Howard E. Smith

Howard E. Smith was born in Connecticut on July 16, 1863, and died at Norwalk on August 13, 1918. Hymn indexes identify him as a Connecticut church organist and composer, but the churches he served, his musical education, and his denominational affiliation have not been securely documented. His historical reputation rests chiefly on the tune written for James Rowe's Love Lifted Me, later named SAFETY.

A valuable recollection came from Rowe's daughter, Louise Rowe Mayhew, in a 1955 account prepared at the request of hymnologist William J. Reynolds. She remembered Smith as a small man whose hands were severely affected by arthritis, yet who could still play the piano. She described Rowe pacing and humming short musical ideas while Smith tried them at the keyboard and wrote them down. Because this testimony was recorded more than forty years after the event, it should be treated as a family recollection rather than a contemporary composition diary; nevertheless, it supports the conclusion that words and music were developed together in Saugatuck, Connecticut.

Smith's melody was copyrighted with the text in 1912 and soon circulated under Robert H. Coleman's ownership. Modern hymnals usually credit Smith alone as composer and identify the tune as SAFETY or LOVE LIFTED ME. Reliable evidence for a broader catalogue of Smith's music remains limited.