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Atkinson, John, D.D., born at Deerfield, New Jersey, Sept. 6, 1835, and educated for the Ministry, which he now exercises in the American Methodist Episcopal Church. His very popular hymn, "We shall meet beyond the river," was written in Jan., 1867. It appeared in Bright Jewels (to music composed for it in Feb. 1867 by Hubert P. Main), in 1869, No. 43, in 4 stanzas of 8 lines. From thence both words and music passed into I. D. Sankey's Sacred Songs & Solos, No. 109.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Atkinson, John. (Deerfield, New Jersey, December 6, 1835--December 8, 1897, Haverstraw, New York). Methodist. Clergyman, with pastorates in Newark and Jersey City, N.J.; Chicago, Illinois; Bay City, Michigan; and Haverstraw, N.Y. A fervent and fiery preacher. Author of several books of sermons, of histories of early American Methodism, and of the widely used hymn "We shall meet beyond the river."

--Anastasia Van Burkalow, DNAH Archives