Fanny Crosby

24 March 1820—12 February 1915

FRANCES JANE CROSBY, the daughter of John and Mercy Crosby, was born in Southeast, Putnam County, N.Y., March 24, 1820. She became blind at the age of six weeks from maltreatment of her eyes during a spell of sickness. When she was eight years old she moved with her parents to Ridgefield, Conn., the family remaining there four years. At the age of fifteen she entered the New York Institution for the Blind, where she received a good education. She became a teacher in the institution in 1847, and continued her work until March 1, 1858. She taught English grammar, rhetoric, Roman and American history. This was the great developing period in her life. During the vacations of 1852 and 1853, spent at North Reading, Mass., she wrote the words to many songs for Dr. Geo. F. Root, then the teacher of music at the blind institution. Among them were “Hazel Dell,” “The Honeysuckle Glen,” “Rosalie, the Prairie Flower,” “Music in the Air,” “Proud World, Goodbye, I'm Going Home,” “All Together,” “Never Forget the Dear Ones,” and others. Subsequently she wrote the words for the cantatas of “The Flower Queen” and "The Pilgrim Fathers,” all of which were very popular in their day, though it was not generally known at the time that she was the author.

While teaching at the institution she met Presidents Van Buren and Tyler, Hon. Henry Clay, Governor Wm. H. Seward, General Winfield Scott, and other distinguished characters of American history. Concerning Mr. Clay, she gives the following: “When Mr. Clay came to the institution during his last visit to New York, I was selected to welcome him with a poem. Six months before he had lost a son at the battle of Monterey, and I had sent him some verses. In my address I carefully avoided any allusion to them, in order not to wound him. When I had finished he drew my arm in his, and, addressing the audience, said through his tears: ‘This is not the first poem for which I am indebted to this lady. Six months ago she sent me some lines on the death of my dear son.’ Both of us were overcome for a few moments. Soon, by a splendid effort, Mr. Clay recovered himself, but I could not control my tears.” In connection with her meeting these notable men, we might add that Miss Fanny Crosby had the honor of being the first woman whose voice was heard publicly in the Senate Chamber at Washington. She read a poem there on one occasion.

In addition to the thousands of hymns that she has written (about eight thousand poems in all), many of which have not been set to music, she has published four volumes of verses. The first was issued in 1844, and was entitled The Blind Girl, and Other Poems; a second volume, Monterey, and Other Poems, followed in 1849, and the third, A Wreath of Columbia’s Flowers, in 1858. The fourth, Bells at Evening and Other Verses, with a biographical sketch by Rev. Robert Lowry, and a fine half-tone portrait, in 1897, the sales of which have reached a fourth edition. The book is published by The Biglow & Main Co., New York. Though these show the poetical bent of her mind, they have little to do with her world-wide fame. It is as a writer of Sunday-school songs and gospel hymns that she is known wherever the English language is spoken, and, in fact, wherever any other language is heard.

Fanny was married March 5, 1858, to Alex Van Alstyne, who was also a scholar in the same institution in which she was educated.

She began to write Sunday-school hymns for Wm. B. Bradbury in 1864. Her first hymn, “We are going, we are going / To a home beyond the skies,” was written at the Ponton Hotel on Franklin Street, New York City, on February 5th of that year. This hymn was sung at Mr. Bradbury’s funeral in January, 1868. Since 1864 she has supported herself by writing hymns. She has resided in New York City nearly all her life, where, she says, she is “a member of the Old John Street Methodist Episcopal Church in good standing.” She spends regular hours on certain days at the office of The Biglow & Main Co., the firm for which she does most of her writing, and for whom she has composed over four thousand hymns. Her hymns have been in great demand and have been used by many of our most popular composers, among whom may be mentioned Wm. B. Bradbury, Geo. F. Root, W.H. Doane, Rev. Robert Lowry, Ira D. Sankey, J.R. Sweney, W.J. Kirkpatrick, H.P. Main, H.P. Danks, Philip Phillips, B.G. Unseld, and others.

She can compose at any time and does not need to wait for any special inspiration, and her best hymns have come on the spur of the moment. She always composes with an open book in her hand, generally a copy of Golden Hymns, held closely over her eyes, bottom side up. She learned to play on the guitar and piano while at the institution, and has a clear soprano voice. She also received a technical training in music, and for this reason she can, and does, compose airs for some of her hymns. One of these is, “Jesus, dear, I come to Thee, Thou hast said I may,” both words and music of which are wonderfully sweet. “Safe in the arms of Jesus,” probably one of her best known hymns, is her own favorite.

