This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 85.65.99.40 (talk) at 10:24, 8 November 2010 (→The lyrics of It Is Well with My Soul: lyrics linked). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 10:24, 8 November 2010 by 85.65.99.40 (talk) (→The lyrics of It Is Well with My Soul: lyrics linked)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Horatio Gates Spafford (October 20, 1828, Troy, New York - October 16, 1888, Jerusalem) was a prominent American lawyer, best known for penning the Christian hymn It Is Well With My Soul, following a family tragedy in which four of his daughters died.
Life
On September 5, 1861, in Chicago, he married Anna Larsen, of Stavanger, Norway.
On October 8, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire swept through the city. Horatio was a prominent lawyer in Chicago, and had invested heavily in the city's real estate, and the fire destroyed almost everything he owned.
The wreck of the Ville Du Havre
Two years later, in 1873, Spafford decided his family should take a holiday somewhere in Europe, and chose England knowing that his friend D. L. Moody would be preaching there in the fall. He was delayed because of business, so he sent his family ahead: his wife and their four children, daughters eleven year old Anna “Annie”, nine year old Margaret Lee, five year old Elizabeth “Bessie”, and two year old and Tanetta. A true
On November 22, 1873, while crossing the Atlantic on the steamship Ville du Havre, their ship was struck by an iron sailing vessel and two hundred and twenty-six people lost their lives, including all four of Spafford's daughters. Anna Spafford survived the tragedy. Upon arriving in England, she sent a telegram to Spafford beginning "Saved alone." Spafford then sailed to England, going over the location of his daughters' deaths. According to Bertha Spafford Vester, a daughter born after the tragedy, Spafford wrote "It Is Well With My Soul" on this journey.
The lyrics of It Is Well with My Soul
The original manuscript has only four verses, but Spafford's daughter states how later another verse (the fourth in order below) was added and the last line of the original was slightly modified. The music, written by Philip Bliss, was named after the ship on which Spafford's daughters died, Ville du Havre.
Subsequent tragedy
Following the sinking of the Ville du Havre, Anna gave birth to three more children. On February 11, 1880, their only son, Horatio Goertner Spafford, died at the age of four years, of pneumonia. Their daughters were Bertha Hedges Spafford (born March 24, 1878) and Grace Spafford (born January 18, 1881). In August 1881, the Spaffords set out for Jerusalem as a party of thirteen adults and three children and set up the American Colony. Colony members, later joined by Swedish Christians, engaged in philanthropic work amongst the people of Jerusalem regardless of their religious affiliation and without proselytizing motives--thereby gaining the trust of the local Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities. During and immediately after World War I, the American Colony played a critical role in supporting these communities through the great suffering and deprivations of the eastern front by running soup kitchens, hospitals, orphanages and other charitable ventures.
Spafford died on October 16, 1888, of malaria, and was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery, Jerusalem.
References
- Source of middle name and birth/death information
- http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/americancolony/images/ac0004bs.jpg
- http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/americancolony/images/ac0005s.jpg
- http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/americancolony/images/ac0006s.jpg
- Photo of manuscript
- Bertha's history. Bertha Spafford Vester. (1988). Our Jerusalem: An American Family in the Holy City, 1881-1949. Jerusalem: American Colony, 364 pp., ISBN 0-405-10296-8.
- Library of Congress Exhibition Overview. See also Yaakov Ariel & Ruth Kark. (1996, December). "Messianism, Holiness, Charisma, and Community: The American-Swedish Colony in Jerusalem, 1881-1933," Church History, 65(4), 641-657.
External links
Horatio Spafford
- SpaffordHymn.com : The original Hymn manuscript penned by Horatio Spafford
- Cyber Hymnal Photos of Horatio Spafford and a MIDI file of the hymn
- Elisabeth Elliot recalls tea with Horatio Spafford's daughter
- Gospelcom.net
- Christianity.ca Many details on life of Spafford
- The Library of Congress Exhibition covering the start of The American Colony in Jerusalem, the Spafford Family tragedy, their move to Jerusalem, their time in the Holy Land, and the American Colony at work