In 2011, when I was working on what would become Tales from Altoona’s Cemeteries, I came up with a list of individuals buried at Altoona-Walnut Grove Cemetery that I wanted to highlight in the book. Growing up in church, I was familiar with old hymn, “Power in the Blood.” I recall before starting the song or immediately after, Alfred Sartin would always mention that the hymn’s author was buried in Altoona-Walnut Grove Cemetery. On one occasion, I remember him starting that he was told this by someone with the surname Freeman. As I grew older, I heard the same story recounted from others in the community. With this in mind, I knew I had to profile the author, Lewis E. Jones.
As I did with all the individuals in the book, I began researching on Ancestry, building information, and compiling a family tree. From that point I tracked down the names of children and, in some cases, grandchildren, to begin the process of contacting living descendants for information. In the case of Lewis Ellington Jones, it all began with a simple trip to the cemetery. I found his headstone with the epitaph, “Author of There’s power in the blood, We shall see the king some day, and other songs.” His plot also included a second headstone for his wife, Mary Scott Jones. After conducting further Ancestry research, I was able to track down a several living descendants. One, grandson (and namesake) Lewis Ellington Jones, of Phenix City was especially helpful with providing most of the information on the life of Jones.[1]
He provided me with several photographs of the headstones of Lewis Ellington Jones and his wife from the 1970s, as well as a photo of a third headstone, that of Rev. William Newton Jones, the father of Lewis Ellington Jones who was also buried in Altoona-Walnut Grove Cemetery. Mr. Jones later explained that Rev. Newton Jones headstone was later destroyed by inmates who were assigned to clean the cemetery. Mr. Jones attempted to repair the headstone, but his efforts were unsuccessful, and the headstone was later lost.
In his notes on his grandfather, Mr. Jones wrote: “Lew was educated and an accomplished musician on the old foot petal pump-type church organ. To relieve the stress and boredom of his vocation, he composed religious hymns. His wife, Mary would later recite to her grandchildren how Lew asked her to write down the words to, ‘There is Power in the Blood.’ She demurred protesting that she didn’t trust her ability to do so. But she concurred and helped him. Lew’s Son, Ben remembered his father sitting down at the organ, pulling out the various tonal knobs and playing beautiful music.” Also included with the letter was a photocopy from a hymn book with sheet music for “Lean on His arms.” There are two sets of handwriting at the top of the page and around the title. The first, closest to the title reads, “Davis…. Met miss Mary Scott in spring 1902, living in East Altoona…” The remaining part is illegible. Directly above this is a second note in blue ink which states, “The writing below tells that Lewis Jones met Miss Mary Scott in spring 1902, and that she lived at East Altoona. I can’t discern the other writing. This is in his handwriting.”[2]
With all this information at hand, I began to type the biography of Jones. When I reached a memorial to Jones by Cynthia Scott in the Southern Democrat, I did find it odd that his musical accomplishments were not mentioned.[3] However, many men were not remembered during their time, and at the time of his death, his music may not have been widely known. I finished the biography and published the book.
Several years later I received a text message from my brother asking about Jones. I relayed my knowledge to him that he was buried at Altoona-Walnut Grove and that he was the author of “Power in the Blood.” He responded that there may be some controversy over the authorship and pointed me to a website.[4] The link sent me to the hymntime.com author page of Lewis Edgar Jones (1865-1936) who it listed as the author of “Power in the Blood”, “We shall see the king some day,” and 187 other gospel songs. I thought the revelation was interesting, and it was curious that Lewis Edgar Jones was in the same class as Billy Sunday at Moody Bible Institute. The site also mentioned Lewis Ellington Jones being buried in Altoona-Walnut Grove Cemetery but claimed his purported authorship of the songs as an “error.” Whatever the case, I planned to revisit the topic at some point and set the record straight with the information I had in my possession.
October 2023
I usually take months in research and write about a topic, with many breaks in between. Having just finished The Jewish Merchants of Altoona (coming soon), I wanted to quickly check project off my list. I came across Lewis Ellington Jones and decided that with minimal effort I could probably clarify the authorship issue from of the site and type up a short blog post, emphasizing sources and the case of mistaken identities in history. While the points regarding sources and mistaken identity remain valid, it turns out I was the one who needed to be corrected.
Which Jones is the writer and composer?
Last night (October 27, 2023), I had some free time, so I pulled up the Hymntime website. My plan was to email the owner with the information I had and wait for a reply to see what Information they had to back up their claim. However, to my surprise, the biography section was expanded and contained additional information.[1] Most notable was an excerpt from an October 1932 letter from Lewis Edgar Jones to Haldor Lilenas:[2] “In regard to the writing of my songs, would say that a great many came from sentences in a pastor’s sermons. Since I began this work, I have always been listening for some such inspiration. I remember that ‘Power in the Blood’ was written during a camp meeting at Mountain Lake Park, Maryland.”
Two things immediately stuck out to me. The first was that the letter was penned 25 years after the death of Altoona’s Lewis Ellington Jones. The second was that Lewis Edgar Jones lived until September 1, 1936, almost 20 years after Altoona’s Lewis Ellington Jones, and the letter was published in a national magazine in 1950.
My thoughts traveled to Altoona’s Lewis Ellington Jones’ headstone. It did not match his wife’s, who died in 1954 and had a simple in ground headstone. While the stone favored his father’s, who passed away in 1914, it was still completely different. The font and type on the headstones for Lewis and his wife do appear to be similar, which could indicate that his headstone was placed at the time of his wife’s death and burial in 1954. The photographs provided by his namesake grandson proved that it was in place during the 1970s, but was it there prior?
