American hymn writer
Fanny Crosby
AD 1820–1915 · Also called Frances Jane Crosby
An American poet blinded in infancy who wrote an estimated 8,000–9,000 gospel hymns, including "Blessed Assurance" and "To God Be the Glory," making her one of the most prolific and beloved hymnists in American history.
Life and work
Crosby lost her sight as an infant due to improper medical treatment for an eye infection and was educated at the New York Institute for the Blind, where she later taught for over a decade. She began writing secular poetry and songs before turning increasingly to hymn writing in the 1860s, collaborating with composers including William Howard Doane and Ira Sankey (the songleader for evangelist D. L. Moody's revival campaigns).
Crosby wrote with remarkable speed and volume — sometimes several hymns in a single day — and to avoid the appearance of overproduction under her own name, published many under dozens of pseudonyms. Her hymns, including "Blessed Assurance," "To God Be the Glory," and "Pass Me Not, O Gentle Saviour," became staples of American revivalist and mainstream Protestant hymnody.
Beyond hymn writing, Crosby was active in urban rescue mission work in New York City, ministering personally to the poor and addicted in the Bowery district well into old age, seeing her hymn writing and her direct mission work as inseparable expressions of the same faith.
- Occupation
- Hymn writer, poet, mission worker
- Places
- Southeast, New York; New York City
- Dates
- AD 1820–1915
In their own words
"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!""Blessed Assurance," 1873
Further reading
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