A Quick Sketch of the Faithful Fanny Crosby Quiz

Answer: New York

Brewster is in Putnam County in New York. The community is in the southeastern part of the state and its population was 2,390 when the 2010 census was taken. Here's some fascinating information courtesy Wikipedia: Brewster has the highest concentration of Guatemalans in the United States, comprising 38.16 per cent of the village's population when the 2010 census was taken.

Answer: Blindness

Fanny Crosby was blind. In her book titled 'Fanny J. Crosby, an Autobiography' she writes she lost her sight when she was six weeks old as a result of a wrong diagnosis made by a doctor.

Wikipedia, however, suggests it is likely Crosby was blind at birth. "At six weeks old, Crosby caught a cold and developed inflammation of the eyes," the Website states. "Mustard poultices were applied to treat the discharges. According to Crosby, this procedure damaged her optic nerves and blinded her but modern physicians think that her blindness was more likely congenital and, given her age, may simply not have been noticed by her parents."

Regardless if she was blind at birth, or blinded by accident six weeks after birth, Crosby reportedly went through life regarding her blindness as a blessing. . "...If at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I was born blind," Crosby is quoted as saying by the Website Christianhistory.net. "Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior."

She is also quoted as stating she was grateful for her blindness because it kept her dependent on the Lord. Had she been born with sight, Crosby feared her Christian faith would not be as strong as it was.

Incidentally, her husband was also blind.

Answer: Alexander van Alstyne

Technically, Fanny Crosby's real name was Frances Jane van Alstyne following her marriage to Alexander Van Alstyne in 1858. According to Wikipedia, her husband insisted she continue writing hymns under her maiden name. It must've been a bold step for a woman in 1858. After all, this was sixty-two years before women even won the right to vote in the United States.

Answer: About 8,000

Fanny Crosby, according to Wikipedia, is credited with writing a whopping 8,000 hymns. However, some other Websites, such as Christianhistory.net, state the total could be about 9,000 hymns as a number of her hymns were written under pseudonyms.

Various Websites report publishers insisted Crosby use pseudonyms for some of her hymns because if she didn't, it would appear as if she wrote the overwhelming majority of hymns in any given hymnal.

According to Hymnary.org, the following is a list of pseudonyms used by Crosby: "A.V., Mrs. A.E. Andrews, Mrs. E.A. Andrews, Mrs. E.L. Andrews, James L. Black, Henrietta E. Blair, Charles Bruce, Robert Bruce, Leah Carlton, Eleanor Craddock, Lyman G. Cuyler, D.H.W., Ella Dare, Ellen Dare, Lizzie Edwards, Miss Grace Elliot, Grace J. Frances, Victoria Frances, Jennie Garnett, Frank Gould, Frances Hope, Annie L. James, Martha J. Lankton, Grace Lindsey, Maud Marion, Sallie Martin, Alice Monteith, Mrs. N. D. Plume, Sallie Smith, J.L. Sterling, John Sterling, Julia Sterling, Ida Scott Taylor, Mary R. Tilden, Carrie M. Wilson, Clara M. Wilson, and W.H.D."

Answer: Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland and Fanny Crosby were the best of friends. Cleveland served as president from March 4, 1885 to March 4, 1889 and from March 4, 1893 to March 4, 1897. Hymntime.com reports on her 85th birthday, Cleveland wrote the following letter to Crosby:

"My dear friend:
"It is more than fifty years ago that our acquaintance and friendship began; and ever since that time I have watched your continuous and interested labor in uplifting humanity, and pointing out the way to an appreciation of God's goodness and mercy.
"Though your labors have, I know, brought you abundant rewards in your consciousness of good accomplished, those who have known of your works and sympathized with your noble purposes owe it to themselves that you are apprized of their remembrance of these things. I am, therefore, exceedingly gratified to learn that your eighty-fifth birthday is to be celebrated with a demonstration of this remembrance. As one proud to call you an old friend, I desire to be early in congratulating you on your long life of usefulness, and wishing you in the years yet to be added to you, the peace and comfort born of the love of God.
Yours very sincerely,
Grover Cleveland"

According to Wikipedia, while teaching at the New York Institute for the Blind, Crosby became good friends with the future U.S. president.

"Cleveland and Crosby spent many hours together at the end of each day, and Cleveland often transcribed the poems Crosby dictated to him," Wikipedia reports. "Cleveland wrote a recommendation for Crosby which was published in her 1906 autobiography."

