Anne S. Murphy

Anne May Sebring Murphy, generally credited in hymnals as Anne S. Murphy or Mrs. Will L. Murphy, was an American gospel-song writer and composer associated with East Liverpool, Ohio. Available biographical sources disagree about whether she was born in 1877 or 1878, so the earlier year is retained cautiously. She married William L. Murphy, whose work was connected with Ohio’s pottery industry, and publications often identified her through her married name.

Murphy wrote both the text and melody of Constantly Abiding in 1908. This dual authorship is important: the familiar tune was not borrowed from an older collection or supplied by a later collaborator. Hymnal evidence consistently credits her in both roles, sometimes using her initials or the form Mrs. Will L. Murphy. Reliable documentation of the exact occasion of composition and the first printing has not been located.

Later biographical summaries report that Murphy was a musician, soloist, and public speaker, and that she eventually lived in Burbank, California, after being widowed. She died there in 1942 and was buried in the Sebring family mausoleum in Ohio. Constantly Abiding is the work by which she is chiefly remembered; its continuing appearance in evangelical hymnals, translated collections, and gospel-song repertories preserved her name when most details of her life had faded from the historical record.