Born: July 23, 1847, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Died: October 26, 1936, at her home in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Funeral services were held at the Swarthmore Presbyterian Church. Buried: Woodlands Cemetery, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. |
A graduate of the State Normal School, West Chester, Pennsylvania, Lizzie organized the primary department of a community Sunday School in Swarthmore, around 1896. Her husband, Andrew Goodrich DeArmond, died in 1923.
Very few who attend and work in the Sunday school will fail to recognize the name of Lizzie De Armond. She is, perhaps, the most prolific writer of children’s hymns, recitations, exercises, dialogues, etc., of the present day. At twelve years of age, her first poem was printed in the Germantown, Pa. Telegraph. In the early years of her womanhood the cares and responsibilities of life crowded out all possibility of writing, and it was not until she was left a widow with eight children to support that real necessity compelled her to renew the work so long neglected. Short articles for various papers and magazines, librettos for cantatas, nature stories and other literary work found a ready market, and were stepping stones to higher achievement.
‘If Your Heart Keeps Right’ now being used so extensively in Evangelistic meetings is her best known hymn. Under date of January 1st, 1915, she writes, “Now in the light of the glad New Year, 1915, if anything I have written has helped to lift one soul above the cares and worries of everyday life, and brought it nearer to the great loving heart of Jesus, the joy is mine, but the glory belongs to God.”
Charles Gabriel, The Singers and Their Songs, 23-24.
Sources
Hymns