Myra Brooks Welch (October 12, 1877 – August 11, 1959

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

) was a poet that is known for her Christian poem ''

The Touch of the Master's Hand "The Touch of the Master's Hand", also sometimes called ''The Old Violin'', is a Christian poetry, Christian poem written in 1921 by Myra Brooks Welch. The poem tells of a battered old violin that is about to be sold as the last item at an auction ...

'', which was also adapted into a film.

Personal life

Myra Brooks was born on October 12, 1877, in

Farmington Township, Fulton County, Illinois Farmington Township is one of twenty-six townships in Fulton County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,350 and it contained 1,457 housing units. History Farmington Township is named after Farmington, Connecticut. Geogra ...

to Mary (née Eshelman) and John W. Brooks. She was the youngest of four other siblings: Charles, David, Frank and Dessie. By 1900, she and her parents had relocated to

Independence, Oregon Independence is a city in Polk County, Oregon, United States, on the west bank of the Willamette River along Oregon Route 51, and east of nearby Monmouth. It is part of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area. Thirty square blocks of the oldest p ...

, where she was working as a sales clerk in a store. Around 1901, she married Otis Melvin Welch, who was a clerk in a

dry goods Dry goods is a historic term describing the type of product line a store carries, which differs by region. The term comes from the textile trade, and the shops appear to have spread with the mercantile trade across the British Empire (and forme ...

store and had two children, Otis and Doris. By 1920, her parents had moved with her and her family and they were all living in

La Verne, California La Verne is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 31,063 at the 2010 census, down from 31,638 at the 2000 census. History The European history of the area dates back to the 1830s when Ygnacio Palomares ...

. Welch's most noted poem, ''The Touch of the Master's Hand'' was written in 1921 and published on February 26, 1921, in the '' Gospel Messenger''. She published four books of poetry ''The Years Between'' (1929), ''Dorcas'' (1930), ''High Songs'' (1933) and ''The Touch of the Master's Hand'' (1941). Welch was disabled in a wheelchair from arthritis. Her arthritis later caused her to not be able to play music, such as the organ which she used to play. Her hands were disabled, but she wrote poems on a typewriter by pressing the keys with pencil erasers, despite the pain that it caused. She was named "the poet with the singing soul". She was a resident of La Verne, California. As a youngster her special joy was playing the organ but this was denied her in later life as she was severely affected by arthritis and spent much of her time in a wheelchair. She wrote with an inverted pencil in each of her gnarled hands and would pick out the words on a typewriter. She said that the joy of her writing outweighed the pain of her efforts.

References

1877 births 1959 deaths People from Fulton County, Illinois People from La Verne, California American women poets 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers American people with disabilities {{US-poet-1870s-stub