Solomon Hancock's Freedom Song

The first and last of 10 verses of a song written by pioneers Solomon and Levi Hancock in 1838. This year, local artists Matt Bushman and Adam Holdaway put a melody to the words and Bushman performed it in Far West, Mo., and Winter Quarters, Neb.

Come lovers of Freedom together

And hear what we now have to say

For surely we ought to remember

The cause which produced this great day

Oh, may we remember while singing;

The pain and distresses once borne,

By those who have fought for our freedom

And ofttimes for friends called to mourn.

Farewell you our venerable fathers

You who have stood many a year;

You like the aged oak have all fallen

Excepting a few here and there

Who looks plainly show they're soon going

To the dust from whence all of us came

To rest in the mansions of glory

Beyond all your trials and pain.