Tullius Clinton O'Kane

Tullius Clinton O'Kane was an American educator, composer, hymn writer, editor, and publisher whose work became closely associated with the nineteenth-century Sunday-school and gospel-song movement. Born in Fairfield County, Ohio, on March 10, 1830, he entered Ohio Wesleyan University in 1849, graduated with the A.B. degree in 1852, and received the A.M. degree three years later. He remained at Ohio Wesleyan for several years as a tutor in mathematics. Contemporary biographical material also credits him with leading chapel music, organizing a choral society, and teaching music at the related women's college.

In 1857 O'Kane became a principal in the Cincinnati public schools. He later worked for Philip Phillips's music business and, after returning to Delaware, Ohio, traveled for the Smith American Organ Company. Those journeys took him to conferences and Sunday-school conventions, where he also promoted his own songbooks. His compositions began appearing in print in the 1860s, and his first book, Fresh Leaves, was published in 1868. Later collections included Dew Drops of Sacred Song, Songs of Worship, Every Sabbath, Jasper and Gold, Redeemer's Praise, Glorious Things, and Morning Stars. He also collaborated with his son Edward T. O'Kane on Selected Anthems.

O'Kane wrote both texts and tunes, but individual attributions require care. For There Stands a Rock, hymnological sources report that the three stanzas had appeared anonymously in the Sunday School Journal in 1871, while O'Kane supplied the refrain and musical setting in 1872. Later books sometimes credited the entire song to him. He died in Delaware, Ohio, on February 10, 1912.