Isaac Baker Woodbury (October 23, 1819 1858)[1] was a 19th-century composer and publisher of church music, most famous for publishing The Dulcimer: or the New York Collection of Sacred Music,[2] one of the best-known collections of Christian hymns of the era.[3] His best-known hymn tunes include Siloam and Esmonton. He also published the American Monthly Musical Review[4] and the New York Musical Pioneer.[5]
Born in Beverly, Massachusetts, Woodbury was the son of Isaac Woodbury and Nancy Baker, and studied music in London and Paris before embarking upon a career as a church organist, writer, editor, and teacher in Boston and New York. In total he published fifteen books of sacred music and fourteen books of school and secular music; he also founded the National Music Convention. Woodbury fell ill with tuberculosis and traveled south for his health, dying while visiting Charleston, South Carolina.[6]