Introduction

Biography

Phoebe was the daugh­ter of Me­tho­dist ev­ang­el­ists Wal­ter C. Pal­mer and Phoe­be Wor­rall Pal­mer. At age 16, she mar­ried Jo­seph Fair­child Knapp, se­cond pre­si­dent of the Me­tro­po­li­tan Life In­sur­ance Com­pa­ny.

They be­longed to the John Street Me­tho­dist Church in New York Ci­ty, as did Phoe­be’s close friend Fan­ny Cros­by.

After her hus­band’s death, Phoe­be was left with a large in­come, much of which she gave to cha­ri­ty.

Phoebe had a large pipe or­gan in her apart­ment in the Sa­voy Ho­tel in New York Ci­ty, and wrote over 500 hymn tunes.

Works

• Notes of Joy (New York: W. C. Pal­mer, 1869)