Nehemiah Shumway (August 26, 1761 – July 1843) was an American composer of sacred music, teacher, and farmer.
Shumway was born in Oxford, Massachusetts, the youngest of seven children of Amos Shumway and Ruth Parker. [1] He graduated from the College of Rhode Island in 1790, and became principal of the Freehold Academy in New Jersey.
Shumway married Sarah/Sara Tice/Tyse [2] on December 10, 1795. She was baptised in Freehold on July 4, 1773, and died in Lyme, New York, in 1831. They had four children together, but no known grandchildren. [3]
Shumway moved to Albany, New York, where his first two sons were born in 1796 and 1798, relocated to Schenectady in around 1800, and returned to Albany in 1806. [3] In 1820 he settled in Lyme; after he lost his farm there through a title defect. A few years later he returned to Freehold, where he died in 1843. [3]
Shumway is best remembered today for two fuguing tunes included in The Sacred Harp, " Schenectady" and " Ballstown," though others, including "Pennsylvania," " Westminster," "Judgment," and "Creation," are still found in shape note books in print as of 2012. [4] He is also believed by some to have been the composer of the tune "New Jordan" (Sacred Harp p. 442), attributed to him by Ananias Davisson. [5]
His sacred tunebook The American Harmony was published in Philadelphia in 1793 (2nd ed. 1801). (Note: There were several publications of this name in the same period.)