Katharine E. Nash Purvis (died 1909) is best known as the lyricist for When the Saints Are Marching In.

Purvis was the daughter of a Methodist

Methodism

Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...

 minister in Pennsylvania. After graduating from a seminary in 1860, she became a music teacher at the seminary of a Methodist Episcopal Church

Methodist Episcopal Church

The Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, was a development of the first expression of Methodism in the United States. It officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784, with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as the first bishops. Through a series of...

 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania

Williamsport, Pennsylvania

Williamsport is a city in and the county seat of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania in the United States. In 2009, the population was estimated at 29,304...

. In 1896, the hymn When the Saints Are Marching In was published, with music by James Milton Black

James Milton Black

James Milton Black was a composer of hymns, choir leader and Sunday school teacher.Black was born in South Hill, New York, but worked, lived and died in Williamsport, Pennsylvania...

. Later, the song was altered somewhat and published in 1927 as the well known When The Saints Go Marching In

When the Saints Go Marching In

"When the Saints Go Marching In", often referred to as "The Saints", is an American gospel hymn that has taken on certain aspects of folk music. The precise origins of the song are not known. Though it originated as a spiritual, today people are more likely to hear it played by a jazz band...

.

External links

• The Cyber Hymnal