1872–1964

Introduction

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Born: Ap­ril 3, 1872, Ross­ville, Il­li­nois.

Died: May 18, 1964, To­le­do, Ohio.

Buried: Wood­lawn Ce­me­te­ry, To­le­do, Ohio.

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Biography

Ina was the daugh­ter of Will­iam W. Du­ley and Lae­ti­tia Wil­son, and wife of James Wes­ton Og­don (mar­ried 1896).

In 1883, Ina’s fa­mi­ly moved to the Da­ko­ta Ter­ri­to­ry and es­tab­lished a home­stead in Hand Coun­ty. Ina at­tend­ed school in a sod shan­ty in Kol­da, four miles from their home. Af­ter a se­vere bliz­zard in 1886, the fa­mi­ly de­cid­ed to move back to Il­li­nois.

She at­tend­ed Greer Col­lege in Hoopes­ton, Il­li­nois, and taught in Il­li­nois schools (1892–1900). While teach­ing there, she wrote her first pub­lished hymn, Op­en Wide the Win­dows—the be­gin­ning of a long term col­lab­or­a­tion with com­pos­er Charles Gab­ri­el.

Also while in Il­li­nois, she met fel­low teach­er and fu­ture hus­band James. They were mar­ried in Hoope­ston in 1896. Their on­ly child, Will­iam Du­ley Og­don, was born in there in 1901.

Shortly there­af­ter, the young fa­mi­ly moved to To­le­do, Ohio, which James had come to know while work­ing as a pos­tal clerk for the Wa­bash Rail­road.

The two of them taught Sun­day school for the next quar­ter cen­tu­ry at the North­west Church of Christ.

Sources

Lyrics