Abby B. Hyde

Abigail Bradley Hyde
BornAbigail Bradley
September 28, 1799
Stockbridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedApril 7, 1872 (aged 72)
Andover, Connecticut, U.S.
Occupationhymnwriter
Genrereligious music lyrics
SubjectChristian hymns
Notable works"Dear Saviour, if these lambs should stray"
Spouse
Lavius Hyde
​
​
(m. 1818; died 1865)​

Abby B. Hyde (née, Bradley; 1799–1872) was an American hymnwriter,[1] who wrote the lyrics to at least 52 hymns.[2] At an early age, she started writing poetry, and subsequently, sacred hymns. Some of these were first published without her name.[3] Among American women to make contributions to its hymnology, she was one of the earliest.[4]

Her Christian hymns were strongly evangelistic in tone, but unlike many hymns of that period which portrayed the anguish of hell and sought to terrify sinners into repentance, hers were more moderate and were marked by a calm persuasiveness which made them effective. In her day, nearly fifty of her poems were being sung in the U.S.[5] It was to Asahel Nettleton's Village Hymns, 1824, and to Elias Nason's Collection, 1857, that the greater part of her hymns were contributed.[6] Smith included Hyde's "Dear Saviour, if these lambs should stray" in his Songs from the Hearts of Women: One Hundred Famous Hymns and Their Writers (1903).[4]

  1. ^ Hatfield, Edwin Francis (1884). "Abigail (Bradley) Hyde". The Poets of the Church: A Series of Biographical Sketches of Hymn-writers with Notes on Their Hymns. A. D. F. Randolph. pp. 349–50. Retrieved 15 December 2023. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. ^ "Abigail Bradley Hyde". hymntime.com. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hudson1891 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Smith, Nicholas (1903). "Abby Bradley Hyde". Songs from the Hearts of Women: One Hundred Famous Hymns and Their Writers. Chicago: A.C. McClurg. pp. 66–67. Retrieved 16 December 2023. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. ^ Ninde, Edward Summerfield (1921). "Chapter XI. Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Hyde. Abigail Bradley Hyde.". The Story of the American Hymn. Abingdon Press. pp. 184–86. Retrieved 16 December 2023. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. ^ Duffield, Samuel Willoughby (1886). "Mrs. Abigail Bradley Hyde". English Hymns: Their Authors and History. Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 30–31. Retrieved 16 December 2023. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.