Fanny loves her work, and is happy in it. She is always ready either to sympathize or join in a mirthful conversation, as the case may be. The secret of this contentment dates from her first composition at the age of eight years. “It has been the motto of my life,” she says. It is:

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.

This has continued to be her philosophy. She says that had it not been for her affliction she might not have so good an education, nor so great an influence, and certainly not so fine a memory. She knows a great many portions of the Bible by heart, and had committed to memory the first four books of the Old Testament, and also the four Gospels before she was ten years of age.

Her scope of subjects is wide, embracing everything from a contemplation of heaven, as in “The Bright Forever” and “The Blessed Homeland,” to an appeal to the work of this world, as in “To the Work” and “Rescue the Perishing.” The most of Fanny’s published hymns have appeared under the name of Fanny J. Crosby or Mrs. Van Alstyne, but quite a large number have appeared under the nom de plumes of Grace J. Frances, Mrs. C.M. Wilson, Lizzie Edwards, Ella Dale, Henrietta E. Blair, Rose Atherton, Maud Marion, Leah Carlton, nearly two hundred different names.

Among her most widely-known hymns may be named the following: “There’s a cry from Macedonia,” “I feel like singing all the time,” “Never be afraid to speak for Jesus,” “Lord, at Thy mercy seat,” “Jesus the water of life will give,” “‘Give,’ said the little stream,” “We are marching on with shield and banner bright,” “Pass me not, O gentle Saviour,” “Jesus, keep me near the cross,” “Rescue the Perishing,” “Sing with a tuneful spirit,” “Praise Him, Praise Him,” “To the work, to the work,” “The Bright Forever,” “Blessed Assurance,” “Close to Thee,” “Blessed Homeland,” “Saved by Grace,” “Thy word is a lamp to my feet, Lord,” “Hast thou trimmed thy lamp, my brother?” “Never say good-bye.”

Mr. Van Alstyne (her husband) was said to be a good musician. He died in 1902. Fanny is extremely young for her age, and she laughingly avers that she “will live to be 103.” When her time comes to pass into the glory-world, her eyes will be opened, and she “shall see Him face to face, and tell the story—Saved by grace.”

by J.H. Hall
Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers (1914)

Featured Hymns:

Blessed assurance
Close to Thee
I am thine, O Lord
Pass me not, O gentle Savior
Tell me the story of Jesus
’Tis the blessed hour of prayer
To God be the glory

see also:

Hark! the herald angels sing (gospel refrain)

Collections of Poems & Hymns:

The Blind Girl and Other Poems (1844): Archive.org
Monterey and Other Poems (1851): Archive.org
A Wreath of Columbia’s Flowers (1858): Archive.org
Bells at Evening (with a biographical sketch by Robert Lowry, 1897): Archive.org

Fanny Crosby Speaks Again: 120 Hymns, ed. Donald Hustad (1977): Amazon

Blessed Assurance: Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby with Familiar and New Musical Settings from Africa, Asia, Caribbean region, Europe, North America, South America, ed. S.T. Kimbrough & Carlton Young (Singapore: Global Music and Media Productions, 2008): WorldCat

Manuscripts:

Papers of Fanny Crosby, Billy Graham Center Archives, Wheaton College:
https://archives.wheaton.edu/repositories/4/resources/51

Papers of William H. Doane, Billy Graham Center Archives, Wheaton College:
https://archives.wheaton.edu/repositories/4/resources/732

Musical Collaborators:

William Bradbury
William H. Doane
William Kirkpatrick
Phoebe Knapp
Robert Lowry
Hubert P. Main
Theodore Perkins
Philip Phillips
George Root
Ira Sankey
George Stebbins
John Sweney

Life & Hymns:

John Julian, “Frances Jane Van Alstyne,” A Dictionary of Hymnology (London, 1892), pp. 1203–1205: HathiTrust

Fanny Crosby’s Life Story, by Herself (assisted by Will Carleton, 1903): Archive.org

Fanny Crosby, Memories of Eighty Years (1906): Archive.org

Ira D. Sankey, My Life and the Story of the Gospel Hymns (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1906): Archive.org

