In my grandmother’s case, the family were a very musical church family. Her grandfather and his wife (the choir director) gave vocal lessons from their home, her mother sang in the choir and around the house, all the time. So, “Jesus loves Me” was probably the first song that she learned.
As a matter of fact, my mother told me a story about myself, as a two year old at Bible School (I was there because my mother was teaching). They were going to have me sing a solo at the Bible school program because I knew all the words to Jesus Loves Me and “The BLELE” (B-I-B-L-E) and I used to belt out the words every day at Bible School. I got up on the stage by myself, though, and started to cry.
"Jesus Loves Me" was one of the first hymns that I learned. Most of the words were written by Anna Warner, a New Yorker who wrote a handful of hymns, but William Bradbury, a heavyweight in the hymn-writing world composed the music and also wrote some of the words. Bradbury published it in his famous hymnal The Golden Shower (New York: Bigelow, 1862), which includes another of my favorite hymns, "My Latest Sun is Sinking Fast."
Bradbury had a hand in co-writing or publishing many of the famous hymns of the 1860's, including "He Leadeth Me" (1864), for which he wrote the music, and "Near the Cross" (1869), which appeared in his hymnal Bright Jewels (New York: Bigelow, 1869).