1861–1921

Introduction

Born: Au­gust 31, 1861, Hi­ram, Ohio.

Died: March 3, 1921, Hi­ram, Ohio.

Buried: Fair­view Ce­me­te­ry, Hir­am, Ohio.

portrait
portrait

Biography

Jessie was the daugh­ter of Hol­land Brown and Jane A. Abell, and wife of John Ed­win Pounds, pas­tor of the Cen­tral Chris­tian Church in In­di­an­apo­lis, In­di­ana (mar­ried 1896).

She was in poor health as a child, and re­ceived her ear­ly edu­ca­tion at home.

At age 15, she be­gan sub­mit­ting ar­ti­cles to Cleve­land news­pa­pers and va­ri­ous re­li­gious pub­li­ca­tions. In her ear­ly years, an ed­it­or com­ment­ed that some of her po­et­ry would make good hymn texts. So be­gan her song writ­ing ca­reer.

Over her life­time, Pounds wrote 50 li­bret­tos for can­ta­tas and op­er­et­tas, 9 books, and more than 400 Gos­pel songs. She col­lab­or­at­ed with James Fill­more for three de­cades.

Works

Sources

Lyrics