Oliver Holden was an American musician and composer. He was a compiler of hymns, and one of the pioneers of American psalmody. He composed the tune "Coronation. "
Background
Oliver Holden was born on September 18, 1765 in Shirley, Massachussets, United States. He was the fourth of six children of Nehemiah and Elizabeth Holden. He was descended from Richard Holden who emigrated from Suffolk, England, to America in 1634.
Career
For a year (1782-1883) he first served as a marine on a frigate called the Dean, and later the Hague. This vessel sailed for the West Indies in August 1782 and captured a British prize, which was sent back to Boston with a prize crew of which he was a member. On account of this service he was granted a pension on February 16, 1836, at the rate of forty dollars per annum.
About 1787 he moved to Charlestown, Massachussets, which had been burned by the British during the war, and as a carpenter helped to rebuild it. His extensive purchases of land in the town began in 1787 and the number of his tradings exceeds that of any other resident of the town in his day. He also owned land in Hillsboro, New Hampshire. When Washington visited Boston in 1789, he was greeted at the old State House by a chorus of men who sang under the leadership of Holden the "Ode to Columbia's Favorite Son, " and on the last day of the year 1799, when services were held in the church in Charlestown in memory of the recently deceased George Washington, the music was directed by this same leader.
Holden was a justice of the peace, was one of the incorporators of the Andover turnpike in 1805, and in 1836 urged the annexation of Charlestown to the city of Boston, an event which did not take place, however, until 1875. He was admitted as a Freemason to King Solomon's Lodge in 1795 and served as an active member for ten years, after which he took an honorary status. Many stories are told in the records of the Lodge of the entertainments which he contributed. He kept a music store and taught music for many years.
He represented Charlestown in the state House of Representatives in 1818, 1825, 1826, and from 1828 to 1833. In addition to his hymns he contributed the following books--though not all bore his name--to the literature of music: The American Harmony (1792); The Massachusetts Compiler (1795), with Hans Gram and Samuel Holyoke; The Worcester Collection (1797); Sacred Dirges, Hymns and Anthems (1800); and other.
(First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylo...)
Religion
Holden connected himself first with the Congregational Church, then later with one known as the Puritan Church, which worshipped in a building erected by himself on land which he had given, and in which he officiated as preacher throughout its entire existence. The services of this body were simple, the communion was administered every Sunday, and the Bible was taken as the only necessary rule for religious or civil life.
Connections
Holden was married to Nancy Rand on May 12, 1791, and had six children. His mansion, built about 1800, stood at the head of Salem Street, and later came to be used by the city of Boston as a kindergarten known as the Oliver Holden School.