Addison D. Crabtree (1831-1896) was born in Hancock, Maine, and died in Lamoine, Maine. He was a homeopathic physician who spent most of his career practicing in Connecticut and Massachusetts. He appears to have become interested in Christian Science in the summer of 1885 when he attended the Christian Scientist Association's anniversary picnic at the Point of Pines, a beach resort in Revere, Massachusetts. In 1883 he published a Bible reference book with illustrations called The Journeys of Jesus, a book which Mary Baker Eddy reviewed and was later sold by The Christian Science Publishing Society. Journeys proved a success and Crabtree toured, giving lectures on the topic. During the lectures, images of the illustrations would be projected, accompanied by singing from his daughter, Inez. In 1877 he wrote a song called "A Tramp on the Street." It would prove an influential American folk song which was popularized when it was rerecorded in the 1940s and 1950s. Crabtree's association with Christian Science seems to have been brief, but Journeys would continue to be sold by the Publishing Society for many years after.

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