuel Wakefield, among other collections.

The harmonization by Lowell Mason has been repeated in other collections, into the 21st century, although usually uncredited. This comes from The Boston Academy’s Collection of Church Music (Boston: Carter, Hendee & Co., 1835).

One other publication worth noting is this tune’s appearance in William Houser’s Hesperian Harp (Philadelphia: Wm. Houser, 1848). In this instance, Houser as reprinted Davisson’s arrangement with proper credit, but on the same page, he has also paired this with his own arrangement. Notice how Houser’s version of the melody is shaped like THIRTIETH, apparently in recognition of the concurrent circulation of both (or multiple) versions of this tune.

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
24 March 2025

Footnotes:

1. Email correspondence with Nikos Pappas, 11 March 2025.

2. See, for example, James W. Scholten, “Amzi Chapin: Frontier singing master and folk hymn composer,” Journal of Research in Music Education, vol. 23, no. 2 (Summer 1975), pp. 109–119: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3345284; or Clark Kimberling, “Amzi Chapin,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology (Canterbury Press, n.d.): http://www.hymnology.co.uk/a/amzi-chapin

3. Claude K. Sluder, “The Ketcham tune-book: Examples of 18th-century hymnody in Indiana,” Current Musicology, vol. 23 (1977), p. 79–89.

4. Patterson’s letter to Chapin, 1 Jan. 1812, is transcribed in James W. Scholten, The Chapins: A Study of Men and Sacred Music West of the Alleghenies, 1795–1842, dissertation (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1972), pp. 63–64: https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/chapins-study-men-sacred-music-west-alleghenies/docview/288222325/se-2

5. Email correspondence with Nikos Pappas, 11 March 2025. See also Pappas, Patterns in the Sacred Music Culture of the American South and West (1700–1820), dissertation (Lexington: University of Kentucky, 2013).

Related Resources:

GOLDEN HILL: Hymnary.org

Hymn Tune Index: https://hymntune.library.illinois.edu/