Here we go -- just as promised. ^_^ (It should be enough to get you started, anyway.)
"I Love To Tell The Story" was written by 32-year-old Arabella Katharine Hankey in England during the mid-1800's when slavery was in the process of being abolished. When she wrote it, it was originally a 100-stanza poem that kept her busy during an illness that confined her to her bed for a full year. Later on, composer William G. Fischer set part of her poem to music and had it published in 1869.
That's my own very brief summary of the text from page 109 of a book called "Then Sings My Soul -- Book 2" by Robert J. Morgan, which has the histories of a whole bunch of well-known hymns. Quite fascinating stuff.
You may still want to check out the web, though. ^_^;