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FANNY CROSBY (1820-1915) The greatest hymn writer in history is, by far, a dear blind lady named Frances Jane Crosby. While only six weeks old, she lost her vision when an unqualified “doctor” prescribed hot mustard seed to cure a cold in her eyes. Then her father, John, died before she was a year old.Fanny’s mother worked for a living, so her grandmother had the greatest influence on her life. She would spend hours on end telling Fanny about God’s beautiful creation, and she introduced her to the Bible. As a child, Fanny memorized some whole books of the Bible, many whole chapters and numerous scripture portions.At age fifteen, Fanny’s prayers were answered when her mother was able to send her to The Institute for the Blind in New York. She would spend twenty-three years there, twelve as a student and eleven as a teacher.She began producing poetry, and she published her first poem when she was eleven. Her poetry made her very well known and her personality made her very well liked. Fanny published The Blind Girl and Other Poems when she was twenty-four, and she also wrote several popular songs. At age twenty-seven she became an instructor at the school.Fanny married Alexander VanAlstyne in 1858 when she was thirty-seven and had a very happy marriage with him. Their one and only child died while still an infant.Having a special appreciation for music and poetry, Alexander assisted and encouraged Fanny greatly in her work. He also taught at the school.Her true conversion to Christ did not come until 1851, when she was thirty-one years of age. She had spent years writing and speaking well of the Saviour, but her clear understanding of salvation by grace didn’t come until she attended a revival service at an old-time Methodist church in New York. While the church sang, “Alas! And did my Saviour bleed . . .” Fanny trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as her Saviour.In 1864, Fanny finally met William Bradbury, a well-known composer who convinced her to try writing hymns. Once she began, she couldn’t stop. Her first famous hymn was Pass Me Not in 1868. Next came Safe In The Arms Of Jesus the same year. Then followed a flood of Christ-honoring hymns: Rescue The Perishing (1869), Blessed Assurance (1873), All The Way My Saviour Leads Me (1874), Close To Thee (1874), Saved By Grace (1891), Redeemer (1882), Jesus is Calling (1883), He Hideth My Soul (1890) and scores of others. Ira Sankey and D.L. Moody made her hymns a regular part of their meetings, which introduced her work to hundreds of thousands of Christians.Fanny also wrote more poetry: 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).Alexander died in 1902, and Fanny died on February 12, 1915, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The church choir sang her own songs at her funeral, and her gravestone at Bridgeport reads, “She hath done what she could.”