Annie Rebekah Smith (1828-1855)

BIRTH & DEATH

b: 16 March 1828; West Wilton, New Hampshire
d: 26 July 1855; West Wilton, New Hampshire

EDUCATION

 Charlestown Female Seminary (CFS) in Massachusetts, which offered studies in English, art, music, and languages.

Although she planned to become a teacher of French and painting, the onset of an eye problem in 1850, during her sixth and final term at the CFS, prevented that.

Because of her vision, she declined an offer to teach in a seminary at Hancock, a great disappointment for her.

HIGHLIGHTS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Became an agent for and contributor to a monthly magazine, The Ladies’ Wreath, in New York City. Her pieces published in that periodical were among her first efforts in public writing.

 Sent a poem, “Fear Not, Little Flock,” to the Review and Herald, which led to an immediate invitation from editor James White to assist him as copy editor. She declined because of her vision, but was told to come anyway to Saratoga Springs, New York, where the Whites’ home served as publishing office and residence for staff members. 

After an anointing with prayers offered on her behalf when she arrived, Annie’s vision problem cleared up, enabling her to do the work without hindrance. She stayed on at the office, which soon moved to Rochester, New York.

James White, known for demanding a high standard of quality from the workers, sometimes entrusted Annie with full responsibility for editing the Review while he was away on travels. In addition to editorial work, she contributed more than forty articles and poems to the Review and to the Youth’s Instructor, first issued in 1852.

Annie and her brother Uriah were invited to take charge of an academy in Mount Vernon, New Hampshire, in January 1853, at a substantial salary. She declined, preferring to return to the Review office, without salary, where she felt her efforts could more directly spread the message.

Annie prayed for strength to complete a poem, “Home Here and Home in Heaven,” that she had begun in January, and was able to do so on May 28. The following day her brother Uriah arranged for it to be printed along with others she had previously written. He sketched a peony, her favorite flower, and engraved it for printing on the title page. The small volume of poems, Home Here and Home in Heaven, was published shortly after Annie’s death on July 26, 1855.

Rebekah Smith, Annie’s mother, prepared a book entitled Poems: With a Life Sketch of the Life and Experience of Annie R. Smith, published in 1871. She included 77 of her own poems, 16 of her daughter’s, and 15 of Uriah’s, as well as “A Brief Sketch of the Life, Sickness, and Death of Annie R. Smith.”

FAMILY

one of the four children of Samuel Keyes and Rebekah Spaulding Smith who survived infancy, and their only daughter.

Uriah Smith, (1832-1903) brother

Samuel Smith, brother

FAITH, SPIRITUALITY & RELIGION

She joined the Baptist Church at age 10, but withdrew from it in 1844 when she, her mother, and youngest brother, Uriah, identified with the Second Advent movement.

When expectations about Christ returning that year were not fulfilled, Annie turned to teaching school and pursuing studies at the Charlestown Female Seminary

In 1851, with the encouragement of her mother, Annie Smith attended meetings being held by Joseph Bates in Boston, and accepted the seventh-day Sabbath, joining what would later formally become the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

HYMNS INCLUDED IN THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST HYMNAL

Ten hymns using Annie Smith’s poetry were published in the 1941 Church Hymnal. Adventist tradition holds that the first stanza of one of the 1941 hymns, “The Blessed Hope” (renamed “I Saw One Weary” in the 1985 Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal) refers to Joseph Bates, the second to James White, and the third to herself, but using a masculine pronoun for consistency. The three hymns using her poetry that were retained in the 1985 hymnal are:

How Far From Home? SDAH 439
I Saw One Weary SDAH 441
Long Upon the Mountains, Weary SDAH 447

Information from: Shultz, Dan. “Smith, Annie Rebekah (1828–1855).” Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 29, 2020. Date of access January 05, 2024, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=AA69.