Henry Clay Work (1832-1884), a native of Middletown, CT, grew up in an abolitionist family.  He was apprenticed as a printer and in 1855 moved to Chicago to work in the music-publishing firm of Root & Cady.  His passion, however, was songwriting (he was self-taught) and he published his first sheet music imprint in 1853.  His most fertile period for songwriting was the Civil War; “Kingdom Coming” and “Marching Through Georgia” were among his most popular tunes. He was one of the most successful and popular song composers in the United States during the mid-century period and is credited with helping to develop the basic verse-chorus structure of most successful nineteenth-century American songs.  After the war, he stopped writing for several years, but his interest was rekindled in the mid-1870s, and he resumed writing. His most popular post-war song was “My Grandfather’s Clock” (1875), which sold nearly a million copies and is still known today.