Emily Swan Perkins

PERKINS, Emily Swan. b. Chicago, Illinois, 19 October 1866; d. Riverdale, New York, 27 June 1941. Perkins was a composer of hymn tunes and the founder in New York City of The Hymn Society (later The Hymn Society of America; now The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada*). She was the fourth child and only daughter of George Walbridge Perkins (1831-1886) and Sarah Louise Mills Perkins (1833-1872) and was named for Emily Swan, a friend of her parents. Two years after Sarah Perkins died in childbirth, George Perkins married Emily Swan, making her the stepmother of the child named in her honor. Though the full name of the younger Emily Swan Perkins appears in some formal contexts, she...