Some of the Christian music experts on this forum may be able to help here.
 
I am currently working on initial ideas for a song about the death of my Great Great Grandfather and his crew in a collision at sea in 1881 and I am considering using a few bars of the Hymn "Eternal Father Strong to Save" which seems appropriate to the subject matter.  It looks like the tune was composed by John B Dykes in 1861, given that it is 156 years old I assume its out of copyright.
 
I am also toying with the idea including a few bars of "Abide with me" written slightly earlier. It has a strong local  local connection, The writer of the words, Rev Henry Francis Lyte was vicar in the local church and my Great Great Grandfather and Grandmother may have even heard him preach when they were young.
 
 

Don't ask a jazz player or a comic. They copy everything

don't assume that just because it's written 156 years ago that it's not still copyrighted - you're PROBABLY correct, but there are some older hymns which still have copyright on from the family of the writer.
 
check here:
http://www.pdinfo.com/
 
looks like both "Eternal Father Strong to Save" and "Abide with me" show that they are PD from the search on that site.
 
sounds like a cool project for your great great grandfather!  hope it turns out well!
 
 

The other thing that can mess you up with old songs like this is if someone creates a new arrangement of the song. The song itself cannot be copyrighted, but the arrangement can.

eph221
Don't ask a jazz player or a comic. They copy everything

Jealous.

Beagle
don't assume that just because it's written 156 years ago that it's not still copyrighted - you're PROBABLY correct, but there are some older hymns which still have copyright on from the family of the writer.
 
check here:
http://www.pdinfo.com/
 
looks like both "Eternal Father Strong to Save" and "Abide with me" show that they are PD from the search on that site.
 
sounds like a cool project for your great great grandfather!  hope it turns out well!
 
 

I thought things became part of the public domain 70 years after the writer (or last writer if there was more than one) passes away?
 
I guess if someone wrote a hymn at the age of ten and lived to be 97 that it would still be copyrighted for another year, but that's a pretty extreme example!

From the PD site, the header in one of the frames in the presentation on the first page says:
 
Public Domain Music
Music and lyrics published in 1922 or earlier are in the public domain in the USA.
No one can claim ownership of a song in the public domain, therefore public domain songs can be freely used with no fees or royalties payable to anyone.
 
This sounds all-inclusive. The caveat here (at least, I would have thought this was potentially an issue), however, is that both of the mentioned hymns are British in origin. OTOH, since they are listed as public domain on the site, as Beagle sagely notes, they are safe (at least in the US?). Also from the PD site:
 
International Copyright 
There is no such thing as "International Copyright". You must comply with the copyright laws of each separate country where you use music or lyrics. Copyright protection in most countries other than the USA expires 70 years after the death of the last surviving author.   In Canada, copyright protection expires 50 years after the death of all authors. 
 
This would seem to imply that country of origin bears no pressure on the copyright laws for each country; what is determinative is simply the date of death for the author. This really does sound like a wonderful project. You may want to search out some of the other less familiar verses written for "Eternal Father Strong to Save". There have been many, adapted for various groups and needs. Wikipedia has a bunch of them: 
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Father,_Strong_to_Save
 

yes, Dan is correct.  what I was referring to on some hymns which the family might be carrying on the copyright are not necessarily the older ones, but there are hymns in the hymnals which are "old" but still carry copyrights even after the passing of the original writer.  I can't think of examples right now, but there are cases of 70+ year copyrights.  it might be because of being grandfathered after they changed the laws?  I don't know for certain.
 
but also, if you look on that page I linked to:  www.pdinfo.com  they state specifically that it's for US law only.
 
All Public Domain Information on this Site is Based Entirely on USA Copyright Laws.
Public Domain Status Must Be Verified Separately for EACH Country where Music is Used.
 
 
 
 

ok - here's an example.  I'll Fly Away was written in 1929 and published in 1932.  even if you use the published date, it's over 70 years old.  but if you search in the pdinfo.com site, you'll see it's not there.  a cursory search on harryfox.com will show that it is indeed still under copyright by Warner-Tamerlane publishing co.  
 
I don't know how this happens, but there are still songs which are more than 70 years old in the US which still are under copyright protection and not admitted to the PD.

Beagle
ok - here's an example.  I'll Fly Away was written in 1929 and published in 1932.  even if you use the published date, it's over 70 years old.  but if you search in the pdinfo.com site, you'll see it's not there.  a cursory search on harryfox.com will show that it is indeed still under copyright by Warner-Tamerlane publishing co.  
 
I don't know how this happens, but there are still songs which are more than 70 years old in the US which still are under copyright protection and not admitted to the PD.

 
Beagle, it's 70 years after the death of the author, not 70 years after the song was written. While he wrote the song in 1929, Albert Brumley died in 1977, hence the copyright is still active.