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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Ezra Parmenter's Complaint

Parmenter, Ezra (June 26, 1760April 14, 1808) son of Samuel Parmenter and Mary Tower, he was born at Sudbury, Massachusetts. He learned the trade of blacksmith and moved to Boston to work. During the Revolutionary War he worked in a workshop for the Continental Army. "He was fond of music, and sang in the choir of the New South Church on Summer Street. He was the author of the once popular psalm tune called 'Complaint' which was sung in the churches of New England for many years." The earliest appearance of this tune is in The Federal Harmony, published at Boston in 1790. T. J. Allen arranged this tune in 1893 and called it God's Eternal. In 1781 Parmenter married Mary Ellison and they had 8 children. Ezra Parmenter died at Boston. An Ezra Parmenter buried at the Central Burying Ground in Boston might be this person. His son, William, was a United States Congressman and served four terms beginning in 1836. 
357      God's Eternal (aka Complaint)

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