Mary Jane "Jennie" Bain Wilson (November 13, 1856 – September 3, 1913) was an American hymn writer.
Mary Jane "Jennie" Bain Wilson was born on a farm in Cleveland, Indiana in 1856, [1] the younger daughter of Robert Wilson and Mary Frances Russell Wilson. [2] She survived typhoid fever as a little girl, but her spine was damaged by the bacterial infection ("typhoid spine" was first described in the medical literature many years later). [3] She used a wheelchair from childhood [4] and she was educated at home. [5]
Wilson wrote thousands and published hundreds of Christian hymns; [6] she was known as the " Fanny Crosby of the West". [2] She also wrote poetry and spoke at Bible conferences in Indiana. [5] Her hymn "Hold to God's Unchanging Hand" (1905) [7] was especially popular in the 1910s and 1920s. [8]
Wilson was also the author of the slogan of Fort Wayne, Indiana, "Fort Wayne with Might and Main", taking the $50 prize in the city's slogan contest, out of 25,000 submissions. [9] [10] [11]
After 1902 Wilson lived with her married older sister. She sought some surgical treatment of her paralysis in Indianapolis, and "improved somewhat". [10] Wilson died in 1913, aged 57 years, from kidney disease, in South Whitley, Indiana. [1] [4]
Mary Jane "Jennie" Bain Wilson (November 13, 1856 – September 3, 1913) was an American hymn writer.
Mary Jane "Jennie" Bain Wilson was born on a farm in Cleveland, Indiana in 1856, [1] the younger daughter of Robert Wilson and Mary Frances Russell Wilson. [2] She survived typhoid fever as a little girl, but her spine was damaged by the bacterial infection ("typhoid spine" was first described in the medical literature many years later). [3] She used a wheelchair from childhood [4] and she was educated at home. [5]
Wilson wrote thousands and published hundreds of Christian hymns; [6] she was known as the " Fanny Crosby of the West". [2] She also wrote poetry and spoke at Bible conferences in Indiana. [5] Her hymn "Hold to God's Unchanging Hand" (1905) [7] was especially popular in the 1910s and 1920s. [8]
Wilson was also the author of the slogan of Fort Wayne, Indiana, "Fort Wayne with Might and Main", taking the $50 prize in the city's slogan contest, out of 25,000 submissions. [9] [10] [11]
After 1902 Wilson lived with her married older sister. She sought some surgical treatment of her paralysis in Indianapolis, and "improved somewhat". [10] Wilson died in 1913, aged 57 years, from kidney disease, in South Whitley, Indiana. [1] [4]