Mary G. Brainard

Brainard, Mary G. The hymn "I know not what awaits me" (Confidence and Joy) in the Methodist Sunday School Hymn Book 1879; given sometimes as "I know not what shall befall me," is attributed to "Mary G. Brainerd."

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

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Brainard, Mary G., p. 1554, ii. Concerning the hymn which bears this signature in I. D. Sankey's Sacred Songs and Solos, "I know not what awaits me," Mr. Sankey says, in his My Life and Sacred Songs, 1906, p. 102:

"When Mr. Bliss [the composer of the tune] lost his life.in the terrible railroad wreck at Ashtabula, Ohio [Dec. 30, 1876], his trunk reached Chicago safely, as it had gone before by another train. In his trunk was discovered this hymn. Mr. Bliss had rearranged the words of the poem to some extent, and had composed the tune. Sentence by sentence the words are full of pathetic interest in connexion with the author's [Bliss's] tragic death so soon afterwards."

The original hymn we have failed to trace. The form in the Sacred Songs and Solos is that found, together with the tune, in Mr. Bliss's trunk.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)