Eliza Edmunds Hewitt

Eliza Edmunds Hewitt was born in Philadelphia on June 28, 1851, and spent her life in that city. After graduating from the Girls' High School, she became a public-school teacher. A near-contemporary account by gospel-song composer Charles H. Gabriel says that a spinal illness ended that career and left her confined at home for years; it does not substantiate the later, often repeated story that a pupil caused the injury with a slate. During her gradual recovery she returned to the study of English literature and began writing verse for children in her church.

Hewitt served in Presbyterian Sunday-school work, including at Olivet Presbyterian Church and as superintendent of the primary department at Calvin Presbyterian Church, and she participated in the Philadelphia Elementary Union. Her educational ministry brought her into the gospel-song publishing network around John R. Sweney and William J. Kirkpatrick. Her widely circulated texts include “More About Jesus,” “Sunshine in My Soul,” “Stepping in the Light,” and “Will There Be Any Stars?” She also published under the name Lidie H. Edmunds. “When We All Get to Heaven” appeared in 1898 with music by Emily D. Wilson; no contemporary account describing Hewitt's precise act of composition has been located.