Matthias Claudius

German poet also known under his pseudonym 'Asmus'. He was born 15 August 1740 in Reinfeld, Germany and died 21 January 1815 in Hamburg, Germany. One of his poems "Wir pflügen und wir streuen", which Jane M. Campbell translated and became the song "We Plough the Fields and Scatter"--it was added to a new church hymnal in 1861, along with some other translations from German. It has become a favorite harvest hymn in modern churches.