Benjamin Lloyd's Hymn Book

While Benjamin Lloyd (1804-1860) may not be known to many of us, the nineteenth-century Baptist pastor, merchant, land speculator, church and public official, plantation owner, and father of nineteen children continues to have an effect upon the lives and religious expressions of Primitive Baptist families and congregations. More than forty editions have appeared of the book of hymn texts that he first compiled in 1841. After Lloyd's death, first his widow, then a daughter-in-law, and finally the latter's daughters kept Primitive Hymns in print until the copyright was sold in 1971 to the Primitive Hymns Corporation of Rocky Mount, North Carolina (an association formed specifically to keep the book in print). Clearly the book has filled an important niche for more than a century and a half. That fact alone would make Lloyd's work of interest to folklorists, ethnomusicologists, American studies scholars, and cultural historians

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