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Fanny Crosby
Fanny Crosby To this day, the vast majority of American hymnals contain her work. Some of her best known songs include "Blessed Assurance",[1] "Jesus Is Tenderly Calling You Home",[2] "Praise Him, Praise Him",[3] and "To God Be the Glory".[4] Since some publishers were hesitant to have so many hymns by one person in their hymnals, Crosby used nearly 100 different pseudonyms during her career.
Early life and careerFanny Crosby was born in Southeast, Putnam County, New York to poor parents, John and Mercy Crosby. At six weeks old, she caught a cold and developed inflammation of the eyes. The family physician was not available, and the man who came in his place recommended hot poultices as treatment. The botched procedure blinded her. Her father died when she was one year old, so she was raised by her mother and grandmother. These women grounded Crosby in Protestant Christian principles, helping her, for example, memorize long passages from the Bible. Crosby became an active member of the John Street Methodist Episcopal Church in New York City. At age 15, Crosby enrolled at the New York School for the Blind (now the New York Institute for Special Education). She remained there for seven years. During that time she learned to play the piano and guitar and to sing. In 1843, she joined a group of lobbyists in Washington, D.C. arguing for support of education for the blind. From 1847 to 1858, Crosby joined the faculty at the New York school, teaching English and history. She married Alexander Van Alstyne, a blind musician and fellow teacher, in 1858. At his insistence, she kept her maiden name. They had one daughter, which they named Francis and the Lord Jesus took her to Heavan as a baby. Alexander died on July 19, 1902. Early writing careerCrosby was noted for writing poetry from the time she was eight years old. Her first published work was A Blind Girl and Other Poems (1844), followed by Monterey and Other Poems (1853) and A Wreath of Columbia's Flowers (1858). She also wrote some popular songs, which were set to music by George F. Root. Some of them were "Rosalie, the Prairie Flower", "Hazel Dell", "There's Music in the Air". Crosby saw success with her secular verse writing, earning nearly $3,000 in royalties for her song "Rosalie, the Prairie Flower". 
Fanny Crosby BlindnessCrosby was never bitter about her disability. At the age of eight she wrote these verses about her condition:
She later remarked: It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me. She also once said, "when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior!" She composed her poems and hymns entirely in her mind and then dictated them to someone else. She was said to work mentally on as many as twelve hymns at once before dictating them all out. Career in writing hymns
"A Hymn of Thanksgiving" sheet music cover FameCrosby was very well known during her time and often met with presidents, generals, and other dignitaries. She played the hymn "Safe in the Arms of Jesus" at President Grant's Funeral in 1885. In her later years, she also became a popular public speaker. When she died, her tombstone carried the words, "Aunt Fanny" and "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine." Eliza Hewitt memorialized Fanny?s passing in a poem:
Crosby is buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport, Connecticut. She was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1975. Selected list of works
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See alsoExternal links
This page originally based on public domain information from www.cyberhymnal.org
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