J.H. Hall, “Miss Fanny J. Crosby,” Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1914), pp. 36–42: Archive.org

Fanny Crosby’s Story of Ninety-Four Years (retold by S. Trevena Jackson, 1915): Archive.org

“Fanny Crosby dies at age of ninety-five,” Boston Evening Transcript (12 Feb. 1915), p. 3: JPG

“Fanny Crosby, famous hymn writer, dead,” Bridgeport Evening Farmer (12 Feb. 1915), pp. 1, 12: JPG 1 | JPG 2

George C. Stebbins, Reminiscences and Gospel Hymn Stories (NY: George H. Doran, 1924): WorldCat

Basil Miller, Fanny Crosby: Singing I Go (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1950): WorldCat

Bernard Ruffin, Fanny Crosby (Westwood, N.J.: Barbour & Co., 1976; reprinted 2013): Amazon

John Loveland, Blessed Assurance: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1978): Amazon

Melvin Wilhoit, “Frances Jane Crosby,” A Guide to the Principal Authors and Composers of Gospel Song of the Nineteenth Century, dissertation (Louisville: Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1982), pp. 58–76: SBTS

John Howard Danner, The Hymns of Fanny Crosby and the Search for Assurance: Theology in a Different Key, dissertation (Boston University, 1989): WorldCat

Wayne Frederick Albertson, Narcissism and Destiny: A Study of the Life and Work of Fanny J. Crosby, dissertation (Princeton Theological Seminary, 1992): WorldCat

Bonnie Harvey, Fanny Crosby (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1999): Amazon

Patricia A. Tomasetti, Deep, Wide, and Personal: The Legacy of Fanny Crosby and Her Hymns, dissertation (George Mason University, 2000): WorldCat

Robyn L. Edwards, “They Also Serve Who Only Stand and Wait”: Resignation in the Lives of Charlotte Elliott, Frances Harvergal, and Fanny Crosby, dissertation (Briercrest Biblical Seminary, 2001): WorldCat

Edith L. Blumhofer, Her Heart Can See: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005): Amazon

Faith Cook, “Fanny Crosby (1820–1915): Compulsive Hymn Writer,” Our Hymn Writers and Their Hymns (Webster, NY: Evangelical Press, 2005), pp. 327–341.

Edith L. Blumhofer, “Fanny Crosby, William Doane, and the making of gospel hymns in the late nineteenth century,” Sing Them Over Again to Me: Hymns and Hymnbooks in America (Tuscaloosa, AL: Univ. Alabama, 2006), pp. 152–171.

Beverly A. Howard, “Fanny Crosby: Songs of salvation, consecration, service, and heaven,” Hymns and Hymnody, vol. 3 (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2019), pp. 15–33: Amazon

Stan Evers, “Fanny Crosby—Frances Jane van Alstyne—(1820–1915), songbird and sunbeam,” HSGBI Bulletin, vol. 23, no. 5 (Winter 2022), pp. 171–188.

Find it on Amazon:

Fnny Crsby

Recordings:

Recordings of Fanny Crosby hymns, UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive, University of California Santa Barbara:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?query_type=keyword&query=fanny+crosby&nq=1

The Hymn Makers: Fanny Crosby, Jackie Williams, The Celebration Choir (Integrity Music, 2007): Amazon

Tenderly Calling: The Songs of Fanny Crosby, The Captain’s Crew (2007): Amazon

Songs of Fanny J. Crosby: This Is My Story, Harding University Concert Choir (Dallas Christian Sound, 2008): Amazon

Hymns of Fanny Crosby, Matchless Grace (Saved by Grace Music, 2009): Amazon

The Hymn Writers: Fanny Crosby, Scottish Festival Singers (Mission Worship, 2012): Amazon

Fanny J. Crosby: Unknown Hymns for the Church Festivals, Steven Kimbrough (2012): Amazon

Blessed Assurance: The New Hymns of Fanny Crosby (Integrity Music, 2015): Amazon

Fanny Crosby: Safe in the Arms of Jesus (Elevation, 2015): Amazon

The Favorite Hymns of Fanny Crosby, Ernie Haas & Signature Sound (StowTown Records, 2016): Amazon

Fanny Crosby: Newly Discovered Hymns and Songs (Stowtown Records, 2018): Amazon

Fnny Crsby 2