Introduction

Biography

Margaret was the daugh­ter of Al­bert Simp­son and Mar­gar­et S. Sim­pson, and wife of George Buck­man.

She was born while her fa­ther was pas­tor of the Chest­nut Street Pres­by­te­ri­an Church in Lou­is­ville, Ken­tuc­ky. Be­cause in­fant Mar­ga­ret was dan­ger­ous­ly frail, she was bap­tized in a pri­vate ce­re­mo­ny at the manse on April 14, 1878, by Ar­thur Pier­son, a close as­so­ci­ate of her fa­ther.

In 1880, her fa­mi­ly moved to New York Ci­ty. Their home on 331 West 34th Street be­came a cen­ter for pray­er and heal­ing. Mar­ga­ret grew up un­der the in­flu­ence of god­ly par­ents and a strong bo­dy of be­liev­ers, liv­ing through the years of the found­ing of the Chris­tian and Mis­sion­ary Al­li­ance. She spent sum­mers with her fa­mi­ly at camp meet­ings in Old Or­chard, Maine.

Around 1897, the Simp­sons moved to Ny­ack, New York, new lo­ca­tion of the Mis­sion­ary Train­ing In­sti­tute (now Ny­ack Col­lege). After mar­ri­age, she lived most of her life in Ca­li­for­nia. In 1956, Mar­ga­ret moved back to the Ny­ack area.

She is best known for tunes she com­posed for her fa­ther’s hymns.