"The Little Brown Church in the Vale" also called "The Church in the Wildwood"
Victor Male Quartet
Victor 17982
1915
Song by William S. Pitts.
W. S. (William Savage) Pitts was born in 1830. He died in 1918. He wrote, "One bright afternoon of a day in June 1857, I first set foot in old Bradford, Iowa, coming by stage from McGregor. My home was in Wisconsin. The spot where the Little Brown Church now stands was a setting of rare beauty. There was no church there, but the spot was there waiting for it. When back in my home I wrote the song ‘The Little Brown Church in the Vale.’ I put the manuscript away. In the spring of 1862 I returned to Iowa and settled at Fredericksburg…In the years of 1859 and 1860 the good people of Bradford were determined to build a church…By the early winter of 1864 the building was ready for dedication. While I was holding the singing school, near its close in the spring, the class went one evening to the church. It was not then seated, but rude seats were improvised. My manuscript of the song I had brought with me from Wisconsin. It had never been sung before by anyone but myself. I sang it there. Soon afterwards I took the manuscript to Chicago [Illinois], where it was published by H. M. Higgins. It won a speedy recognition locally and with the years won its way into the hearts of the people of the world."
There’s a church in the valley by the wildwood,
No lovelier spot in the dale;
No place is so dear to my childhood,
As the little brown church in the vale.
Come to the church in the wildwood,
Oh, come to the church in the dale,
No spot is so dear to my childhood,
As the little brown church in the vale.
How sweet on a clear, Sabbath morning,
To list to the clear ringing bell;
Its tones so sweetly are calling,
Oh, come to the church in the vale.
There, close by the church in the valley,
Lies one that I loved so well;
She sleeps, sweetly sleeps, ’neath the willow,
Disturb not her rest in the vale.
There, close by the side of that loved one,
To trees where the wild flowers bloom,
When the farewell hymn shall be chanted
I shall rest by her side in the tomb.
From the church in the valley by the wildwood,
When day fades away into night,
I would fain from this spot of my childhood
Wing my way to the mansions of light.
