Joseph H. Dean

Joseph H. Dean is the composer and author of “Before Thee, Lord, I Bow My Head,” which was included in the 1985 Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He wrote many other hymns.

He was born on October 16, 1855, in Taunton, Somersetshire, England. He was baptized on December 4, 1875, and immigrated across the plains to Utah when he was a young child. He was a skilled carpenter and stone cutter and worked on the Salt Lake Temple for six years.

He served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Laie Plantation, in Hawaii (Oahu, Kauai, and Maui). His wife Sarah Allen Arnold served with him (1877–1881). From 1887 to 1888 he served a mission to the Sandwich Islands with his plural wife, Florence Ridges. He was transferred to open the mission in Samoa from June 1888 to August 1890. He also served in Samoa from February 1916 to July 1918.

With Sarah, he had five children and with Florence he fathered four children.

He died on November 2, 1947, in Vernal, Utah.