Samuel Ward was born on December 28, 1848, in Newark, New Jersey. He started playing the accordion when he was six years old, and by the age of sixteen, he was an organist at a church in New York City. Later, he owned a music store, played the organ at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, and composed music.

Ward wrote the melody for 'Materna' on his way home from a trip to Coney Island, an amusement park at a beach in Brooklyn, New York. The tune just popped into his head as he stood riding on the boat back to Newark. Unfortunately, he never got to hear his melody used for 'America, the Beautiful.' The words and melody were first joined in November of 1904, and Samuel died on September 28, 1903.



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