Louisa Maria Rouse Stead

Louisa Maria Rouse Stead, often called Louise and later known by her second married name, Wodehouse, was born in Dover, Kent, on February 1, 1846. She grew up in Kent and Sussex, worked as a governess in Lyminge, and emigrated to the United States about 1871. While living in Cincinnati she attended a camp meeting at Urbana, Ohio. Her first located hymn, Precious Savior, Thou Hast Saved Me, appeared with music by Dora Boole in Winnowed Hymns in 1873. That September she married George Stead at St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church in Cincinnati and moved to Hempstead, Long Island.

George Stead drowned in Hempstead Bay in May 1876. Recent biographical research indicates that Louisa and their infant daughter were then in England, which conflicts with the later story that they witnessed the death during a seaside outing. After several years in Hempstead, Louisa went to South Africa and married Methodist minister Robert Wodehouse in Port Elizabeth in January 1882. They spent about fifteen years in African mission work, later served a Methodist Episcopal congregation on Long Island, and returned to Africa in 1901 to work at Umtali in Southern Rhodesia. Retiring in 1911, she lived near Mutambara mission and died at Penkridge on January 18, 1917. Her best-known text remains this 1882 hymn of Christian trust.