E. Prentiss

E. Prentiss
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Short Name: E. Prentiss
Full Name: Prentiss, E. (Elizabeth), 1818-1878
Birth Year: 1818
Death Year: 1878

Elizabeth Payson Prentiss USA 1818-1878. Born at Portland, ME, 5th child of Congregationalist minister, Edward Payson. He died of tuberculosis in 1827, and the family moved to New York City in 1831. That year she professed faith in Christ and joined the Bleeker Street Presbyterian Church. She possessed keen abilities, including sympathy and perceptiveness. She began writing stories and poems, and contributed her works to “The youth’s companion”, a New England religious periodical. In 1838 she opened a small girls’ school in her home and took up a Sabbath-school class as well. Two years later, she moved to Richmond, VA, to be a department head at a girls’ boarding school. In 1845 she married George Lewis Prentiss, a brother of her close friend, Anna Prentiss Stearns. The Prentisses settled in New Bedford, MA, where George became pastor of South Trinitarian Church. In 1851 George became pastor of Mercer St Presbyterian Church in New York City. After a happy period in life, by 1852 she had lost two of her three children, one as a newborn, one at age four. However, she went on to have three more healthy children, despite her poor health. She wrote her first book of stories, published in 1853. In 1856 she penned her famous hymn lyrics (noted below) after she nearly lost her daughter, Minnie, to an illness. After George resigned from his church due to failing health, the family went abroad for a couple of years. In 1860 they returned to NY, where George resumed his pastorate and held a chair at Union Theological Seminary. She published her most popular book, “Stepping heavenward” in 1869, furnishing it in installments to ‘Chicago Advance’. The family evenually settled in Dorset, VT, where she died. After her death, her husband published “The life and letters of Elizabeth Prentiss” in 1882. The family children were: Annie, Eddy, Bessie, Minnie, George, and Henry.

John Perry
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Prentiss, Elizabeth, née Payson, youngest daughter of Dr. Edward Payson, was born at Portland, Maine, Oct. 26, 1818; married to George Lewis Prentiss, D.D., then at Bedford, Massachusetts, April, 1845; and died at Dorset, Vermont, Aug. 13, 1878. Her Life and Letters by her husband appeared some time after. Dr. Prentiss removed from Bedford to New York in 1851, and was appointed Professor of Pastoral Theology at Union Seminary, New York, 1873. Mrs. Prentiss's works include The Flower of the Family; Stepping Heavenward, 1869; and Religious Poems, 1873. Of her hymns the two following are most widely known:—
1. As on a vast eternal shore Thanksgiving. Contributed to Schaff's Christ in Song, 1869.
2. More love to Thee, 0 Christ. More Love to Christ desired. Written in 1869, and first printed on a fly-sheet; then in Hatfield's Church Hymn Book, N. Y., 1872.
[Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)


Texts by E. Prentiss (28)sort descendingAsAuthority LanguagesInstances
Amarte más, JesúsE. Prentiss (Author)Spanish2
Amarte más Jesús, Anhelo hoyE. Prentiss (Author)Spanish2
Anhelo amarte más, Oh SalvadorElizabeth Prentiss (Author)Spanish3
Brothers, clasp hands, the brief moments are flyingElizabeth P. Prentiss (Author)5
Dacdackel ñga ayat itdem caniacE. Prentiss (Author)Tagalog2
Haemehosanestotsė nehmetseo'ȯE. Prentiss (Based on)Cheyenne2
Hast thou, my Master, aught for me to doElizabeth P. Prentiss (Author)4
حبيك زده يا خلي الودودElizabeth Prentiss (Author)Arabic1
I need Thee every hour, Most gracious LordMrs. E. P. Prentiss (Author)English4
I nui a'e a mauElizebeth P. Prentiss, 1818-1878 (Author)Hawaiian3
Më tepër dashuriE. Prentiss (Author)Albanian2
Mehr Lieb', mein Gott, zu dirElizabeth Prentiss (Author)German1
Mehr Liebe, Herr, zu dirElizabeth Prentiss (Author)German1
Mehr lieben möcht' ich dichElizabeth P. Prentiss (Author)German5
Mer Kj'rlighed til digElizabeth P. Prentiss (Author)2
Mer k'rlek, Jesus k'rElizabeth P. Prentiss (Author)2
Mita Wakantanka NikiyenaElizabeth Prentiss (Author)Dakota1
More love to Thee, O ChristElizabeth P. Prentiss (Author)English765
Nijaze, Bwanangu, na upendoE. Prentiss (Author)Swahili1
Now let me lay the pearl awayE. Prentiss (Author)2
O come to Christ, a single glanceElizabeth Prentiss (Author)English8
On to the battlefieldE. Prentiss (Author)2
Press close my child to meElizabeth P. Prentiss (Author)4
Quiero Jesús mi reyElizabeth Prentiss, 1818-1878 (Author)Spanish2
Sentir más grande amor por ti, SeñorElizabeth Prentiss (Author)Spanish3
There is a song I want to singElizabeth Prentiss (Author)English2
To sleep, to sleep, my baby dearElizabeth P. Prentiss (Author)2
我願愛你更深 (Wǒ yuàn ài nǐ gēngshēn)Elizabeth P. Prentiss (Author)Chinese2

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