author
Mary Dana Shindler
1810–1883
A 19th-century American poet, novelist, editor, and hymn writer, she built a wide literary career out of personal loss, religious conviction, and a steady presence in popular magazines of her day. Her work moved between devotional writing, fiction, and verse, and her hymn "I Love to Steal Awhile Away" remained especially well known.
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About the author
Born in Beaufort, South Carolina, in 1810, Mary Dana Shindler wrote under several names, including Mary S. B. Dana and Mary S. B. Shindler. She was known in her lifetime as a poet, author, editor, and hymn writer, and she contributed frequently to 19th-century periodicals.
After marrying Charles E. Dana, she lived for a time in what is now Muscatine, Iowa. Following the deaths of her husband and young son, she returned to the South; later, after marrying Episcopal clergyman Robert Doyne Shindler, she continued publishing poetry, fiction, and religious writing. Her books included The Southern Harp, and reference sources also credit her with novels and editorial work aimed at a broad popular readership.
Shindler later lived in Texas and remained associated with Southern literary culture. She is remembered both for her literary output and for her hymn writing, especially the widely circulated "I Love to Steal Awhile Away."