by Trisha Bleau (Smith)
Name:
Francis Jane Crosby (1820-1915 )
Pen Names:
Fanny had over 200 pen names including Grace J. Frances and Alice Irving
Quote:
“… when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior!”
Family:
Husband – Alexander VanAlstyne
Job:
hymn writer and poetess (over 8000 of her poems were put to music), taught for many years in a school for the blind in New York
Songs written by Fanny:
A Shelter in the Time of Storm, All the Way My Saviour Leads Me, Blessed Assurance, Close to Thee, He Hideth My Soul, I Am Thine O Lord, Jesus Is Calling, My Saviour First of All, Near the Cross, Pass Me Not, Praise Him Praise Him, Redeemed, Rescue the Perishing, Safe in the Arms of Jesus, Saved by Grace, Saviour More than Life to Me, Speed Away, Take the World but Give Me Jesus, Tell Me the Story of Jesus, The Lights of Home, Thou Mighty to Save, Tho’ Your Sins Be as Scarlet, ‘Tis the Blessed Hour of Prayer, To God Be the Glory, To the Work, Will Jesus Find Us Watching, plus many more
Introduction:
Every Sunday we sing hymn after hymn of traditional old songs of praise and adoration. But do we stop to think of where those songs came from? Fanny Crosby is one of the great song writers of our past. It is through her talent and skill that we are enabled with beautiful emotion filled songs to sing in church each week. Her faith shines out like a beacon on the night through the words she penned so passionately that we hold today.
Lesson:
Frances Jane Crosby was born March 24, 1820 in South East, New York. At six weeks she became sick. The family doctor was away at the time and a country doctor prescribed a treatment that resulted in the destruction of her eyesight. The man was later discovered to not have a license to practice medicine, but he had already skipped town so could not be prosecuted.
Fanny believed her damaged eyesight was not something bad, but rather it was permitted by the Lord to fulfill His plan for her life. Though she was pitied by the public, she did not let her handicap hold her back. At 8 years old, she wrote her first poem:
O what a happy soul am I!
Although I cannot see,
I am resolved that in this world,
contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy,
that other people don’t.
To weep and sigh because I’m blind,
I cannot and I won’t!
Fanny’s father died when she was 12 months old and her mother had to work to support the family, so Fanny spent a great amount of time with her Grandmother. It was through this counsel that she learned the Bible. Her memory quickly developed and as a child she could repeat the Pentateuch, the book of Ruth, many of the Psalms, the books of Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and much of the New Testament. It was this foundation that set the stage for her future as a writer.
At the age of 15 she entered The Institution for the Blind in New York City. She spent the next 23 years of her life there, as a student for twelve years, and then as a teacher for eleven. She was not encouraged to write her poems and hymns at first, but they quickly became welcomed. And many were put to music not long after being written.
In 1843 she was among those students invited to be a guest of Congress. Fanny recited a few of her poems about the tender care of a loving Savior. It was said that tears lie on t the hearers’ cheeks, their hearts deeply touched by her passion and conviction. As a result, she became quite the socialite amongst the political figures of the time. She had wonderful friendships with many of the US Presidents and leaders.
Her first book was published when she was 24. It was titled The Blind Girl and Other Poems.
Amazingly, despite all of the poems she had written that touched people’s hearts and inspired them it was not until she was 31 that she accepted Christ as her personal Savior at a revival meeting.
Fanny married her sweetheart, Alexander VanAlstyne, of many years on March 5, 1858. Life was just beginning for Fanny Crosby, for her life’s ministry was still ahead. The couple had one child, who died as a baby.
For a while she was contracted by Bigelow and Main, a NY publishing firm, to write three hymns a week. They purchased 5,900 poems from her and provided her a regular allowance. She wrote under about 200 different pen names in her lifetime. Publishers would put various names on her works. Many times she would hear a song and comment on it, asking who wrote it only to find that she was the author. What an amazing talent, to be able to pen a song out so artfully, only to forget it as a new song comes to mind…
Some of her published works, not just songs, but books, included: Monterey and Other Poems (1849); A Wreath of Columbia’s Flowers (1859); Bells At Evening and Other Poems (1898); and Memories of Eighty Years (1907).
Fanny continued to write and minister through music until her dying day. At age 95 she went to be with the Lord. Her funeral filled the church with friends. The choir sang her favorite song, Faith of Our Fathers, then her own, Safe in the Arms of Jesus and Saved by Grace. She died on February 12, 1915 in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Her faith is clear through the words she has shared with the world through music. Let this woman of faith inspire you. Take her words and make them your own, a prayer from your heart.
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