Turning to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints survey of Altoona-Walnut Grove Cemetery from July 1963, all three Jones’ appear.[3] The listing includes a line for “birthplace & remarks,” and while many of them relay headstone epitaphs, military branch information, or relations, Lewis Ellington Jones remains blank. The headstones of Rebecca and Rev. W.N. Jones also appear on the list without any remarks, although their headstones have the epitaphs, “God is good,” and “I know that my redeemer liveth.”
I also checked plot records for Walnut Grove Cemetery from 1951.[4] It lists the plot owner as J.W. Jones. Looking at my previous notes, I found that J.W. Jones likely referred to John W. Jones, the older brother of Lewis, who did not marry and died in 1959. Interestingly, he was buried in Polk County, Georgia next to his mother instead of the Walnut Grove Cemetery plot that he had purchased.[5]
At this point, my thoughts turned to the letter and information Mr. Jones sent me during my research on his grandfather. One sentence stuck out to me, “His wife, Mary would later recite to her grandchildren how Lew asked her to write down the words to, ‘There is Power in the Blood.’ She demurred protesting that she didn’t trust her ability to do so. But she concurred and helped him.” Based on this, the song, “Power in the blood” was composed after their marriage in 1904.[6] I did some searching and found a site, hymnary.org that appears to be the go-to database for hymns, hymn books, composers, etc. I did a search for “Power in the Blood” and was presented with the hymn page showcasing the text, author bio, scripture text and a plethora of other information.[7] At the very bottom of the page is a section called “instances,” which references where the song can be found in various hymn books in the database. Searching through instances revealed something very surprising. “Power in the Blood,” first appeared in the 1899 Songs of Redemption hymn book published by the Christian Witness Company of Boston.[8] It also appeared in other song books in 1900 and 1901.[9] In fact, the site holds records of it being published in various hymn books up 1904, the date that Lewis Ellington Jones married his wife.
Conclusion
At this point, it’s obvious that Lewis Ellington Jones, buried in Altoona-Walnut Grove Cemetery, with a headstone inscription, “Author of There’s power in the blood, We shall see the king some day, and other songs,” is not the author of either hymn.. I place no blame on his grandson, Lewis Ellington Jones, who passed away in December 2019.[1] Nothing in our correspondence leads me to believe he was being deceptive in any way. At the time of Jones’s death, his oldest child, Lillian Irene, was just 10 years old. His son, Benjamin, who recalled his father sitting at the organ and playing music was, 8 years old at the time Jones;s death.
Where did the family legend get its start? Was it with his wife, Mary Jones, or perhaps with Lewis Ellington Jones himself? There is some truth in every legend, and although the song was published in several songbooks by the time of their marriage, it may not have been widely known. Perhaps Lewis, sharing a name with the author, had encountered some of Edgar Jones’s compositions and “composed them to family” in jest. It’s not unthinkable that Lewis Ellington Jones was an organist and may have composed several hymns that remained unpublished, just not the most popular ones attributed to Lewis Edgar Jones. Again, neither Jones’ 1917 memorial article, Mary Scott Jones’s 1957 obituary, or any other news article in between make mention of Lewis Ellington Jones hymn writing or attribute “Power in the Blood,” or “We shall see the king someday” to him.[2] Probably most telling is the fact that the song is titled “Power in the Blood,” while Jones’s headstone and family notes refer to it as “There’s Power in the Blood.”
Almost every family has some legend. I think the most common is that of an Indian princess. Unfortunately, as shown by modern DNA results, most families are left disappointed. Likewise, every hymnbook (at least that I have reviewed) attributed the hymn to Lewis E. Jones without specifying the middle name. Who would have thought that the power of the internet would have brought together early hymnbooks and an obscure letter to shed light on the authorship of gospel hymns? It also goes to show that while topics can be thoroughly researched and cited, there is always room for error. At some point, I plan to revise Tales from Altoona’s Cemeteries: Volume 1 with this updated information.
[1] https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/phenix-city-al/lewis-jones-8979274
[2] “Jones, Mrs. Mary Scott,” 4 August 1954, The Montgomery Advertiser, Page 6.
[1] This information may have been on the site when I first glanced at it years ago, but in my haste, I overlooked it.
[2] Preacher’s Magazine, Volume 25, Number 1, January-February 1950, pp.37-38.
[3] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1963. Index of Cemetery Survey Etowah County Alabama, Page 92.
[4] Jones is buried in what was then Walnut Grove Cemetery, not the Altoona Miners cemetery. These cemeteries were combined to form the Altoona-Walnut Grove Cemetery in 1951.
[5] At the time of his death in 1914, Rev. W.N. Jones was not in the state and his dying wish was to the buried in Walnut Grove Cemetery. His wife moved to Cedartown, Georgia to be closer to her family. Upon her death in 1928, she was buried there.
[6] Blount County Marriage Certificate, 12/19/1904.
[7] https://hymnary.org/text/would_you_be_free_from_the_burden_jones
[8] https://hymnary.org/hymn/SoR1899/185
[9] https://hymnary.org/hymn/NSoG1900/74, https://hymnary.org/hymn/HK1901/108, https://hymnary.org/hymn/EEHS1903/58, https://hymnary.org/hymn/BSSV1901/103
[1] Personal correspondence with the author, specifically a letter dated August 15, 2012. Letter remains in possession of the author.
[2] His referring to Lewis Ellington Jones?
[3] “In Memory of L.E. Jones”, 28 June 1917, The Southern Democrat, P.5
[4] http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/j/o/n/e/s/l/jones_le.htm
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