One of the most beloved hymns of all time was conceived during a period of deepest sorrow for a lawyer named Horatio Gates Spafford. Spafford had a very interesting family tree. His paternal grandfather was named John Spafford and was a captain in the Revolutionary War. He served alongside the patriot General Horatio Gates at the Battle of Saratoga, one of the important turning points in the struggle that led to American independence.
Captain John Spafford named his son Horatio Gates Spafford to honor the victorious American general he had served alongside. Horatio Gates Spafford Sr., the father of the hymnwriter, was a writer and geographer. He helped advance American education in the New England states. Spafford Sr. was also a friend of such men as Noah Webster and James Madison.
The recognized expert in geography passed along his own name to his son. Horatio Gates Spafford Jr. was raised in New York state. Spafford Jr. chose the path of law, and he married Anna Larsen, a young emigrant from Norway.
The Spaffords were blessed with four daughters in succession: Annie, Maggie, Bessie, and Tanetta. The family made their home in Chicago, the metropolis on Lake Michigan, during the booming days of trade and industry. Spafford became a respected lawyer and an expert in medical jurisprudence. He was a professor of law at Lind University (now Lake Forest College) and simultaneously ran his own successful law practice. He invested heavily in real estate when business was thriving in Chicago, and the returns of these investments brought great profit.
Horatio Spafford was a friend and supporter of evangelist Dwight L. Moody. He donated to Moody’s campaigns and supported the work of the Lord generously in other areas of ministry. Spafford was a Sunday School teacher and a ruling elder in his local Presbyterian church. He was deeply interested in education and served as a trustee for the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Chicago. Spafford was also very active in the YMCA in the early days of this organization when its focus emphasized the propagation of the Gospel and virtuous living among young men in big cities, such as Chicago and New York.
Through the influence of a friend, the Spafford family became deeply interested in Biblical archaeology. They began to follow the amazing progress of exploration in Bible lands and prayed for the success of mission works among the Jews and Arabs in the Middle East.
In October 1871, a lantern was knocked over in a small barn. Due to a drought that had lasted into the autumn, the small blaze quickly grew and spread from the shed to the wooden house nearby. Winds from the southwest blew the fire from house to house, and before the blaze could be contained, it had swept over an area of three and a half miles. Fully 17,000 structures were destroyed. Approximately 300 lives were lost, and 100,000 people became homeless. The historic blaze of 1871 is remembered today as the “Great Chicago Fire.”
The Spafford home was untouched. However, Horatio Spafford’s extensive real estate investments were destroyed. A rich man on October 8, he was reduced to poverty on October 9–10. Reeling from financial losses due to the Great Chicago Fire, Spafford did his best to carry on his law practice.
Two years after the fire, in 1873, the Spafford family was finally ready for a long-awaited European vacation. Horatio Spafford booked passage to England on the steamship, Ville du Havre. Sending his wife and four daughters ahead, he intended to join them later after he attended to some business matters. On November 22, the ship somehow collided with another vessel in the open Atlantic shortly after midnight.
Seawater poured into the crippled steamship. Chaos spread quickly through the ship, as passengers scrambled for life preservers and lifeboats. Within twelve minutes, the ship had slid into the icy waters of the Atlantic. Of the 313 passengers and crew, only 26 passengers and 61 crew members were pulled from the frigid water. The other 226 people drowned in that cold water.
Horatio Spafford received a telegram from his wife Anna. The brief message sent from Wales simply read, “Saved alone.” Anna had been pulled from the water, but all four of their daughters had perished. The couple was now bereft of their young daughters: Annie, who was twelve; Maggie, who was seven; Bessie, age five; and little Tanetta was only two years old.
The weeping father booked immediate passage to join his wife in Europe. One night on the voyage, the captain of the vessel called Spafford to the deck of the ship. He gently informed the grieving father that the ship was near the place where Ville du Havre went down. There and in that moment of “sorrow like sea billows,” Horatio Spafford was inspired to write the hymn that has since brought comfort and peace to the hearts of millions.
When peace like a river attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
“It is well, it is well with my soul.”
A friend of the family, fellow hymnwriter Philip Bliss, wrote the tune for Spafford’s text. He named the tune VILLE DU HAVRE, after the sunken vessel. Anna Spafford gave birth to three other children following the deaths of their four daughters. Horatio III was born in 1875. Bertha was born in 1878. Grace was born in 1881.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control:
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and has shed His own blood for my soul.
But alas, more sorrows were in store for the Spaffords. Horatio III, the only Spafford son, died of scarlet fever at age four. Critical “friends” in their church suggested that the Spaffords were hiding some secret sin that had brought down God’s judgment, first upon their investments, then upon their girls, then upon their only son. But the Spaffords found comfort in the perfection of God’s love.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
my sin, not in part, but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more;
praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
Dismayed by the loss of all their material hopes, yet trusting in the promises of Christ’s return, the Spaffords sold all that they owned and joined a small colony of Americans who established a settlement in Jerusalem. They engaged in works and gifts of philanthropy to Jews and Arabs alike, hoping for the day when the Lord Jesus will return in power and great glory and set His feet upon the Mount of Olives.
O Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend;
even so, it is well with my soul.
The Spaffords adopted a Jewish boy named Jacob Eliahu and took him into their family. They spent the remainder of their lives in service to the people of Jerusalem. Horatio Gates Spafford Jr. died of malaria near the time of the Feast of Tabernacles in 1888. He was buried on Mount Zion in Jerusalem in the bright hope of the resurrection when the perfect peace of Christ will be ours forever.
A little-known and rarely-sung stanza of his famous hymn testifies of Spafford’s peace in death.
For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pain shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
Sources and Further Reference:
Johnson, Guye. Treasury of Great Hymns and Their Stories. Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University Press, 1986.
Morgan, Robert. Then Sings My Soul. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.
