Her first book of poems, published in 1844, was called The Blind Girl and Other Poems. She relied entirely on her remarkable memory to work out and record her verses. She would compose a poem or group of poems, and let the lines lie in her mind several days before recalling them to be finished and then recorded by her secretary!
After leaving the school, she dedicated her life to serving the poorest and the neediest. Supporting herself by her writing, she quickly gained fame for her hymns. It is said that publishers had so much of her work, that they took to using them under 200 different pseudonyms. Her usual fee was a mere $2 which frequently went to her work with the poor.
As an example, in 1849 a plague of cholera spread from India to Europe and at last reached New York City. Miss Crosby helped care for the sick at the Institution.
In 1858, Fanny married Alexander Van Alstyne (also blind), an accomplished musician, and a teacher in the same Institution as his wife. Mr. Van Alstyne was a successful teacher of music and the organist in one of New York City’s churches. He was a composer, setting some of this wife’s poems to music.The couple lived out their married life in Brooklyn, NY.
Fanny Crosby died at the age of 94 on February 12, 1915, in Bridgeport, Ct. An internet site about her life is at http://www.nyise.org/fanny/songbird.html