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Wikipedia Crosby and Rider moved to 226 Wells Street, Bridgeport, Connecticut in summer 1906 because of Rider’s cancer.[297] Carrie died of intestinal cancer in July 1907, and Phoebe Knapp died on July 10, 1908.[91] Weeks later, Ira Sankey died having just sung “Saved by Grace”, one of Crosby’s most popular compositions.[298] On May 2, 1911, Crosby spoke to 5,000 people at the opening meeting of the Read more...
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From Wikipedia: All Saints’ Church, commonly referred to as Schlosskirche (Castle Church) to distinguish it from the Stadtkirche (Town Church) of St. Mary’s – and sometimes known as the Reformation Memorial Church – is a Lutheran church in Wittenberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the site where, according to Philip Melanchthon, the Ninety-five Theses were posted by Martin Luther in 1517,[1] the act that has been called the start of the Protestant Reformation.[2][3] From 1883 onwards, the church was restored as Read more...
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From the website: The Old Rugged Cross Historical Museum is an outgrowth of a memorial cross erected and dedicated on September 14, 1954, north of Reed City, Michigan, near the home of Reverend and Mrs. George Bennard. Reverend Bennard was the author of well-loved hymn “The Old Rugged Cross” written in 1913. The museum presently contains mementos and relics not only Read more...
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George Bennard was born in Youngstown, Ohio, but his parents would move to Iowa. When he was a teenager, he was invited to a Salvation Army meeting at 176 South 1st Avenue, Canton, Illinois, where he knelt at the “mourner’s bench” and accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior. The Canton Salvation Army still has that mourner’s bench on display. After Read more...
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“The Old Rugged Cross,” one of the world’s best-loved hymns, was composed here in 1912 by the Rev. George Bennard (1873-1958). The son of an Ohio coal miner, Bennard was a lifelong servant of God, chiefly in the Methodist ministry. He wrote the words and music of over 300 other hymns. None achieved the fame of “The Old Rugged Cross,” Read more...
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From Wikipedia: Baker was the son of Vice-admiral Sir Henry Loraine Baker, C.B., by his marriage with Louisa Anne, only daughter of William Williams, Esq., of Castle Hall, Dorset. His father served with distinction at Guadeloupe in 1815. His grandfather was Sir Robert Baker of Dunstable House, Surrey, and of Nicholashayne, Culmstock, Devon, on whom a baronetcy was conferred in 1796. Sir Henry Williams Baker was born in London on Sunday, 27 May 1821, at Read more...
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From Wikipedia: Upon receiving his degree in theology in 1882, Babcock became pastor of a church at Lockport, New York. He was described as having “an unusually brilliant intellect and stirring oratorical powers that commanded admiration, [that] won for him a foremost place among the favorites of his denomination”.[5] From 1887 to 1900, Babcock was senior minister of the prestigious Brown Read more...
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From Wikipedia: Alford was a talented artist, as his picture-book, The Riviera (1870), shows, and he had abundant musical and mechanical talent. Besides editing the works of John Donne, he published several volumes of his own verse, The School of the Heart (1835), The Abbot of Muchelnaye (1841), The Greek Testament. The Four Gospels (1849), and a number of hymns, the best-known of which are “Forward! be our watchword,” “Come, Read more...
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From Wikipedia: Alexander was born at 25 Eccles Street, Dublin, the third child and second daughter of Major John Humphreys of Norfolk (land-agent to 4th Earl of Wicklow and later to the second Marquess of Abercorn), and Elizabeth (née Reed).[2] She began writing verse in her childhood, being strongly influenced by Dr Walter Hook, Dean of Chichester. Her subsequent religious work was strongly influenced by her contacts Read more...
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From Wikipedia: Joseph Addison (1 May 1672 – 17 June 1719) was an English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician. He was the eldest son of The Reverend Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard Steele, with whom he founded The Spectator magazine. Author of: When All Thy Mercies, O My God 1 When all your mercies, O my God, my Read more...
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From Wikipedia: Sarah Fuller Flower Adams (or Sally Adams[1]) (1805 – 1848) was an English poet and hymnwriter, best known for writing the words of the hymn “Nearer, My God, to Thee“.[2] In 1841, she published her longest work, Vivia Perpetua, A Dramatic Poem. In it, a young wife who refuses to submit to male control and renounce her Christian beliefs is put to death. She contributed Read more...
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From https://hymnary.org/person/Ackley_Alfred and https://www.ackleygenealogy.com/nicholas/b833.htm Alfred Henry Ackley was born 21 January 1887 in Spring Hill, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest son of Stanley Frank Ackley and the younger brother of B. D. Ackley. His father taught him music and he also studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He graduated from Westminster Theological Seminary in Maryland and was ordained Read more...
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Sutcliff’s neighbors in Olney included the local minister of the Church of England, John Newton (1725-1807), author of “Amazing Grace.” Hymn writer and poet, William Cowper (1731-1800), was a member of Newton’s parish, and, at the time of Sutcliff’s arrival, Newton and Cowper were composing their popular “Olney Hymns.” Visit John Newton’s church and tombstone, and the Cowper and Newton Museum and Gardens. Read more...
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Section 20, Lot 120 Author of Wonderful Grace of Jesus: 1. Wonderful grace of Jesus, Greater than all my sin; How shall my tongue describe it, Where shall its praise begin? Taking away my burden, Setting my spirit free; For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Refrain: Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus, Deeper than the Read more...
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Joseph Scriven (1819-1886) lived a life of sorrows. His fiancé died the night before they were to be married. Engaged again, this fiancé also tragically perished. He wrote a poem that he sent to his mother, that was set to music and published, as What a Friend We Have in Jesus. A memorial to him is found in his native Read more...
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This hymn is a uniquely Wisconsin hymn. The words were written by a pastor buried in Wisconsin, and set to music by a pastor born in Wisconsin. Rev. Warren D. Cornell was born in Michigan but left at 19 to teach and preach in Texas. At 23 he came to Wisconsin, where he’d spend the next 40 years of his Read more...
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From Wholesome Words: Her funeral filled the church with friends. The choir sang her favorite song …”Faith of Our Fathers”…then, her own…”Safe in the Arms of Jesus”…and, “Saved By Grace.” Her minister, George M. Brown, of the Methodist church said it well: There must have been a royal welcome when this queen of sacred song burst the bonds of death Read more...
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Her funeral was held at her church, now Golden Hill Methodist, close to downtown Bridgeport. She is buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, built by her friend P.T. Barnum. Just down from Fanny’s grave you’ll see the statue of General Tom Thumb, and Barnum’s own grave. Fanny requested a simple grave, but forty years after her death, the townsfolk built Read more...
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George Duffield Jr., came from a family of preachers. Jr. is a bit of a misnomer – he was the fifth such George Duffield. The first Duffield was a native of Belfast, the second was chaplain to the Continental Congress. The fourth was a Presbyterian minister, as was our subject, Duffield the Fifth. Interestingly he did not pass on his Read more...
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Born in Edinburg, PA, to a Methodist family, Ira Sankey (1840-1908) loved music from an early age. At 16 he was saved at the King’s Chapel revival meetings. At 21 he volunteered for the Union in the Civil War. At 23, he married Fanny Edward, and later became president of the New Castle YMCA. In 1870, Sankey came to Indianapolis Read more...