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{{Short description|American poet and lawyer}} {{Short description|American poet and lawyer}}
] ]
'''Horatio Gates Spafford''' (October 20, 1828, ] – September 25, 1888, ])<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/s/p/spafford_hg.htm|title=Source of middle name and birth/death information}}</ref> was a prominent ] ] and Presbyterian church elder. He is best known for penning the ] ] '']'' following the death of his four-year-old son and the ]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/americancolony/amcolony-family.html|title=Family Tragedy - The American Colony in Jerusalem &#124; Exhibitions - Library of Congress|date=January 12, 2005|website=www.loc.gov}}</ref> along with a family tragedy in which his four daughters died aboard the ] on a transatlantic voyage. '''Horatio Gates Spafford''' (October 20, 1828, ] – September 25, 1888, ])<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/s/p/spafford_hg.htm|title=Source of middle name and birth/death information}}</ref> was a ] ] and Presbyterian church elder. He is best known for penning the ] ] '']'' following the ]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/americancolony/amcolony-family.html|title=Family Tragedy - The American Colony in Jerusalem &#124; Exhibitions - Library of Congress|date=January 12, 2005|website=www.loc.gov}}</ref> and the death of his four daughters on a transatlantic voyage aboard the ].


== Life == == Biography==
] ]
Spafford was the son of ''Gazetteer'' author Horatio Gates Spafford and Elizabeth Clark Hewitt Spafford. Spafford was the son of ''Gazetteer'' author Horatio Gates Spafford and Elizabeth Clark Hewitt Spafford. On September 5, 1861, Spafford married ] of ], ], in ].


⚫ Two years after the Great Chicago Fire, the family planned a trip to Europe. Business demands (zoning issues arising from the conflagration) kept Spafford from joining his wife and four daughters on a family vacation in ], where his friend ] would be preaching. On November 22, 1873, while crossing the ] on the ] '']'', the ship was struck by an ] ], killing 226&nbsp;people, including all four of Spafford's daughters: Annie, age&nbsp;12; Maggie,&nbsp;7; Bessie,&nbsp;4; and 18-month old Tanetta.<ref name="LoC" /><ref>{{cite news|title=Run Down. One Father Loses All His Children, Another Both Wife and Children|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75143560/chicago-tribune-1221873-col-1/}}, continued: {{cite news|title=Run Down.|newspaper=]|date=December 2, 1873|page=1|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75144297/chicago-tribune-1221873-col-2/|via=]}}{{open access}}</ref> His wife, Anna, survived the tragedy. Upon arriving in ], ], she sent a telegram to Spafford that read "Saved alone."<ref>{{cite web|title=Western Union telegram|website=] |date=December 1, 1873|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/americancolony/images/ac0006s.jpg|access-date=April 5, 2021}}</ref> Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write '']'' as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.
On September 5, 1861, Spafford married ] of ], ], in ]. Spafford was a lawyer and a senior partner in a large law firm.<ref>{{cite web|title=Spafford, McDaid, & Wilson, Attorneys & Counselors at Law|work=The American Colony in Jerusalem|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/americancolony/images/ac0004bs.jpg|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=April 5, 2021}}</ref>
The Spaffords were supporters and friends of evangelist ].<ref name="LoC">{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/americancolony/amcolony-family.html|title=Family Tragedy - The American Colony in Jerusalem &#124; Exhibitions - Library of Congress|first1=Horatio|last1=Spafford|first2=Anna|last2=Spafford|first3=Currier &|last3=Ives|date=January 12, 2005|website=www.loc.gov}}</ref>


