M. A. Kidder

Mary Ann Pepper Kidder, often writing under the pseudonym Minnie Waters, was a prolific American poet and hymn writer whose work became a cornerstone of the 19th-century "Gospel Song" era. Born in Boston in 1820, Kidder’s life was marked by both miraculous recovery and profound personal loss. After losing her sight at age sixteen and regaining it a year later, she married Ellis Usher Kidder, a music publisher. When her husband died of disease following the Battle of Antietam during the Civil War, Mary Ann was left to support three children. She turned her talent for verse into a professional career, becoming one of the most successful commercial poets of her day and earning an estimated $80,000 from her writing, a staggering sum for the 19th century.

Kidder is perhaps best remembered in hymnody for the text "Lord, I Care Not for Riches," (often titled "Is My Name Written There?"). Set to music by Frank M. Davis, the hymn’s focus on the "Book of Life" resonated deeply with the evangelical emphasis on personal assurance of salvation. Its simple, earnest refrain became a favorite in the Sunday School movement and was later featured in Ira D. Sankey’s Sacred Songs & Solos.

Another enduring work is her hymn of resurrection hope, "We Shall Sleep, but Not Forever." Written during a period of intense national mourning following the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the song provided comfort to a grieving public. It was notably sung at the funeral of the great evangelist P. P. Bliss, highlighting its status as a definitive statement of Christian hope in the face of death.

Throughout her forty-six years in New York City, Kidder was a constant presence in the literary world. For over a quarter-century, she contributed a poem every week to the New York Ledger, and her work appeared regularly in the New York Fireside Companion and Demorest’s Monthly. Beyond hymns, she was:

• A fierce advocate for the Temperance movement.

• A founding member of Sorosis, the first professional women's club in the United States.

• A writer of over 1,000 hymn lyrics and countless short stories and articles.

Kidder’s personal life was shadowed by the deaths of two of her children, yet she was described by her family as "gentle, patient, and always serene." Her fierce independence and refusal to rely on others for material support characterized her long career. She died in 1905 at the age of eighty-five. Today, she is remembered as a pioneering woman of letters who transformed a "writing hobby" into a powerful ministry of song, providing the church with some of its most enduring expressions of faith and eternal hope.