CROSBY, Frances J(ane) 1820-1915 (Fanny J. Crosby)

PERSONAL:

Born March 24, 1820, in Southeast (now Brewster), Putnam County, NY; died February 12, 1915, in Bridgeport, CT; daughter of John and Mercy (Crosby) Crosby; married Alexander Van Alstyne (a teacher of the blind and a church organist), March 5, 1858; children: one child. Education: Attended New York Institution for the Blind. Religion: Methodist.

CAREER:

New York Institution for the Blind, New York, NY, teacher of English and history, mid-1840s to 1858; W. B. Bradbury and Co., hymn writer, beginning 1864. Lecturer and public speaker; volunteer at rescue missions.

AWARDS, HONORS:

The Fanny J. Crosby Memorial Home in Bridgeport, CT, was named for Crosby, 1925.

WRITINGS:

AS FANNY J. CROSBY

The Blind Girl and Other Poems, Wiley & Putnam (New York, NY), 1844.

Monterey and Other Poems, R. Craighead (New York, NY), 1851.

A Wreath of Columbia's Flowers (poetry), H. Dayton (New York, NY), 1858.

Crowning the Year, [New York, NY], 1881.

Bells at Evening and Other Verses, Biglow & Main (New York, NY), 1897.

Ode to the Memory of Captain John Underhill, Under-hill Society of America (Brooklyn, NY) 1902.

Fanny Crosby's Life-Story, by Herself, EveryWhere Publishing (New York, NY), 1903.

Memories of Eighty Years, James H. Earle (Boston, MA), 1906.

Fanny Crosby Speaks Again: 120 Hymns, edited by Donald P. Hustad, Hope Publishing (Carol Stream, IL), 1977.

Treasures from Fanny Crosby: Blessed Assurance, Barbour Publishing (Uhrichsville, OH), 1998.

Author of thousands of hymns, cantatas, and secular songs, including "Blessed Assurance"; "Crowning the Year: Written for the Watch-night Service," 1881; "I Am Thine, O Lord"; "Jesus Is Calling"; "Jesus, Keep Me near the Cross"; "Ode to the Memory of Captain John Underhill," Underhill Society of America (Brooklyn, NY), 1902; "Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior"; "Rescue the Perishing"; "Rosalie, the Prairie Flower"; "Safe in the Arms of Jesus"; "Savior, More than Life to Me"; "There's Music in the Air"; and "Thy Will Be Done in Me," music by Robert Nagel, Mentor Music (Albuquerque, NM), 1996. Some hymns published under pseudonyms.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Barrett, Ethel, Fanny Crosby, Regal Books (Ventura, CA), 1984.

Crosby, Frances J., Fanny Crosby's Life-Story, by Herself, EveryWhere Publishing (New York, NY), 1903.

Crosby, Frances J., Memories of Eighty Years, James H. Earle (Boston, MA), 1906.

Dictionary of American Biography, American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936, reprinted, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2002.

Jackson, Samuel Trevena, Fanny Crosby's Story of Ninety-four Years, Fleming H. Revell (New York, NY), 1915.

Religious Leaders of America, 2nd edition, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1999.

Ruffin, Bernard, Fanny Crosby, Pilgrim Press (New York, NY), 1976.

PERIODICALS

Whole Earth Review, spring, 1993, Nancy E. Hall, "And Giveth Me Songs in the Night," p. 40.

OBITUARIES:

PERIODICALS

New York Times, February 13, 1915.*