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When she was five years old, she was taken to the best eye specialist. His name was Dr. Valentine Mott. Neighbors and friends also helped with money to send her to the doctor. The doctor said that he couldn't do anything to help her.
When she was nine they moved to Ridgefield, Connecticut, where she had to stay until she was age 15. Her mom had to work so she spent most of her time with her grandmother. She told her how everything looked. The trees, parks, sky and most important she told her about the Bible. She learned the Pentateuch, Ruth, many Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon and much of the New Testament.
When she was 15 her mother told her that she was going to send her to the Institution for the Blind in New York. She was very thankful to the Lord because He had answered her prayers. In March 3, 1835 she went on a boat to New York.
When she was twenty she fell in love with another blind guy. His name was Alexander VanAlstyne. In March 5, 1858 they got married. They had a child but died while yet a baby.
What she did most of her life was to compose songs and poems. One of the greatest hymns was "Save in the Arms of Jesus." Some people say that the most famous one was "Blessed Assurance". She also wrote "Saved by Grace" after Dr. Howard Crosby died.
She died in February 12, 1915 at the age of 94. When she died, her minister of the Methodist Church George M. Brown said: "There must have been a royal welcome when this queen of sacred song burst the bonds of death and passed into the glories of heaven." At the funeral some words from Eliza Edmunds Hewitt were read. It was like the last verse of a poem and it said: "Goodbye, dearest Fanny, goodbye for a while; You walk in the shadows no more; Around you, the sunbeams of glory will smile; The Lamb is the light of that Shore!" She died in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Her life span was 94 years, 10 months and 19 days. On her this word were inscribed: "She hath done what she could!"
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