Introduction

Biography

Emma was the daugh­ter of Ro­bert El­li­ott John­ston and Grace Ach­e­son.

She was bap­tized at the Sa­lem Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church. She at­tend­ed va­ri­ous church­es in Phi­la­del­phia, in­clud­ing the Eb­en­ezer Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church, where com­pos­er Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick al­so wor­shipped.

She worked as a school teach­er, and Mc­El­roy’s 1873 Di­rect­ory of Phi­la­del­phia listed her as an au­thor­ess.

After her el­der sister, Es­ther El­li­ott John­ston Boyd, was wid­owed, the two sis­ters moved to As­bury Park, New Jer­sey, and later to Ocean Grove, New Jer­sey, where they shared a house.