Joseph Funk

{{Short description|American music teacher, publisher, and composer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}} thumb|Joseph Funk's tombstone in Singers Glen, Virginia thumb|Funk's home in Singers Glen

'''Joseph Funk''' (1778–1862) was a pioneer American music teacher, publisher, and an early American composer.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uqT-CJYcqskC&pg=PA134|title=Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music|first=W. K.|last=McNeil|date=November 30, 2017|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9780415941792|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.voxnovus.com/resources/American_Composer_Timeline.htm|title=American Composer Timeline|first=Robert|last=Voisey|website=www.voxnovus.com}}</ref> He invented a shape note system in 1851 for the Harmonia Sacra.

==Biography== Funk was born April 6, 1778 (though his gravestone states March 9, 1777), in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, the son of Henry and Barbara (Showalter) Funk, and a grandson of Bishop Heinrich Funck, a German Palatine settler of Bernese Swiss descent. Bishop Funck came to America in 1719, and was the first Mennonite bishop in America. As a boy, Joseph moved with his parents to Rockingham County, Virginia, and spent the rest of his life there.

In 1804, Funk married Elizabeth Rhodes, and they had five children. After her death, he married Rachel Britton, and they raised nine children.

He was a member of the Mennonite Church. In 1847, he established the first Mennonite printing house in the United States, at Mountain Valley, Virginia (renamed Singers Glen in 1860). Funk and his sons were active in organizing and teaching many singing schools in Virginia.

Funk died December 24, 1862, and is buried in the cemetery at Singers Glen. Funk compiled and published seven books and periodicals:<ref>{{Citation | last = Hostetler | first = John A. |authorlink=John A. Hostetler | contribution = Funk, Joseph (1778-1862) | year = 1956 | title = Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online | contribution-url = http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/F87ME.html }}</ref> :*''Ein allgemein nützliche Choral-Music'' (1816) :*''A Compilation of Genuine Church Music'' (1832) :*''The Confession of Faith'' (1837) :*''A Collection of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs'' (1847) :*''The Reviewer Reviewed'' (1857) :*''The Southern Musical Advocate and Singer's Friend'' :*''J. and D. Brenneman, Hymns''

The 1847 fourth edition of Funk's ''A Compilation of Genuine Church Music'' was the first publication by Joseph Funk and Sons at Singers Glen. The name was changed to ''Harmonia Sacra'' in 1851. The book is still is in use by Mennonites today. ''The Southern Musical Advocate and Singer's Friend'' was a 16-page monthly periodical published by Funk from 1859 to 1861. It was a forerunner of ''The Musical Million and Fireside Friend'', a periodical published by Funk's grandson, Aldine S. Kieffer. Joseph Funk's sons continued the printing business after his death. The Ruebush-Kieffer Company purchased the press in 1878.<ref>{{Citation | last = Hostetler | first = John A. | contribution = Joseph Funk Press | year = 1956 | title = Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online | contribution-url = http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/F871ME.html }}</ref>

The Joseph Funk House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Funk, Joseph}} Category:1778 births Category:1862 deaths Category:American male composers Category:Composers from Pennsylvania Category:American Mennonites Category:American music publishers (people) Category:American people of Pennsylvania Dutch descent Category:American people of Swiss-German descent Category:Mennonite writers Category:Mennonitism in Virginia Category:Composers from Virginia Category:Hymnal editors Category:Musicians from Bucks County, Pennsylvania Category:People from Rockingham County, Virginia Category:Shape note Category:Mennonite musicians