⚫ Following the sinking of the ''Ville du Havre'', Anna gave birth to three more children, Horatio Goertner (November 16, 1875), Bertha Hedges (March 24, 1878), and Grace (January 18, 1881).<ref name="LoC"/> On February 11, 1880, their son Horatio, 4, died of ]. This final tragedy began Spafford's move away from material success toward a lifelong spiritual pilgrimage. The couple left the Presbyterian congregation and began to host prayer meetings in their home.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/american-colony-in-jerusalem/articles-and-essays/a-community-in-jerusalem/saved-alone/|title=Saved Alone &#124; A Community in Jerusalem &#124; Articles and Essays &#124; American Colony in Jerusalem, 1870-2006 &#124; Digital Collections &#124; Library of Congress|website=Library of Congress}}</ref> Their ] sect was dubbed "the Overcomers" by the American press.<ref name="Jerusalem">'']'', page 365, ], Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2011. {{ISBN|978-0-297-85265-0}}</ref>
Spafford invested in real estate north of Chicago in the spring of 1871. However, in October 1871, the ] reduced the city to ashes, destroying most of Spafford's investment.<ref name=LoC/>


⚫ In August 1881, the Spaffords settled in Jerusalem as part of a group of 13 adults and three children, establishing the ]. Colony members, joined by ] Christians, engaged in philanthropic work among the people of Jerusalem regardless of religious affiliation, gaining the trust of the local ], ], and ] communities. Membership in the colony required both single and married adherents to declare celibacy, and children were separated from their parents. Child labor was used in various business endeavors while in Jerusalem.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Sect of Celibates|url=https://culteducation.com/group/1289-general-information/7827-a-sect-of-celibates.html|access-date=2021-05-17|website=culteducation.com}}</ref>
===''Ville du Havre''===
Two years after the devastation of the Great Chicago Fire, the family planned a trip to Europe. Late business demands (zoning issues arising from the conflagration) kept Spafford from joining his wife and four daughters on a family vacation in ], where his friend ] would be preaching.


⚫ In Jerusalem, Spafford and his wife adopted a teenager named Jacob Eliahu (1864–1932), born in ] to a Turkish Jewish family. As a schoolboy, Jacob discovered the ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.israeldailypicture.com/2012/06/how-strange-does-american-colony-story.html|title=How Strange Does the American Colony Story Get? Meet the Founders' adopted Jewish son, responsible for one of the most incredible archeological finds in Jerusalem in 130 years|first=Our|last=Mission}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/64537112/jacob-eliahu-spafford|title=Jacob Eliahu Spafford (1864-1932) - Find A Grave...|website=www.findagrave.com}}</ref>
⚫ On November 22, 1873, while crossing the ] on the ] '']'', the ship was struck by an ] ], killing 226&nbsp;people, including all four of Spafford's daughters: Annie, age&nbsp;12; Maggie,&nbsp;7; Bessie,&nbsp;4; and 18-month old Tanetta.<ref name="LoC" /><ref>{{cite news|title=Run Down. One Father Loses All His Children, Another Both Wife and Children|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75143560/chicago-tribune-1221873-col-1/}}, continued: {{cite news|title=Run Down.|newspaper=]|date=December 2, 1873|page=1|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75144297/chicago-tribune-1221873-col-2/|via=]}}{{open access}}</ref> His wife, Anna, survived the tragedy. Upon arriving in ], ], she sent a telegram to Spafford that read "Saved alone."<ref>{{cite web|title=Western Union telegram|website=] |date=December 1, 1873|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/americancolony/images/ac0006s.jpg|access-date=April 5, 2021}}</ref> Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write '']'' as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.
{{clearleft}}


Spafford died of ] on September 25, 1888, aged 59. At the time of his death, he was under the delusion that he was the Messiah.
⚫ === ''It Is Well with My Soul'' ===

⚫ Spafford was buried in ] in Jerusalem.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_independent_1889-03-07_41_2101/page/290/mode/2up? |title=Letter published in the Independent March 7, 1889, from Bishop John H. Vincent, of the M. E. Church "who lately visited the Holy Land."|date=7 March 1889 |publisher=Open Court Publishing Co }}</ref>

⚫ == ''It Is Well with My Soul'' ==
] ]


