W. C. Hafley and We'll Meet Beyond the Grave

Some of the following words were used by W. C. Givens for the song "We'll Meet Beyond the Grave" (344, Cooper Edition, Sacred Harp). The words were written by Winston Cornelius Hafley and first appeared the the song book Our Song Wreath by J. B. Vaughan (published by A. J. Showalter & Co., Dalton, Ga., 1885). The next year it appeared in Showalter's book Work and Worship (A. J. Showalter & Co., Dalton, Ga., 1886) and in Class, Choir and Congregation in 1888. I have not located those first two books, but have tried to create what might be the original text from the later appearances -- in Tears and Triumphs: for Revivals, Sunday School and the Home (L. L. Pickett, M. W. Knapp, Jno. R. Bryant, Columbia, SC: 1894) under the title "Beyond the Vale" (music by Hafley) and in Pearls of Truth in Song: for Sabbath Schools, Prayer and Praise Meetings (S. J. Oslin; L. G. McClendon; J. H. Ruebush; Ruebush, Kieffer & Co. Dayton, VA: 1890) under the title "All Sighing Will Cease" (music by I. P. Farlow).

1. Beyond the golden sunset sky,
Beyond the rolling wave,
Beyond each earthly tear and sigh,
We'll meet beyond the grave.

(Chorus)
We shall meet (yes, we'll meet)
We shall meet (yes, we'll meet)
We'll meet in that home of love;
We shall meet meet to part no more.
We shall meet (yes, we'll meet)
We shall meet (yes, we'll meet)
We'll meet in that home of love;
We shall meet meet to part no more.

2. Beyond these pangs that trial bring, ("parting" in CCC 1888)
Beyond the cruel vale, ("this earthly vale, CCC)
We'll meet where joys eternal spring,
And love shall never fail.

(Chorus)

3. Beyond the moments passing fleet, (this stanza not in CCC)
Beyond earth's gloomy night,
Our loved and lost we soon shall meet
In glorious realms of light

(Chorus)

4. Our refuge is the Lord our God,
His life for us He gave,
He gave that life that we might live,
And He alone can save.

(Chorus)

5. Then as we journey let us sing,
Sing of His pow'r to save;
Sing how He burst the bars of death,
And triumphed o'er the grave.

(Chorus)

W. C. Hafley, author, composer and teacher; born in McMinn County, Tenn., Sept. 28th, 1839; educated in the common schools of his native county, but being a great lover of books, earnestly sought to improve himself by the reading of books, spending his evenings studying "Kirkam's Grammar" and the Bible, while listening to his father playing "Arkansaw Traveler," "Fisher's Hornpipe," etc., on a well-worn violin; served in the Confederate Army, but so well had he spent his time with his books in his tent that on his return he as called to take charge of a school, which profession he followed for fifteen years, and in 1883 was elected superintendent of schools in his native county; attended a session of the S.N.M.I., held at Dalton, Ga., the year after the principal of the school located there; has contributed to many song books, and is one of the associate authors of "Hymns of Glory" and "Gospel Melodies;" his "Sketches by the Wayside," a prose and poetical work, is  very popular; resides in Atlanta, Ga. (page 283 in The Best Gospel Songs and Their Composers, A. J. Showalter, 1904)

Some sources give September 2 rather than September 28 as the date of birth, and Blount County, Tennessee rather than McMinn County as the place of birth. W. C. Hafley was the son of Frankford Washington Hafley. He married Elizabeth Frances Blevins in 1868 in McMinn County, Tennessee. They had seven children. In the 1900 Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, Census Hafley is listed as a "Dealer in Music". He died May 4, 1904, in Atlanta of a gunshot wound, and is buried at the Westview Cemetery, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. He was a member of the Christian Church.