ATKINSON, John, clergyman, born in Deerfield, New Jersey, 6 September 1835. He was admitted to the ministry in the New Jersey Methodist Episcopal conference in 1853, and has been pastor of Churches in Paterson, Newark, and Jersey City, New Jersey, and ill Chicago, II1., and Bay City and Adrian, Mich. Dickinson College conferred on him the degree of M. A. in 1869, and Illinois Wesleyan University gave him theft of D.D. in 1878. He is the author of the well-known hymn "We Shall Meet Beyond the River." Dr. Atkinson has for more than thirty years contributed to the periodical press, especially that of his own denomination. He has published " The Living Way" (New York, 1856); " Memorials of Methodism in New Jersey" (Philadelphia, 1860); "The Garden of Sorrows" .(New York, 1868) ; " The Class Leader" (1874) ; and " Centennial History of American Methodism" (New York, 1884).