Jesus Loves Me

Jesus Loves Me

Henry Witting Warner was a successful New York lawyer in the early 19th Century. He had two daughters, Anna and Susan. Henry bought a second home on Constitution Island on the Hudson River, across from the US Military Academy at West Point, where they would spend their summers. The Financial Panic of 1837 brought Henry’s career and finances to ruin, and the little family of three was forced to live in their Summer home full-time, in near-poverty.  Henry had two priorities for his daughters: that he raise them in the Faith, and that they be educated.

Needing to contribute to the family’s income, Susan and Ana began writing novels as young women. Susan’s first novel, “The Wide, Wide World” was, in its time, a best-seller – second only to ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin.’  Between the two of them, the sisters wrote over 100 novels, some individually, some together.

The sisters, after the death of their father, decided that they wanted to do more than survive – they wanted to serve their Lord.  Asking God for a mission field, He showed them one – across the river among the Cadets at West Point.  Their ministry was simple: every Sunday afternoon, they would bake ginger cookies and prepare lemonade for the cadets who would row over for weekly Bible classes they would teach. The sisters kept up this routine for decades, teaching generations of future Army officers who served in every American conflict from the Civil War up to World War 2.

Despite their novels, the sisters never gained financial prosperity, always living near poverty. Many years later, a friend wrote, “One day when sitting with Miss Anna in the old living room she took from one of the cases a shell so delicate that it looked like lace work.  Holding it in her hand, with eyes dimmed with tears, she said, ‘There was a time when I was very perplexed, bills were unpaid, necessities must be had, and [then] someone sent me this exquisite thing. As I held it, I realized that if God could make this beautiful home for a little creature, He would take care of me.’”

Susan passed away in 1885. Anna continued to minister to the West Point cadets, concluding her teaching only in the year of her death, 1915. One of the graduating students that year, and a member of Anna’s class, was Cadet Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Anna and Susan Warner are buried together, each with full military honors, in the US Military Cemetery at West Point, the only two civilians given such an honor.  Their home on Constitution Island was maintained by West Point cadets as a museum and a tribute to them for many years.  Today their home remains a museum, available for public tours.

You know these ladies already, though!  In one novel they co-authored entitled “Say and Seal” there is a scene where a little boy lay dying. The boy’s Sunday School teacher was with him, the only one there to share this moment with him.  In his final moments, in this work of fiction, the teacher held him in his arms and made up a song for him, “Jesus loves me, this I know…”

A hymnwriter named William Bradbury read the novel and composed a tune for the words, and propelled the song to become the best-known children’s hymn ever.


Jesus loves me, this I know, For the Bible tells me so;
Little ones to Him belong; They are weak, but He is strong

Yes, Jesus loves me; Yes, Jesus loves me; Yes, Jesus loves me; the Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me, He who died; Heaven’s gates to open wide
He will wash away my sin; Let his little child come in

Jesus take this heart of mine; Make it pure and wholly thine
Thou hast bled and died for me; I will henceforth live for Thee

Jesus loves me, He will stay; Close beside me all the way!
He’s prepared a home for me, and someday His face I’ll see.

Yes, Jesus loves me; Yes, Jesus loves me; Yes, Jesus loves me; the Bible tells me so.

Then Sings My Soul, Robert J. Morgan, Nelson Publishers, 2003.
http://www.constitutionisland.org/warner-family
https://www.military.com/history/susan-and-anna-warner.html