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</poem> </poem>


==Commemoration and legacy==
===Later years===
⚫ Following the sinking of the ''Ville du Havre'', Anna gave birth to three more children, Horatio Goertner (November 16, 1875), Bertha Hedges (March 24, 1878), and Grace (January 18, 1881).<ref name="LoC"/> On February 11, 1880, their son Horatio died of ] at age four. This final tragedy, after a decade of financial loss and personal grief accompanied by a lack of support from their church community, began Spafford's philosophical move away from material success toward a lifelong spiritual pilgrimage. Anna and Horatio Spafford soon left the Presbyterian congregation he had helped build and hosted prayer meetings in their home.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/american-colony-in-jerusalem/articles-and-essays/a-community-in-jerusalem/saved-alone/|title=Saved Alone &#124; A Community in Jerusalem &#124; Articles and Essays &#124; American Colony in Jerusalem, 1870-2006 &#124; Digital Collections &#124; Library of Congress|website=Library of Congress}}</ref> Their ] sect was dubbed "the Overcomers" by the American press.<ref name="Jerusalem">'']'', page 365, ], Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2011. {{ISBN|978-0-297-85265-0}}</ref>

⚫ In August 1881, the Spaffords went to Jerusalem as a party of 13 adults and three children to set up the ]. Colony members, joined by ] Christians, engaged in philanthropic work among the people of Jerusalem regardless of their religious affiliation and without ] motives, gaining the trust of the local ], ], and ] communities. The community required both single and married adherents to declare celibacy, and children were separated from their parents. Child labor was used in various business endeavors while in Jerusalem.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Sect of Celibates|url=https://culteducation.com/group/1289-general-information/7827-a-sect-of-celibates.html|access-date=2021-05-17|website=culteducation.com}}</ref>

⚫ In Jerusalem, Spafford and his wife adopted a teenager named Jacob Eliahu (1864–1932), who was born in ] into a Turkish Jewish family. As a schoolboy, Jacob Spafford discovered the ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.israeldailypicture.com/2012/06/how-strange-does-american-colony-story.html|title=How Strange Does the American Colony Story Get? Meet the Founders' adopted Jewish son, responsible for one of the most incredible archeological finds in Jerusalem in 130 years|first=Our|last=Mission}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/64537112/jacob-eliahu-spafford|title=Jacob Eliahu Spafford (1864-1932) - Find A Grave...|website=www.findagrave.com}}</ref>

==Death==
⚫ Spafford died of ] under the delusion that he was the Messiah on September 25, 1888, at the age of 59, and was buried in ] in Jerusalem.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_independent_1889-03-07_41_2101/page/290/mode/2up? |title=Letter published in the Independent March 7, 1889, from Bishop John H. Vincent, of the M. E. Church "who lately visited the Holy Land."|date=7 March 1889 |publisher=Open Court Publishing Co }}</ref>

==Legacy==
At the ] during and after ], and during the ] and ]s, the American Colony supported the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities of Jerusalem by hosting ]s, hospitals, and ]s.<ref>. 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.</ref> At the ] during and after ], and during the ] and ]s, the American Colony supported the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities of Jerusalem by hosting ]s, hospitals, and ]s.<ref>. 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.</ref>


Revision as of 14:51, 11 July 2023

American poet and lawyer
Horatio Gates Spafford

Horatio Gates Spafford (October 20, 1828, Troy, New York – September 25, 1888, Jerusalem) was a American lawyer and Presbyterian church elder. He is best known for penning the Christian hymn It Is Well With My Soul following the Great Chicago Fire and the death of his four daughters on a transatlantic voyage aboard the S.S. Ville du Havre.

Biography

Anna Spafford

Spafford was the son of Gazetteer author Horatio Gates Spafford and Elizabeth Clark Hewitt Spafford. On September 5, 1861, Spafford married Anna Larsen of Stavanger, Norway, in Chicago.

