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It Is Well With My Soul — The Story of Horatio Spafford

A Story of Peace Beyond Understanding

It Is Well
With My Soul

The life of Horatio G. Spafford · 1828–1888

“Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say — it is well, it is well with my soul.”

The Life of Horatio G. Spafford

When Sadness
Writes Songs

1828 · North Troy, New York

A Successful and Generous Man

Horatio Spafford built a comfortable life as a lawyer and real estate investor in Chicago — a man of deep faith, close to preacher Dwight L. Moody, generous with his wealth.

Horatio Gates Spafford was born in 1828 in North Troy, New York. By his early forties, he had built a prosperous life in Chicago — a respected lawyer, a real estate investor with property near Lake Michigan, a devoted wife named Anna, and five children. He was also a man of genuine faith, close friends with the famous evangelist Dwight L. Moody. He used his money generously — supporting churches and helping those in need. By all outward measures, his life was full and blessed.

1870 · Chicago

First Loss: A Son Gone Too Soon

Spafford’s four-year-old son, also named Horatio, died of scarlet fever. The first wave of grief had arrived.

In 1870, Spafford’s four-year-old son — also named Horatio — died of scarlet fever. The loss was devastating. Yet Horatio and Anna still had each other and their four daughters: Annie, Maggie, Bessie, and little Tanetta. They held on. They did not yet know that this was only the beginning of what they would be asked to bear.

October 1871 · Chicago

The Great Chicago Fire — Everything Gone

The fire that swept Chicago in 1871 destroyed over 17,000 buildings — including all of Spafford’s real estate investments. His money was gone in two days.

The Great Chicago Fire burned for two days in October 1871, destroying over 17,000 buildings across the city. Spafford’s real estate investments — located directly in the fire’s path along Lake Michigan — were completely wiped out. The financial security he had built over decades was gone almost overnight. The family was now emotionally exhausted from the loss of their son, and financially devastated. Yet still, the worst was to come.

November 1873 · The Atlantic Ocean

The Telegram: “Saved Alone”

Spafford sent his wife and four daughters ahead to Europe. On November 22, their ship was struck and sank in 12 minutes. All four daughters drowned. Anna survived and sent a telegram: “Saved alone. What shall I do?”

By 1873, the family planned a trip to Europe to rest and to support Moody’s ministry in England. At the last moment, urgent business kept Horatio behind. He sent Anna and their four daughters — Annie (12), Maggie (7), Bessie (5), and Tanetta (2) — ahead on the SS Ville du Havre. He would follow in days. On November 22, 1873, at 2:00 a.m., another ship struck the Ville du Havre in the darkness. The crash tore a massive hole in the hull. The ship sank in twelve minutes. Of 313 on board, 226 drowned. Anna survived, clinging to a piece of wreckage. Her four daughters did not. Nine days later, when survivors reached Wales, Anna sent her husband a telegram with these words: “Saved alone. What shall I do?”

November 1873 · Mid-Atlantic

Sailing Over His Children’s Grave

On the ship crossing to reach his wife, the captain told Spafford they were passing over the exact spot where his daughters had drowned. In that moment, he took out paper and began to write.

Horatio immediately boarded the next ship to reach Anna. As the vessel crossed the Atlantic, the captain called him to the bridge and pointed to the map — they were passing over the very location where the Ville du Havre had sunk. Below those waters lay the bodies of Annie, Maggie, Bessie, and Tanetta. Spafford stood at the rail, looking down. Then he returned to his cabin and wrote the words that would become one of the most comforting hymns in Christian history — not because the grief was gone, but because he chose to anchor himself to something deeper than grief.

1876 · Published Worldwide

The Hymn Reaches the World

Composer Philip Bliss set Spafford’s words to music in 1876. The hymn was published in Gospel Hymns No. 2 and quickly spread around the world.

Spafford shared his poem with composer Philip P. Bliss, who wrote the now-famous melody in 1876. It was published that year in Gospel Hymns No. 2 by Ira Sankey and Philip Bliss. The hymn spread rapidly through churches, funerals, and revival meetings. People recognized immediately that these words were not written from a comfortable chair — they were written from the deepest possible darkness. That authenticity is why the hymn endures. It doesn’t promise the waves will stop. It promises peace can exist while the waves still roll.

