Introduction

Biography

Emily was the daugh­ter of George Wal­bridge Per­kins and Sa­rah Lou­isa Mills.

Her mu­sic­al gift showed it­self ear­ly. By age 10, she was play­ing pi­ano for the Sun­day School where her fa­ther was su­per­in­ten­dent.

She gra­du­at­ed from high school in Cleve­land, Ohio, in 1855. She lat­er lived brief­ly in Den­ver, Co­lo­ra­do, then moved to Ri­ver­dale, New York, in 1900.

She worked with the Red Cross dur­ing World War I, and be­gan writ­ing hymns about that time. She served on the na­tion­al board of the Young Wo­men’s Chris­tian Association (1933–38), and helped found the Hymn So­ci­ety of Am­eri­ca, serv­ing as its cor­res­pond­ing sec­re­ta­ry for al­most two de­cades.

Works

• Stonehurst Hymn Tunes, 1921
• Riverdale Hymn Tunes, 1938