{{short description|American publisher (1770–1858)}} {{about||the American Confederate veteran and surgeon|John Allan Wyeth|the poet and painter|John Allan Wyeth (poet)}} {{Infobox person | name = John Wyeth | image = John Wyeth, from Egle.png | alt = portrait of John Wyeth | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1770|3|31}} | birth_place = Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1858|1|23|1770|3|31}} | death_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | resting_place = Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | nationality = | other_names = | occupation = | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''John Wyeth''' (March 31, 1770 – January 23, 1858) was an American newspaper and book publisher. He published the ''Oracle of Dauphin'' newspaper in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, from 1792 to 1827 and several hymnal books including ''Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second'' which had a major impact on shape-note song books in the Southern United States.
==Biography== Wyeth was born on March 31, 1770, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Ebenezer Wyeth II and Mary Wyeth. His father fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill,<ref name=Lueck>{{cite web | title = Ellen Lueck, ''Sacred Harp Singing In Europe: Its Pathways, Spaces, And Meanings'' | year = 2017 | url = https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c71e/53149775822dfd18a2ae6e99488017e1c6a5.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191216222542/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c71e/53149775822dfd18a2ae6e99488017e1c6a5.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = 16 December 2019 | access-date = 16 December 2019 | df = dmy-all | last1 = Lueck | first1 = Ellen }}</ref> and his younger brother, Joshua Wyeth, participated in the Boston Tea Party.<ref>{{cite web | last = Boston Tea Party Historical Society | title = Account by Joshua Wyeth | url = http://www.boston-tea-party.org/account-Joshua-Wyeth.html| access-date = 16 December 2019 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> He learned printing through an apprenticeship and worked as a printer in Santo Domingo. After the outbreak of the Haitian Revolution in 1791, he moved to Philadelphia, and finally settled in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In 1792, he began the publication of the ''Oracle of Dauphin'' newspaper and worked in that role until 1827.<ref name="Egle">{{cite book |last1=Egle |first1=William Henry |author-link=William Henry Egle|title=History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon |date=1883 |publisher=Everts & Peck |location=Philadelphia |pages=554–5 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028852675 |chapter=John Wyeth |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028852675/page/n655}}</ref><ref>"The first number of ''The Oracle of Dauphin and Harrisburg Advertiser'' was issued October 20, 1792, by John W. Allen and John Wyeth." {{cite journal |last1=Anonymous |date=October 1886 |title=The First Newspaper Published in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania |journal=The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=251–255 |jstor= 20083145}} The bulk of the article relates to ''The Harrisburgh Journal and the Weekly Advertiser'', which preceded the ''Oracle of Dauphin'' as the first Harrisburgh newspaper. </ref> In 1793, he was appointed postmaster by George Washington, but was removed in 1798 by John Adams who saw a conflict of interest in having a newspaper man also act as postmaster.<ref name="Egle"/>
He established a book store and publishing house which published many books including ''History of the United States of America'' and ''Graydon's Memoirs''.<ref name="Egle"/> He discovered a market for tunebooks (with printed music) of sacred music at a time when "hymnal" referred to a book with words only. In 1810, he published Joseph Doll's ''Der leichte Unterricht in der Vokal Musik'' for the German-speaking market, and ''Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music'', for moderate evangelical Christians. In 1813, he published a ''Second Part'' of the ''Repository of Sacred Music,'' containing songs for Methodists and Baptists. These works became extremely popular and sold over 150,000 copies.<ref>{{cite web |title=John Wyeth |url=https://songsandhymns.org/people/detail/john-wyeth |website=songsandhymns.org |publisher=Center for Church Music |access-date=6 May 2025}}</ref>
Both versions of ''Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music'' used the four-shape system of Little and Smith in ''The Easy Instructor'' to appeal to a wider audience. However, the inclusion of American folk tunes in ''Second Part'' strongly influenced subsequent folk hymn, camp meeting, and shape note collections. Musicologist Warren Steel sees ''Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second'' as marking "the end of the age of New England composer-compilers (1770–1810) and the beginning of the age of southern collector-compilers (1816–1860)."<ref name="Steel">David Warren Steel, "John Wyeth and the Development of Southern Folk Hymnody", ''Music from the Middle Ages Through the 20th Century: Essays in Honor of Gwynn McPeek,'' Carmelo P. Comberiati and Matthew C. Steel, eds. (London: Gordon & Breach, 1988), pp. 357–374. Available on-line at {{cite web |last=Steel |title=John Wyeth and the Development of Southern Folk Hymnody |url=http://home.olemiss.edu/~mudws/wyeth.html |access-date=7 March 2021 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>
Although published in the north, ''Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second'', had a profound influence on Southern shape-note song books.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Music |first1=David W. |title=A Selection of Shape-note Folk Hymns |date=2005 |publisher=A-R Editions, Inc. |location=Middleton, Wisconsin |isbn=0-89579-575-2 |page=ix |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Selection_of_Shape_note_Folk_Hymns/-47A9N84GDMC |access-date=6 May 2025}}</ref> Of the 41 folk-hymns introduced here, 10 were used by Ananias Davisson in the ''Kentucky Harmony'' (1816), 20 by William Walker in the ''Southern Harmony'' (1835), and six in the Sacred Harp (1844).<ref>Recordings of one such anonymous folk tune, "Vienna" (p. 105 in ''Part Two'') can be found on YouTube by searching for "Shenandoah Harmony 321b Vienna".</ref> The popular hymn, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" was composed by Wyeth and was based on the tune ''Nettleton'' named for Reverend Asahel Nettleton.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Osbeck |first1=Kenneth W. |title=101 Hymn Stories - The Inspiring True Stories Behind 101 Favorite Hymns |date=1982 |publisher=Kregel Publications |location=Grand Rapids, MI |isbn=9780825493270 |pages=52-53 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/101_Hymn_Stories/kN-FilvMftwC |access-date=6 May 2025}}</ref>
One additional element of ''Part Second,'' the appearance of English hymns, such as the ten tunes attributed to Martin Madan, was part of an on-going trend in the northern states,<ref name="Lowens64">Irving Lowens, "Introduction" to ''Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second'' Irving Lowens, ed. (New York: Da Capo Press, 1964), p. xiv.</ref> but ignored by Southern tunebook compilers, who increasingly turned to regional folk tunes as sources of inspiration.
