“A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief”

is a seven-stanza poem written in 1826 by James Montgomery. It was set as a hymn in England, where it was included in the Latter Day Saints’ Manchester Hymnal used in England from 1840 to 1912. The hymn was brought back to the United States in the mid-19th century, and was a favorite hymn of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. However, new music was composed for it by Ebenezer Beesley in 1889, and the new tune is the one that is published today in hymnals. The original tune was lost for many years but was found in 2008 by a descendant of Beesley’s in an old notebook.

This arrangement uses: