Civilla Durfee Martin

Civilla Durfee Martin was born Civilla Durfee Holden at Jordan Falls, Nova Scotia, on August 21, 1866. She worked as a schoolteacher before becoming active in gospel-song writing and evangelistic ministry in the United States. After an earlier marriage to Congregational minister John F. Geddes, she married Baptist evangelist and musician Walter Stillman Martin. The Martins traveled in evangelistic work and developed a productive songwriting partnership. In 1916 they joined the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and Civilla later belonged to First Christian Church in Atlanta.

Her best-documented hymn story concerns “God Will Take Care of You.” While the Martins were at the Practical Bible Training School in Lestershire, New York, in 1904, Civilla was confined to bed by illness. In a 1941 interview she said she wrote the text one Sunday afternoon while Walter was away preaching; when he returned, he immediately composed the music on a small Bilhorn organ. The hymn was published the following year in Songs of Redemption and Praise.

Martin wrote hundreds of gospel texts, usually signing them “C. D. Martin.” Her other best-known hymn is “His Eye Is on the Sparrow,” written in 1905 and set to music by Charles H. Gabriel. She died in Atlanta on March 9, 1948.