Flow Gently, Sweet Afton (1837) - Jonathan Spilman

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Jonathan Edwards Spilman was a Kentucky lawyer, minister, and composer, and graduated from Illinois College in 1835. While at Transylvania Law School, 1837, he wrote the music for Robert Burns' "Flow gently, sweet Afton," the best-remembered of his seven melodies. An adaptation of this music was used in one of the tunes to "Away in a Manger." He was married to Mary V.J. Menefee, who died in 1843. Two years later, on 10 April 1845, he married Eliza Sarah Taylor (1822–1866), a niece of U.S. President Zachary Taylor. They had ten children, of whom six survived: Charles, Louise, William, Byrd, Clara, and Lewis. His wife Eliza died on 10 August 1866, as the result of a fire aboard the steamboat Bostona No. 3 in Maysville, Kentucky. Working as a lawyer for 18 years, he became Presbyterian minister at the age of 46. A Historical Marker was erected in the city of Greenville in his memory.