Annie R. Smith

Annie Rebekah Smith (March 16, 1828 – July 26, 1855) was an early American Seventh-day Adventist hymnist, and sister of the Adventist pioneer Uriah Smith.

She has three hymns in the current (6,8,&9 below), and had 10 hymns in the previous Seventh-day Adventist Church Hymnal. At the Charlestown Seminary she trained to be a teacher in Oil Painting and French.

Annie meets Joseph Bates

Sabbatarian Adventist pioneer Joseph Bates met with Annie's mother. He was going to Boston and encouraged her to get Annie to attend the meeting he was conducting there. She went to the meeting and met Bates. This sparked her interest in the sabbatarian Adventist movement.

Working for the Review and Herald

Subsequent to having written and submitted a poem to the Review and Herald, she was recognised by James White as a talented writer. Although her eyesight was not sufficient to work as a copy-editor, she accepted the position. Upon arriving in Saratoga Springs, New York, she was healed through "anointing and prayer"

During the three and a half years before her death, she contributed around 45 articles to the Review and Herald and to the Youth's Instructor. She also wrote how far from home

Annie and John

John Nevins Andrews worked at the Review office during this time. A romance developed between them. Her romance with young Andrews failed to end in marriage, with Andrews instead choosing Angeline Stevens to be his wife. The failure of Andrews to follow through with the marriage prompted Ellen White to write that "Annie's disappointment cost her life."

Tuberculosis

Annie contracted tuberculosis and returned home. She died from the disease on Thursday July 26, 1855, at her family's home in West Wilton, New Hampshire.

Hymns and poetry

Some of the hymns she authored include: Awake, O, awake, now to life and duty Be patient, be patient, no longer despairing Blessed Jesus, meek and lowly Hail, peaceful day, divinely blest He sleeps in Jesus, peaceful rest How Far from Home? I ask not, Lord, for less to bear, Here in the narrow I Saw One Weary Long upon the Mountains She hath passed death's chilling billow This groaning earth is too dark and drear Through this dark valley of conflict Toil on a little longer here, For thy reward Twas a doleful night on Calvary's height Weeping endures but for a night When darkness gathers round thy way