Susannah Valentine Aldrich

Susannah Valentine Aldrich (November 14, 1828 – November 30, 1905) was a 19th-century American author and hymnwriter from Massachusetts.

Susannah Valentine Aldrich
Born	Susannah Valentine Aldrich November 14, 1828 Hopkinton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	November 30, 1905 (aged 77) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Resting place	Mount Auburn Cemetery, Hopkinton, Massachusetts
Occupation	author, hymnwriter
Language	English

Early years and education

Susannah (or Susanna) Valentine Aldrich was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, November 14, 1828. She was the only child of Willard and Lucy (Morse) Aldrich. As a child, she showed fondness for writing her thoughts. In her schooldays, she found it far easier to write compositions than to commit lessons to memory, and she was generally permitted to choose her own subjects for the regular "composition day" in school. Her studies were interrupted by a severe illness which lasted for several years.[1]

Career

The Rev. John Calvin Webster, her pastor, also one of the directors of the academy which Aldrich attended, was struck with the merit and quality of her compositions, and selected some of them to offer to a magazine for publication. These were accepted. For many years, Aldrich contributed both prose and poetry to a number of papers and magazines. She was a victim to insomnia, and she always kept paper and pencil within reach in order to jot down her ideas during periods of wakefulness. After her health became impaired, she confined her literary work to various occasions. From 1879, she made her home in the Roxbury District of Boston. [1] She died in Boston, November 30, 1905 and is buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Hopkinton.[2]

Selected works

Hymns

• Original hymn, between 1850-1865[3]
• Anniversary Hymn
• At the Mercy Seat
• Buried with Thee
• Come and Help Us
• Dedication of a Church
• Drawing Nearer
• Easter Hymn
• Faith
• Give Me That Heart of Flesh
• He Is Risen
• He Leadeth
• How Fair upon the Mountains
• In the Battle
• Light of the World
• Messenger, The
• Missionary Hymn[2]
• I may hear His voice at morning[4]

References

1. Willard & Livermore 1893, p. 18.
2. "Susanna Valentine Aldrich". www.hymntime.com. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
3. Aldrich 1850, p. 1.
4. "Susannah V. Aldrich - Hymnary.org". hymnary.org. Retrieved 26 June 2017.

Bibliography

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Aldrich, Susannah Valentine (1850). Original Hymn: --tune Abridge (Public domain ed.). Hopkinton, Mass.: First Congregational Church.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1893). A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life (Public domain ed.). Moulton. p. 18.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• Works by or about Susannah Valentine Aldrich at Internet Archive