In 1818 he published ''Choral Harmonie enthaltend Kirchen-Melodien'' for German Lutherans.<ref name=Lueck/>
Wyeth did not have any formal musical training or attend one of the singing schools typical of the time. He attributed his success to liking church music; knowing the "taste" of teachers (but not studying under them); and owning a collection of books from which to cull. Musicologist Irving Lowens suggests that his motivations may have been strictly business.<ref name="Lowens74">Irving Lowens, "Introduction" to ''Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music,'' Irving Lowens, ed. (New York: Da Capo Press, 1974), p. vii.</ref> Ross Ellison mentions the shrewdness in discovering a newly emerging musical market (revival music and camp meeting songs) as the significance of Wyeth's contribution to American music.<ref>"John Wyeth has earned a niche in the history of American music not because he was a musician, but rather because he was a shrewd enough publisher to recognize the cultural and musical forces at work in Pennsylvania..." Ross W. Ellison, "John Wyeth, Early American Tunebook Publisher", ''The American Music Teacher,'' Vol. 25, No. 1, (Sep 1, 1975), p. 22.</ref> Warren Steel qualifies this assessment by drawing attention to the fact that Wyeth grew up in the Boston-Cambridge area at a time when singing-schools were popular, and William Billings and others were creating American choral music.<ref name="Steel" />
He was a supporter of Harrisburg Academy and served as trustee and president.<ref name="Egle"/>
His first wife was Louisa Weiss, together they had three children,<ref>{{cite web | title = Geni: John Wyeth | date = 31 March 1770 | url = https://www.geni.com/people/John-Wyeth/6000000025650813728 | access-date = 16 December 2019 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> but she died in 1822. He was remarried in 1826 to Lydia Allen.<ref name="Egle"/> His son Louis Wyeth became a county judge of Marshall County, Alabama.<ref>{{cite web | title = Biography: Louis Weiss Wyeth born June 20, 1812' | url = https://www.alabamapioneers.com/biography-louis-weiss-wyeth-born-1812/ | access-date = 21 December 2019 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> After retiring, he moved to Philadelphia, where he died on January 23, 1858.<ref name="Egle"/> He was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.<ref>{{cite web |title=John Wyeth |url=https://remembermyjourney.com/memorials/john-wyeth?id=x0ZkWbPm |website=remembermyjourney.com |publisher=webCemeteries |access-date=29 January 2025}}</ref>
== Publications == * {{cite book |last=Graydon |first=Alexander |author-link=Alexander Graydon |year=1811 |url=https://archive.org/details/memoirsalifechi01graygoog |title=Memoirs of a Life, Chiefly Passed in Pennsylvania, Within the Last Sixty Years; With Occasional Remarks Upon the General Occurrences, Character and Spirit of that Eventful Period |publisher=John Wyeth |location=Harrisburg |oclc=13597246}} * {{cite book |last1=Wyeth |first1=John |year=1813 |title=Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second |publisher=John Wyeth |location=Harrisburg |oclc=20911454}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www1.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/John_Wyeth John Wyeth page on ChoralWiki] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216204414/http://www1.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/John_Wyeth |date=2019-12-16 }} * [https://imslp.org/index.php?title=Wyeth%27s_Repository_of_Sacred_Music,_Part_II_(Various)&oldid=3374639 Scan of ''Wyeth's Repository, Part Second'' at the Petrucci Music Library]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyeth, John}} Category:1770 births Category:1858 deaths Category:1813 in music Category:18th-century American newspaper publishers (people) Category:19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) Category:Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Category:Hymnal editors Category:Music publishers (people) Category:Pennsylvania postmasters Category:People from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Category:Shape note