Herbert Buffum

1879-1939

Born: November 13, 1879, Lafayette, Illinois. Died: October 9, 1939, Los Angeles, California. Buried: Valhalla Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California. His epitaph reads “I have fought a good fight.”

Courtesy of Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center

After moving with his family to California and being converted to Christ at age 18, Buffum felt a call to the ministry. He held ministerial credentials with the Church of the Nazarene, and was a holiness/Pentecostal evangelist. He was also a song writer, with many songs inspired by personal experience. He was quite prolific, with some 10,000 songs to his credit (1,000 of these were actually published). Ripley’s “Believe It or Not” claimed he once wrote 12 songs in an hour. Though a talented musician, Buffum received no musical training. He sold most of his songs for five dollars or less. When he died, the Los Angeles Times called him “The King of Gospel Song Writers.”

Hymns:

1. I’m Going Higher Some Day
2. I’m Going Through
3. In God’s Calendar of Days
4. In the City Where the Lamb Is the Light
5. My Sheep Know My Voice
6. Old-fashioned Meeting, The
7. When I Take My Vacation in Heaven