Redeemed, How I Love To Proclaim It!

Hymn writer Fanny J. Crosby wrote these lines in 1882. She and her husband, Alexander Van Alstyne, were living on Frankfort Street in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Fanny Crosby was an extraordinary person. She maintained a vigorous life throughout her ninety-five years. As an infant she was blinded by a quack physician who applied a strong poultice to her eyes.  Educated at the New York Institution for the Blind, she later taught there for several years.

Her hymnwriting did not begin until she was almost forty years old. Her phenomenal memory, which was evident at an early age, was a great aid to her in her hymnwriting. By the time she was twelve she knew by memory the first five books of the Old Testament, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Solomon, and many of the Psalms. During her prolific hymnwriting years she usually put together her poems in the evenings after she had retired to her room. She would finish the text and retain it. The following morning she would dictate to a friend what she had completed the night before. She did not use Braille because years of playing the guitar and harp had made calluses on her fingers that made the use of Braille difficult.