Ralph E. Hudson

HUDSON, Ralph E. b. Napoleon, Ohio, 9 July 1843; d. Cleveland, Ohio, 14 June 1901. The family moved to Philadelphia when he was a child. During the Civil War he served in the Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was a nurse in Annapolis General Hospital, 1862-63. He was given an honourable discharge in 1864. A good musician, he taught music at Mount Vernon College, Alliance, Ohio, and later became a music publisher there. He was a licensed preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He published Salvation Echoes (1882), from which comes his best known hymn, ‘My life, my love I give to Thee’*. This was followed in quick succession by three more books: Gems of Gospel Songs (1884), Songs of Peace,...