[Bells of Easter, sweetly ring]

Composer: Martha Mills Newton

Born: March 2, 1861, Oxford, North Carolina. Died: April 11, 1947, South Fork, North Carolina. Buried: Rich Fork Baptist Church, Thomasville, North Carolina. Daughter of John Haymes Mills and Elizabeth Ann Arlington Williams Mills, Martha married Jefferson Davis Newton in 1889. She was a poet and an accomplished pianoforte player, and wrote over 50 hymns. She once heard one of her hymns sung by a 3,000 voice choir (likely on the radio) before she even knew it had been published. She never received more than $5 for a hymn, and payment was more often only $2. She taught music in the Rich Fork Community (Pilot area) of North Carolina, and lived for 30 years in Thomasville on land where the New Community General Hospital was eventually bui… Go to person page >