Will Lamartine Thompson

Will Lamartine Thompson was an American songwriter, composer, music publisher, and businessman born in 1847 in the Ohio-Pennsylvania border region near East Liverpool. The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology gives his birthplace as Smith's Ferry, Pennsylvania, while some later hymn indexes list East Liverpool, Ohio. He graduated from Mount Union College in 1870, pursued musical study in Boston, including at the New England Conservatory, and continued his training in Leipzig, Germany.

After established publishers showed limited interest in his early songs, Thompson built his own publishing enterprise in East Liverpool and later maintained a Chicago office. His company published sheet music and song collections and also sold pianos, organs, and other musical supplies. He wrote both secular and sacred music; among his other enduring gospel songs are “Jesus Is All the World to Me,” “Lead Me Gently Home, Father,” and “There's a Great Day Coming.”

Thompson wrote both the words and music of “Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling,” first published in 1880. Later sources disagree about his precise denominational affiliation, variously associating him with Churches of Christ and Methodist or Presbyterian settings, so no denomination is assigned here. He became ill during a European trip and died in New York City in 1909.