Two years after the Great Chicago Fire, the family planned a trip to Europe. Business demands (zoning issues arising from the conflagration) kept Spafford from joining his wife and four daughters on a family vacation in England, where his friend D. L. Moody would be preaching. On November 22, 1873, while crossing the Atlantic on the steamship Ville du Havre, the ship was struck by an iron sailing vessel, killing 226 people, including all four of Spafford's daughters: Annie, age 12; Maggie, 7; Bessie, 4; and 18-month old Tanetta. His wife, Anna, survived the tragedy. Upon arriving in Cardiff, Wales, she sent a telegram to Spafford that read "Saved alone." Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write It Is Well with My Soul as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.

Following the sinking of the Ville du Havre, Anna gave birth to three more children, Horatio Goertner (November 16, 1875), Bertha Hedges (March 24, 1878), and Grace (January 18, 1881). On February 11, 1880, their son Horatio, 4, died of scarlet fever. This final tragedy began Spafford's move away from material success toward a lifelong spiritual pilgrimage. The couple left the Presbyterian congregation and began to host prayer meetings in their home. Their Messianic sect was dubbed "the Overcomers" by the American press.

In August 1881, the Spaffords settled in Jerusalem as part of a group of 13 adults and three children, establishing the American Colony. Colony members, joined by Swedish Christians, engaged in philanthropic work among the people of Jerusalem regardless of religious affiliation, gaining the trust of the local Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities. Membership in the colony required both single and married adherents to declare celibacy, and children were separated from their parents. Child labor was used in various business endeavors while in Jerusalem.

In Jerusalem, Spafford and his wife adopted a teenager named Jacob Eliahu (1864–1932), born in Ramallah to a Turkish Jewish family. As a schoolboy, Jacob discovered the Siloam inscription.

Spafford died of malaria on September 25, 1888, aged 59. At the time of his death, he was under the delusion that he was the Messiah.

Spafford was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Jerusalem.

It Is Well with My Soul

It Is Well With My Soul

The original manuscript has only four verses, but Spafford's daughter, Bertha Spafford Vester (author of Our Jerusalem: An American Family in the Holy City 1881-1949), who was born after the tragedy, said a verse was later added and the last line of the original song was modified.

The tune, written by Philip Bliss, was named after the ship on which Spafford's daughters died, Ville du Havre.

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.

(Refrain:) It is well (it is well),
with my soul (with my soul),
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
(Refrain)

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
(Refrain)

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.
(Refrain)

And Lord haste the day, when the 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.
(Refrain)

Commemoration and legacy

At the Eastern front during and after World War I, and during the Armenian and Assyrian genocides, the American Colony supported the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities of Jerusalem by hosting soup kitchens, hospitals, and orphanages.

References

  1. "Source of middle name and birth/death information".
  2. "Family Tragedy - The American Colony in Jerusalem | Exhibitions - Library of Congress". www.loc.gov. January 12, 2005.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference LoC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. "Run Down. One Father Loses All His Children, Another Both Wife and Children"., continued: "Run Down". Chicago Tribune. December 2, 1873. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  5. "Western Union telegram". Library of Congress. December 1, 1873. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
  6. "Saved Alone | A Community in Jerusalem | Articles and Essays | American Colony in Jerusalem, 1870-2006 | Digital Collections | Library of Congress". Library of Congress.
  7. Jerusalem: The Biography, page 365, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2011. ISBN 978-0-297-85265-0
  8. "A Sect of Celibates". culteducation.com. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  9. Mission, Our. "How Strange Does the American Colony Story Get? Meet the Founders' adopted Jewish son, responsible for one of the most incredible archeological finds in Jerusalem in 130 years".
  10. "Jacob Eliahu Spafford (1864-1932) - Find A Grave..." www.findagrave.com.
  11. "Letter published in the Independent March 7, 1889, from Bishop John H. Vincent, of the M. E. Church "who lately visited the Holy Land."". Open Court Publishing Co. 7 March 1889.
  12. "Photo of manuscript". Library of Congress.
  13. Bertha's history Archived 2006-04-27 at the Wayback Machine. 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.
  14. 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

Media related to Horatio Spafford at Wikimedia Commons

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