Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch (June 18, 1809 - October 12, 1870) was an American Unitarian clergyman, author and hymn writer.
[1] He moved to Washington, D.C. in 1818, when his father began work on building the United States Capitol rotunda and graduated from Columbian College in Washington D.C. (later George Washington University) in 1826 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and earned his Doctor of Divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School in 1830.
In 1831, he was ordained at Charleston, South Carolina as Assistant Minister serving with Rev.
Samuel Gilman at the Second Independent Church of Charleston, a theologically Unitarian congregation.
Bulfinch composed numerous hymns, which gained wide use across the country.