Hannah W. Smith

The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life (Dodo Press) Hannah W. Smith

Hannah Tatum Whitall Smith (1832-1911) was a lay speaker and author in the Holiness movement in the United States and the Higher Life movement in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. She was also active in the Women's Suffrage movement and the Temperance movement. In 1851 Hannah married Robert Pearsall Smith, a man who descended from a long line of prominent Quakers in the region. From 1873-1874 they spoke at various places in England, including Oxford, teaching on the subjects of the "higher life" and "holiness. " In 1874 Hannah helped found the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Her book The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life (2 volumes) (1875) is an extremely popular book of Christian principles and practical Holiness theology. It is still widely read today. She wrote her spiritual autobiography, The Unselfishness of God and How I Discovered It, in 1903.