Emma Jernigan, poet

When I wrote my companion book to The Sacred Harp, 2012 Cooper Edition, Songs Before Unknown, I was unable to settle on the identity of Mrs. Emma Jernigan, who wrote the poetry for the song The Gates of Paradise (580) and I Love to Sing of Jesus (584). Since the composer, T. J. Allen, married Laura Addrana Jernigan, I suspected it might be his sister-in-law Emma Alice Jernigan. I tentatively included in the book: “One could assume that Mrs. Emma Jernigan, who wrote the words to 584 and 589, might be some of his wife’s relatives; Emma Alice Dean Weed married Henry R. Jernigan, Allen’s brother-in-law, in 1898 (sic), and might be this person.” However, I had nothing more than the same name and close relationship. Circumstantial, but not substantial enough. Now I have found some evidence that this Emma Jernigan was a poet, and feel more confident she is the right person. Upon her death, her sister-in-law Willie Griffin Dean wrote that “She was a noble character who loved poetry,” and then quoted a poem that was “part of a tribute written by Emma for my son, Buck Dean, who was killed in the World War of 1917.” (Willie Dean, “In Memory of Mrs. Emma Jernigan,” Southern Star, Thursday, September 2, 1943, p. 8)

Jernigan, Emma (October 8, 1860–August 13, 1943) Emma Alice Dean was born in Dale County, Alabama, the daughter of James Jefferson Dean and Martha Ann McGee. She married first, Samuel Lafayette Weed. They had two children. In 1897 she married Henry B. Jernigan. Emma wrote poetry, including the words of “The Gates of Paradise” and “I Love to Sing of Jesus” used by her brother-in-law T. J. Allen with two tunes published under those names in The Sacred Harp in 1927. She died in Dale County, Alabama and is buried at the Bethel Assembly of God Church Cemetery at Ariton, Dale County, Alabama.

While working on Emma Jernigan, I also discovered the burial location of her niece, Maud Allen, and have rewritten her biography.

Allen, Maud Lee (May 27, 1888–December 19, 1965) was the daughter of Thomas Jefferson Allen and Laura A. Jernigan. She wrote the alto parts for several songs, and composed one tune which was later removed from the book. Maud Allen married Atlas T. Hargrove (d. 1952) after 1910 and before 1920. They lived in Montgomery, Alabama – according to the 1920, 1930 and 1940 censuses. Maud and A. T. Hargrove are buried at the Greenwood Cemetery in Montgomery, Montgomery County, Alabama.161