Most of Cassel’s child­hood was spent at White­hall, Il­li­nois, where her fa­ther was pas­tor of the Bap­tist church. She was quite mu­sic­al from child­hood, and could sing and ac­com­pa­ny her­self as a small girl.

At age 16, Cas­sel went to live with her mo­ther’s sis­ter, Mrs. Tit­comb, in Brook­lyn, New York. She event­u­al­ly went to the Ma­ple­wood In­sti­tute in Pitts­field, Mass­a­chu­setts, to stu­dy pi­a­no, har­mo­ny, and com­po­si­tion under Dr. B.C. Blodg­ett, and voice un­der Pro­fess­or J. I. La­lor. She grad­u­at­ed in 1873, and got a teach­ing po­si­tion the next fall at Shurt­leff Coll­ege in Upper Al­ton, Il­li­nois. While there, she mar­ried E. Tay­lor Cas­sel. She con­tin­ued teach­ing col­lege for a year or more, then they moved to Ne­bras­ka.

In Ed­gar, Ne­bras­ka, a Wo­men’s Christ­ian Tem­per­ance Un­ion (WCTU) branch was or­ga­nized, with Cas­sel head­ing it. Her WCTU song book, White Rib­bon Vi­bra­tions, was pub­lished in 1890. Its in­i­tial song, “Around the World,” words and mu­sic by Cas­sel, was a fa­vo­rite of Em­ma Will­ard. Soon af­ter­ward, Ed­win Ex­cell, Ed­mund Lo­renz and others be­gan pub­lish­ing Cas­sel’s Gos­pel songs.

In 1893, Cas­sel took ad­van­tage of an op­en­ing to go in­to the pi­a­no and or­gan bu­si­ness, and con­tin­ued in that line for near­ly 10 years. Af­ter­ward, her fam­i­ly moved to Co­lo­ra­do, buy­ing a farm near Den­ver.

Sources

Music

1. King’s Business, The
2. Loyalty to Christ