Benjamin R. Hanby

HANBY, Benjamin Russel (or Russell). b. Rushville, Ohio, 22 July 1833; d. Chicago, Illinois, 16 March 1867. Hanby was educated at Otterbein College near Columbus, Ohio ( BA, 1858). He was influenced in his abolitionist thinking by his father, United Brethren in Christ Bishop William Hanby. Father and son worked on the ‘underground railroad’, helping escaping slaves. The family moved to Westerville, Ohio, where much of Benjamin Hanby’s music was written. Benjamin Hanby worked as an agent for Otterbein University before becoming a United Brethren minister and musician. He was a minister at Lewisburg, Ohio (1862-63) and New Paris, Ohio (1863-64), but in both places his congregations resented...