Christianhistory.net also reports Crosby knew "all the chief executives of her lifetime."

Answer: Safe In the Arms of Jesus

'Safe In the Arms of Jesus' is the correct answer. No one knows for certain what inspired Fanny Crosby to write the words to the song, however, some have speculated her daughter's death was behind the words. According to Wikipedia, Crosby's daughter died in her sleep soon after birth. "While some believe the cause was typhoid fever, Darlene Neptune speculates that it may have been SIDS, and that Crosby's hymn, 'Safe in the Arms of Jesus' was inspired by her daughter's death." Wikipedia reports. (Hymnoftheweek.org also supports this view.)

However, some facts are known about 'Safe in the Arms of Jesus'. It was played at the funeral of U.S, President Ulysses S. Grant on on Au­gust 8, 1885. Various Websites report Crosby wrote the words for the hymn in under forty minutes. The Websites tell of William H. Doan, who composed music as a hobby, knocking at Crosby's door and after playing a tune for her on the piano, she exclaimed the tune should be called 'Safe in the Arms of Jesus'. Crosby reportedly quickly wrote the lyrics for him and the rest is history.

Incidentally, the three other choices in the question -- 'No Book is Like the Bible', 'Rejoice, Rejoice, Believer' and 'To God Be the Glory' -- were also written by Crosby.

Answer: False

False. To the contrary, she reportedly gave large sums of money over the years to Christian evangelistic and charity programs. In fact, Wikipedia reports Crosby and her husband could have lived comfortably on their combined income, but she "had other priorities and gave away anything that was not necessary to their daily survival".

In 1874, Crosby was reported to be "living in a destitute condition," according to Wikipedia.

Answer: True

True. She was the first woman to speak in the U.S. Senate in 1843. "After graduation from the NYIB (New York Institute for the Blind) in 1843, Crosby joined a group of lobbyists in Washington, D.C., arguing for support of education for the blind" Wikipedia states. "Crosby was the first woman to speak in the United States Senate when she read a poem there. When Crosby appeared before the joint houses of Congress, she recited these lines:
'O ye, who here from every state convene,
Illustrious band! may we not hope the scene
You now behold will prove to every mind
Instruction hath a ray to cheer the blind'."

Answer: Amazing Grace

Fanny Crosby wrote at least 8,000 hymns, including 'All the Way My Savior Leads Me', 'Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior' and 'To God Be the Glory'. However, she did not write 'Amazing Grace'. It was written by John Newton, a former slave trader, in 1779 in Great Britain.

A number of Crosby's hymns remain popular today.

Answer: Blessed Assurance

According to Hymntime.com, the words on Fanny Crosby's tombstone say 'Aunt Fanny' and the first line of 'Blessed Assurance'. The first line of the ever popular hymn is, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine." After more than a century, many of Crosby's hymns remain popular today, but perhaps none more so then 'Blessed Assurance'. She is buried at the Mountain Grove Cemetery in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

According to Hymntime.com, Eliza Hewitt, writer of a number of popular hymns including 'When We All Get to Heaven', memorialized Crosby's passing in a poem read at her funeral. The poem contains a number of references to hymns written by Crosby:

"Away to the country of sunshine and song,
Our songbird has taken her flight,
And she who has sung in the darkness so long
Now sings in the beautiful light;
The harp-strings here broken are sweetly restrung
To ring in a chorus sublime;
The hymns that on earth she so trustfully sung
Keep tune with eternity's chime!

"What heart can conceive of the rapture she knows
Awakened to glories so bright,
Where radiant splendor unceasingly glows,
Where cometh no shadows of night!
Her 'life-work is ended,' and over the tide,
'Redeemed' in His presence to stand,
She knows her Redeemer, for her crucified,
'By the print of the nails in His hand.'

"'Blessed Assurance' -- the lamp in her soul
That made earthly midnight as naught!
A 'New Song' of joy shall unceasingly roll
To Him who her ransom had bought.
To 'Rescue the Perishing,' her greatest delight,
What bliss, in the Homeland, to meet
With those she has told of the Lord's saving might,
Together, to bow at His feet.

"Good-bye, dearest Fanny, goodbye for a while,
You walk in the shadows no more;
Around you, the sunbeams of glory will smile;
The Lamb is the Light of that Shore!
Someday we will meet in the City above;
Together, we'll look on His face;
Safe, 'Safe in the Arms' of the Jesus we love;
Together we'll sing, 'Saved by Grace!'"