1881 · Jerusalem

Turning Grief Into a Gift for Others

Horatio and Anna eventually had three more children. In 1881 they moved to Jerusalem and started a community to serve others — a community whose work continues to this day.

Horatio and Anna did not let their grief have the final word. They eventually had three more children, including a son named Horatio Gates Spafford Jr. In 1881, the family moved to Jerusalem and founded the American Colony — a Christian community dedicated to serving the poor, the sick, and the suffering. The community ran hospitals, orphanages, and aid programs. What Spafford had received in his darkest hour — peace that passed understanding — he spent the rest of his life giving to others. The Spafford Children’s Center in Jerusalem continues their work today.

Written 1873 · Music by Philip P. Bliss, 1876

Read the Hymn

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 with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Spafford wrote “when sorrows like sea billows roll” while literally sailing over the ocean grave of his four daughters. He didn’t say the sorrows had stopped rolling. He said that even while they rolled — whatever his lot — he had been taught to say “it is well.” Peace and grief held together at the same moment.
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
It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
“My helpless estate” — Spafford acknowledged exactly what he was: helpless. He could not bring back his daughters, restore his wealth, or change what had happened. But in that helplessness, he found the one thing that could not be taken: the assurance that Christ had seen him in his helplessness and paid for his soul anyway.
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!
Refrain
It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
This is perhaps the most unexpected verse — written by a grieving father, yet suddenly full of praise. Spafford shifted his gaze from his losses to the cross. His ultimate security was not in his children, his wealth, or his health — all of which had been stripped away. It was in what had been permanently secured. “I bear it no more.”
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
It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
“When the faith shall be sight” — Spafford looked forward to the day he would see his daughters again. He did not write as a man who had made peace with permanent loss. He wrote as a man who believed the separation was temporary. This final verse is not resignation — it is hope. “Even so, it is well.”

Lessons From a Grief-Anchored Faith

Why This Still Matters

🌊

Say Truth Over Feeling

Spafford didn’t feel peace in that moment — he chose to say it anyway. Peace isn’t a feeling we wait for. It’s a truth we claim even when everything inside us says otherwise.

⚓

Find Meaning in the Meaningless

There was no good reason his daughters died. Spafford chose to hold both realities — the overwhelming pain and trust in God’s goodness beyond what he could see. Both at the same time.

✝️

Change Your Foundation

His children, his money, his health — all taken. He anchored himself in what could not be taken. What is your foundation built on? What can’t be stripped away from you?

🕊️

Create Something Good From Pain

Spafford could have become bitter. Instead he made his sadness into a gift that has comforted millions across centuries. Your story might be the lifeline someone else desperately needs.

🏙️

Let Grief Lead You Outward

After losing everything, Spafford moved to Jerusalem to serve the poor and suffering. His greatest wounds became his greatest ministry. Grief that turns outward becomes grace for others.

🌅

Peace and Grief Can Coexist

“It is well” was written in the middle of the grief — not after it ended. Spafford never pretended the waves stopped rolling. He found peace that could exist alongside them, not instead of them.

An Invitation

Find Your Peace

“What waves of sadness are rolling in your life right now? Where are you anchoring your soul?”

Your words are private. They are not sent anywhere.


For Further Study

Sources & Further Reading

Primary Source

Vester, Bertha Spafford. Our Jerusalem: An American Family in the Holy City, 1881–1949. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1950.
Written by Spafford’s own daughter.

Historical Records

SS Ville du Havre ship disaster records, November 22, 1873
Library of Congress Exhibition: “The American Colony in Jerusalem — Family Tragedy” (includes Anna Spafford’s original telegram)
Wikipedia: “SS Ville du Havre” and “Horatio Spafford”

Hymn Information

Music composed by Philip P. Bliss, 1876
First published in Gospel Hymns No. 2 by Ira Sankey & Philip Bliss (1876)
Osbeck, Kenneth W. 101 Hymn Stories. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1982.

Their Work Continues

The Spafford Children’s Center in Jerusalem continues the family’s work of serving children and families in need — over 140 years later.

www.spafford-kids.org →

“It Is Well With My Soul” — Written by Horatio G. Spafford, 1873
Music by Philip P. Bliss, 1876 · Public Domain

It Is Well With My Soul | Reawaken Hymns

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