Horatio Spafford
Horatio Spafford stood on the deck of a ship crossing the Atlantic in November 1873, staring at the dark water below. The captain had just told him they were passing over the spot where, days earlier, another vessel had sunk. In those depths lay the bodies of his four daughters—Annie, Maggie, Bessie, and Tanetta.
In that moment of unimaginable sorrow, Spafford pulled out paper and began to write:
“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.”
How does a man find peace while sailing over his children’s grave?
The Man Before the Tragedy
Horatio Gates Spafford was born in 1828 in North Troy, New York, but made his mark as a successful lawyer and real estate investor in Chicago. By his early forties, he had built a comfortable life—a respected position in the Presbyterian community, substantial property holdings near Lake Michigan, a devoted wife named Anna, and five children.
He was also a man of deep faith who counted Dwight L. Moody, the famous evangelist, among his close friends. Spafford used his wealth generously, supporting missions and helping those in need. He seemed to have everything a man could want.
Then the losses began.
When Everything Collapses
In 1870, Spafford’s four-year-old son, also named Horatio, died of scarlet fever. The grief was crushing, but Horatio and Anna still had their four daughters and each other.
One year later, in October 1871, the Great Chicago Fire swept through the city. In two days, the inferno destroyed over 17,000 buildings. Spafford’s carefully accumulated real estate investments—located in the path of the fire—were reduced to ash. His financial security vanished.
By 1873, the family was emotionally and financially exhausted. Spafford planned a European trip, partly for rest and partly to support his friend Moody’s evangelistic campaigns in England. The family would travel together, but at the last minute, urgent business matters forced Horatio to delay his departure. 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 a few days.
The Telegram
On November 22, 1873, at 2:00 a.m., the Ville du Havre was crossing the Atlantic when an iron-hulled Scottish ship, the Lochearn, struck it in the darkness. The collision tore a massive hole in the French vessel’s side. The ship sank in twelve minutes.
Anna Spafford frantically tried to gather her daughters, but the chaos was absolute. Passengers screamed, water rushed in, and within moments the ship was gone. Of the 313 people on board, 226 drowned.
Anna survived by clinging to a piece of debris. Her four daughters did not.
When the survivors reached Wales nine days later, Anna sent her husband a telegram that has echoed through history: “Saved alone. What shall I do?”
The Journey to Peace
Horatio immediately booked passage on the next ship to join his wife. As the vessel made its way across the Atlantic, the captain called Spafford to his cabin and showed him their position on a chart. They were passing over the approximate location where the Ville du Havre had gone down.
Spafford returned to his cabin and, in the depths of his grief, wrote the words that would become one of Christianity’s most enduring hymns. He didn’t write about his pain ending. He didn’t claim the sorrow had passed. Instead, he wrote about a peace that existed alongside the sorrow—a peace rooted not in his circumstances, but in something unshakeable.
“Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.”
Why He Wrote: The Reasons That Still Matter
Understanding why Spafford wrote this hymn reveals truths that resonate deeply with modern struggles:
1. He Needed to Declare Truth Over Feeling
Spafford didn’t feel peace in that moment—he chose to proclaim it. This is crucial for anyone facing overwhelming circumstances today. Whether it’s financial ruin, loss of a loved one, a devastating diagnosis, or a betrayal that shatters your world, Spafford shows us that peace isn’t a feeling we wait for. It’s a truth we claim even when everything inside us screams otherwise.
This matters for you if: You’re in a season where your emotions are drowning out everything else. Spafford gives you permission to say “it is well” not because you feel fine, but because you’re anchoring yourself to something deeper than feelings.
2. He Needed to Find Meaning in the Meaningless
There was no redemptive “reason” his daughters died. No cosmic explanation that would make it okay. Spafford had to choose whether their deaths would be the final word or whether there was a larger story.
By writing “when sorrows like sea billows roll,” he acknowledged the relentless, overwhelming nature of grief. Sea billows don’t come once—they roll continuously. But in the same breath, he wrote “whatever my lot,” accepting that some things remain beyond our understanding.
This matters for you if: You’ve experienced something that makes no sense. Something that feels cruel, random, or unjust. Spafford models how to hold both realities—acknowledging the senselessness while choosing to trust in an ultimate goodness beyond what you can see.
3. He Needed to Shift His Foundation
The hymn’s most striking verse reveals where Spafford ultimately found his stability:
“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!”
He wasn’t minimizing his daughters’ deaths. He was reminding himself—and us—that his ultimate security couldn’t rest in what could be taken away. Not his children, not his wealth, not his reputation. Only in what was eternally secure.
This matters for you if: You’ve built your identity, worth, or sense of safety on things that can be lost. A career that can be eliminated. A relationship that can end. Health that can fail. A reputation that can be destroyed. Spafford asks: What can’t be taken from you? And can you find your peace there?
4. He Needed to Create Something Redemptive From His Pain
Spafford could have become bitter. He could have walked away from faith entirely—and many would have understood. Instead, he took his grief and forged it into something that has comforted millions.
This is perhaps the most profound reason he wrote: not just for himself, but for every person who would come after him and face their own sea billows. His pain became a gift to strangers across centuries.
This matters for you if: You’re wondering whether your suffering has any purpose. Spafford shows that the purpose isn’t always in the suffering itself, but in what we choose to create from it. Your story might be the lifeline someone else desperately needs.
The Legacy: What He Left Us
Horatio and Anna eventually had three more children, including a son they named Horatio Gates Spafford Jr. In 1881, they moved to Jerusalem and established a community dedicated to helping others—a community that continued for decades.
But his greatest legacy remains those words written in the darkest moment of his life. “It Is Well With My Soul” has been sung at funerals and celebrations, in churches and hospitals, by people facing their own shipwrecks. The hymn endures because it doesn’t promise that sorrow will end. It promises that peace can exist even while the sea billows still roll.
Spafford teaches us that resilience isn’t about being untouched by tragedy. It’s about choosing, in the midst of tragedy, where we’ll anchor our souls.
Complete Hymn Text: “It Is Well With My Soul”
Written by Horatio G. Spafford, 1873 Music by Philip P. Bliss, 1876
Verse 1 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.
Verse 2 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.
Verse 3 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!
Verse 4 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.
This hymn is in the public domain.
Sources and 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 daughter; available through Internet Archive and antiquarian book dealers]
Historical Records:
- SS Ville du Havre maritime disaster records, November 22, 1873
- Wikipedia: “SS Ville du Havre” and “Loch Earn (ship)”
- Library of Congress Exhibition: “The American Colony in Jerusalem – Family Tragedy” (includes Anna Spafford’s telegram)
- Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum: “Accounts of the Wreck of the S.S. Ville Du Havre” (Collection MH 226)
Biographical Sources:
- “Horatio Spafford,” Wikipedia (accessed November 2025)
- Osbeck, Kenneth W. 101 Hymn Stories. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1982.
- Christianity.com: “Horatio Spafford: It Is Well with My Soul” (Church History Timeline)
- United Methodist Church, Discipleship Ministries: “History of Hymns: ‘It Is Well with My Soul’”
Hymn Information:
- “It Is Well with My Soul,” Wikipedia (accessed November 2025)
- Music composed by Philip Bliss, 1876
- First published in Gospel Hymns No. 2 by Ira Sankey and Philip Bliss (1876)
Additional Context:
- Great Chicago Fire historical records (October 8-10, 1871) – Chicago Historical Society
- The Spafford Children’s Center, Jerusalem (www.spafford-kids.org) – continues the family’s humanitarian work today
What sea billows are rolling in your life right now? Where are you anchoring your soul?