Hymn Story: Jesus Paid It All
Elvina Mable Hall was born in 1818 in Alexandria, Virginia. She was twice married, to Richard Hall and later to Rev. Thomas Myers. She died in 1899.
She said the hymn was “written on the fly-leaf of the New Lute of Zion, in the choir of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Baltimore, in the spring of 1865.”
She shared her lyrics to Jesus Paid it All with her pastor at Monument Street Methodist Church, Rev. George W. Schreck.
At some point John Thomas Grape approached Rev. Schreck with a tune he’d composed, All To Christ I Owe. Rev. Schreck suggested marrying Hall’s lyrics with the melody.
The song was then submitted to the Sabbath Carols and was published.
The song quickly spread across the United States and has become a much loved hymn.