William James Lampton

William James Lampton (1857–1926) was an American poet, journalist, and humorist. He is best known for the poem/lyric “The Little Brown Church in the Vale,” a nostalgic piece associated with the “Little Brown Church” in Nashua, Iowa, and widely circulated in popular culture. Lampton also worked in newspapers and magazines, contributing verse and light writing that reflected the tastes of late‑19th‑ and early‑20th‑century American readers. His reputation rests largely on the enduring appeal of his best‑known lyric, which helped fix an idealized rural church scene in the American imagination.