The Story of William H. Doane

Posted by Lily Topolski Music on Dec 9th 2024

Cotton manufacturer, president of a wood-working company, businessman, inventor, composer, and songbook editor? Though it may seem hard to believe, these terms all describe one man: William Howard Doane. Many of the writers that we have looked at have their stories beginning in England, but this man's story takes place in the United States of America.

In Preston, Connecticut, 1832, William H. Doane was born to Joseph and Frances Doane. William Doane, one of nine children, was quite a musically gifted child. He already sang frequently when he was only six years old and started singing in his church choir when he was ten. By the time he was fifteen, he was proficient at the flute, double bass viol, and cabinet organ and had begun composing his own music.

It was at this time in 1847 that Doane also began working for his father at Doane & Treat, a cotton manufacturer. After three years, he moved on to a higher position in J.A. Fay & Co (where he would eventually become president), which manufactured machinery for woodworking. In 1857, he married Frances Treat, whose father had partnered with his own in Doane & Treat.

Though a busy man, Doane still found time to compose music and wrote around 2,300 songs in his lifetime. He often worked with other writers such as Fanny Crosby and it is said that he is the composer of the music for roughly 1,500 of her lyrics. Some of his tunes include Near the Cross, Rescue the Perishing, and Pass Me Not. At the age of 83, Doane passed away in December of 1915, just before Christmas, but his popular tunes live on and continue to bless the church to this day.