Eliza Edmunds Hewitt
Born: June 28, 1851, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Died: April 24, 1920, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Buried: Woodlands Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Pseudonym: Lidie H. Edmunds.
Eliza was born June 28, 1851 in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Educated in the local school system, she graduated
as valedictorian of the Girl's Normal School that she attended. She became a
teacher in the public schools of her city.
But then came misery. Her career screeched to a halt when she
was forced to bed with a painful spinal problem. One of her descendants has said
her debilitating condition was caused by a reckless student striking her with a
piece of slate. Lying in bed, she could have been bitter. Instead, she studied
English literature and began to sing and write:
Sing the wondrous love of Jesus; sing his mercy and his grace.
In the mansions bright and blessed he'll prepare for us a place.
Some of her lines came into the hands of Professor John R.
Sweney. He wrote her asking for more, and set a few of her songs to music,
including one of the better known: Will there be any Stars in My Crown?
He and William J. Kirkpatrick published her first hymns.
We remember Eliza Hewitt today because of those hymns. Had
she never been bed-ridden, she might not have written them.
Later Eliza's well-being improved, although she suffered
reoccurances for the rest of her life. Despite her health problems, she was
deeply interested in Sunday school work, and superintended a Sunday school for
the Northern Home for Friendless Children. This was followed by similar work in
the Calvin Presbyterian Church. At one point, she had a class of 200!
Eliza died in 1920.
Hymns: