jan 1, 1978 - Don Hustad, Dictionary-Handbook to Hymns for the Living Church

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(Page -151) These words were written by Horatio G. Spafford following the loss of four daughters in an accident at sea. The family was scheduled to travel to Europe in November, 1873. Being delayed by last minute business developments, Spafford sent his wife and the girls on ahead. In mid-ocean their ship, the French liner Ville du Havre, collided with an English sailing ship and foundered. Mrs. Spafford only was saved and cabled her husband “saved alone.” Spafford started immediately for Europe and, while on the high seas near the scene of the tragedy, wrote this hymn. (Page -335) Spafford, Horatio Gates (b. Oct. 20, 1828, North Troy, N.Y.; d. Oct. 16, 1888, Jerusalem, Jordan) spent his early years in New York, and later moved to Chicago and set up a successful law practice; was a very active Presbyterian layman, and served as director and trustee for the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of the Northwest (now McCormick Theological Seminary); lost most of his fortune in the Chicago fire of 1871 and later his four daughters and his son (see hymn No. 401); was for many years interested in the Holy Land, and settled in Jerusalem in 1881; founded the American Colony in that city, whose story is told by the remaining daughter, Bertha Spafford Vester, in her book, Our Jerusalem.[25] Source [25] Don Hustad, Dictionary-Handbook to Hymns for the Living Church (Hope Pub. Co.: Carol Stream, Ill., 1978), 151, 335, http://archive.org/details/dictionaryhandbo0000hust.

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