Milford chronicle., 1929-12-20
'oTHE LITTLE BROWN
CHURCH IN THE VALE


At Bradford, two miles northeast
of Nashau, in Chickasaw county, la.
stands a little country church Ions
associated with a famous song ever
though the church was not bull
until after the song was written.
The church in the valley by the
wildwood" takes its name from DR.
William Savage Pitts song, The
Little Brown Church in the Vale" II
is now, in effect, national shrine
However, it did not become one
without some controversy.
Research brings to light the In
teresting story.
DR.. Pitts was born in New Eng
land in 1880 and went to Union III
Rock county, Wis, when he was ~
wears old. In 1857 he visited Brad
ford. and he afterwards stated that
it was while there in the valley OF
Cedar river that he received the in
spiration for the famous song.
"After going back to Wisconsin,
he said. ''I wrote the words and mu-
sic of the song, The Little Brown
Church in the Vale 1 made no use
of it in public in Wisconsin. In the
spring of the year 1862 1 came to
Iowa, to Fredericksburg. brought
the song in manuscript with me-"
What particular church, If any,
DR.. Pitts had in mind when he COM
posed the song is a subject of con-
troversy. The Bradford church was
not yet built when the song was
written. An old friend of DIR. Pitts,
Don Jackson, editor Of the Freder-
icksburg News, always maintained
that the song described a country
church in Rock county, Wis, Where
DR. Pitts first wife was buried. Dr.
Pitts. ii seems, was married three
times.
Be that as it may, in 1864 he went
to Bradford to teach a class OF vocal
music, Nine years before a churcn
had been organized in the commun-
itv and a new frame meeting house
was by this time nearly completed
Rev. John X. Nutting, who had been
pastor of the congregation since
1862, was a member of the music
class, and, naturally enough, he ask
ed the teacher to take part In the
dedication exercises of the new
church.
at was there" said DR.. Pitts in
his account, "that sang the song'
The Little Brown Church in 'he
Vale.' for the first time in public.
According to Nutting, the church
was originally painted with warm
brown "Ohio mineral paint" chiefly
because the congregation was poor
and that kind of paint was cheap.
The next spring Pitts took the man
uscript to Chicago and sold the song
to a publisher named H. NJ. Higgins.
It Immediately caught the public
fancy and soon after its publication
became associated in the public
mind with the church at BRADFORD.
DR.. Pitts, who wrote many other
songs, made his home at Freder-
icksburg for A years. In 1858 he
graduated from Rush Medical Col
lege and between that date and 1906
he practiced the profession of med
icine. He died in Brooklyn, N. T., IN
1919, and was taken to Frederlcks-
burg for burial.
The Little Brown Church is look
ed upon as a shrine, and each year
hundreds of couples go there to be
married. In 1913 it became the
Bradford branch of the Nashua Con-
gregational Church.
The words of the song Wnlcn
made the church famous follow:
There's a church in the valley by
the wildwood,
No lovelier place in the dale'
No SPOT is so dear to my childhood
AS the little brown church in the
vale.
CHORUS
OH come, come, come, come,
Come to the church by 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 bright Sabbath
morning,
To list to the clear ringing DelIi
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 loved so we'll;
She sleeps, sweetly sleeps meath the
willow,
Disturb not her rest in the vale.
There, close by the side of that low
ed one,
Meath the tree where the wild
flowers bloom,
When the farewell hymn shall De
chanted,
I shall rest by her side IN the
tomb.
rJT. DnAI