Julie Hausmann

Julie Katharina Hausmann[1] (born 19 March [O.S. 7 March] 1826[2] in Riga; died 15 August [O.S. 2 August] 1901[3] in Võsu, Estonia) was a Baltic German poet, known for the hymn "So nimm denn meine Hände" ("Lord, Take My Hand and Lead Me"), with a melody by Friedrich Silcher. Earlier translations had been made by Herman Brueckner as "O take my hand, dear Father" and Elmer Leon Jorgenson as "Take Thou My Hand, and Lead Me".[4] The hymn has also been translated by Martha D. Lange, whose version appears in Great Songs of the Church Revised (1986).[5]

Julie Hausmann

Hausmann was the daughter of a teacher. She worked for a while as a governess, but due to her ill health lived with and cared for her father, who had gone blind. After his death in 1864, she lived with her sisters in Germany, Southern France and St. Petersburg, Russia. She died during a summer vacation in Estonia.

A legend holds that Hausmann wrote her most famous poem "So nimm denn meine Hände" after journeying to see her fiancé at a mission and, on arriving, finding that he had just died. Various explorations of her biography have yet to confirm or deny the rumor. She never married.

Her poetry was published by others, including Gustav Knak without mentioning her name, at her request.

Works
Hausmann Maiblumen.
  • Maiblumen. Lieder einer Stillen im Lande. (May flowers) 2 volumes, 1862 (6th edition around 1880: Front cover Vol. 1)
  • Bilder aus dem Leben der Nacht im Lichte des Evangeliums. 1868
  • Hausbrot. Schlichte Morgen- und Abend-Andachten. 1899
  • Blumen aus Gottes Garten. Lieder und Gedichte. 1902 (posthumous collection)

References
  1. Her name is often stated erroneously as Julie von Hausmann. However, the nobiliary particle "von" was granted personally to her father in 1856 and was not hereditary. See: Röhrig, Karl (1925). "Die ursprüngliche Textgestalt von 'So nimm denn meine Hände'". Monatsschrift für Gottesdienst und kirchliche Kunst. 30 (4/5): 115–117.
  2. Entry in baptismal register of St.-Jacobi church in Riga Archived 2013-05-16 at the Wayback Machine (Latvian: Rīgas sv. Jēkaba katedrāle)
  3. Entry in funeral register of Haljall (Estonian: Haljala kogudus)
  4. Great Songs of the Church. Louisville, KY: Word and Work. 1921. In subsequent editions the hymn changes number but does not appear at all in the 1937 "Number Two" edition, which was reissued in 1974 with supplement.
  5. Forrest McCann, ed. (1986). Great Songs of the Church Revised. Abilene, TX: ACU Press. p. Item 527.

Literature
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz (1990). "Hausmann, Julie". In Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). 2. Hamm: Bautz. cols. 606–607. ISBN 3-88309-032-8.
  • Elisabeth Schneider-Böklen: Hausmann, Julie. In: Komponisten und Liederdichter des Evangelischen Gesangbuchs. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1999, p. 134.
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