Alfred Beirly, the composer of OUR KING (“In Hymns of Praise,” no. 75 in the current Latter-day Saint hymnal), was a well-known nineteen century music publisher and songwriter. Today, Beirly and his works are mostly forgotten, to the extent that it has become nearly impossible to find any information at all concerning his life. In fact, the biographical sketch below would not have been possible without the discovery of one important piece of information: the death notice for a woman named Susan Bollinger Bierly (1835-1898). An extract from this death notice, available online courtesy of the Allen County (Indiana) Public Library, includes the note that her husband, Joseph Bierly (1831-1906), was “brother to well-known composer & publisher of music, Alfred Bierly, of Chicago.” This clue led to other discoveries, which made it possible to finally uncover Beirly’s identity.
Alfred Beirly was born in Madisonburg, Centre County, Pennsylvania on July 22, 1848, the youngest of nine children born to Michael Bierly (1801-1884) and Maria Mallory Bierly (ca. 1809-1857). Noah, as he was known to his family, was educated at the public schools near his hometown. At an early age he manifested a talent and love for music, and as a young boy received his first real musical training as the member of a military band. He later attended the Conservatory of Music at Boston, Massachusetts.
Beirly’s career began as the member of a band at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, and he afterward taught music for several years in Pennsylvania, in Lycoming and Dauphin counties. He was also at one time a prominent member of the Lin-ta Band, of Towanda, Pennsylvania, “one of the best and most finely equipped bands, in instruments and uniforms, in the State.” (History of the Towandas, 338)
He moved to Elmira, New York, in the late 1870s, and there worked as a shoemaker at the Richardson shoe factory. Beirly was actively engaged in the musical affairs of Elmira, and his trained tenor voice “was much in vogue with the competent musicians of that time.” (Elmira Star-Gazette, June 22, 1914)
In 1881 he moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and the following year he removed to Jersey City, New Jersey, to take charge of a church choir. Beirly was a member of the Episcopal Church.
He moved to Chicago in 1887, and three years later began publishing Beirly’s Popular Choir Serial, a musical monthly which enjoyed a wide circulation. Beirly published several song books for school and church choirs. He was also a prolific songwriter, often writing both words and music, and his compositions are said to number near one thousand. His most ambitious work was the sacred oratorio Emmanuel (1902). In 1903 a doctorate of music degree was conferred upon Beirly by Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio.
Beirly never married, and spent the last several years of his life at the Presser Home for Aged Musicians (now known as the Presser Home for Retired Music Teachers), in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia. He died on January 2, 1929, at the age of eighty, at the Pennsylvania State Hospital in Norristown. He was buried two days later at Ivy Hill cemetery in Philadelphia.
Notes:
*Alfred Beirly’s last name was originally spelled Bierly, but according to his 2nd cousin Willis Reed Bierly (1847-1930), he “changed the letters in his name to sound ‘Byerly.’” (John J. Weaver, “Cornet Bands of Centre County,” Millheim [Pennsylvania] Journal, October 11, 1928, n. p., clipping found online at https://archive.org/details/cornetbandsofcen00weav/page/n9)
*In census records for the years 1850 and 1860, his name is recorded as “Noah.” It is not certain whether Noah was his first or middle name. In some sources his name is given as “Dr. Alfred N. Bierly,” while in others it is listed as “Prof. N. Alfred Bierly.” (For the former spelling, see obituaries in sources below; for the latter, see Millheim [Pennsylvania] Journal, November 26, 1885, [3].)
*The death notice for Susan Bollinger Beirly was published in the Evangelical Messenger on May 28, 1898, a transcription of which is found online at the website of the Allen County Public Library (Fort Wayne, Indiana) http://www.genealogycenter.info/results_evanmessenger.php?daterange=1&obityear=1898
accessed August 7, 2011)
*Beirly’s uncle, Peter Bierly (1814-1868) was also a musician, and built an organ in his wagon shop in 1855. According to Beirly, his Uncle Peter “sent his boys out into the woods back of Madisonburg to gather the ribs of animals that had been carted out and from these he fashioned the keys of his organ, which he himself played. He organized a band in his own family and they traveled through Centre and Clinton counties, and gave free entertainments.” (Weaver, n. p.)
Sources:
“Bierly” [obituary], Centre Democrat (Bellefonte, Pennsylvania), January 17, 1929; “Bierly” [obituary], Centre Reporter (Centre Hall, Pennsylvania), January 17, 1929; “Bierly” [obituary], Democratic Watchman (Bellefonte, Pennsylvania), January 11, 1929; Bradford Reporter (Towanda, Pennsylvania), February 20, 1879, [3]; “Great Joy,” Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Telegraph, October 18, 1881, 4; “Pertinent Paragraphs,” Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Daily Patriot, December 29, 1882, 4; Millheim (Pennsylvania) Journal, November 26, 1885, 3; “Honored Musician,” Elmira Telegram, August 9,1903, [7]; “Elmira Man Plans Flag,” Elmira Star-Gazette, March 7, 1911, 10; “With Pad and Pencil,” Elmira Star-Gazette, June 22, 1914, 6; “Loop Elevated is Eliminated in Latest Scheme,” Chicago Daily Tribune, March 20, 1922, 11; C. F. Heverly, History of the Towandas, 1776-1886 (Towanda, Penn.: Reporter-Journal Printing Company, 1886), 338; John J. Weaver, “Cornet Bands of Centre County,” Millheim [Pennsylvania] Journal, October 11, 1928, n. p., clipping found online at https://archive.org/details/cornetbandsofcen00weav/page/n9) ; Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Death certificate no. 11034 (1929), Alfred Beirly, Pennsylvania Division of Vital Records, Norristown; 1850 U. S. Census, Centre County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Miles Township, p. 38A (image 81), dwelling 242, family 437, Noah Bearly in household of Michael Bearly, database with images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed 20 August 2011) citing NARA microfilm M432; 1860 U. S. Census, Centre County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Miles Township, line 9, dwelling 1095, family 1124, Noah Bearly in household of Michael Bearly, database with images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed 20 August 2011) citing NARA microfilm M653, FHL microfilm 805090.
Latter-day Saint Hymnology 
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