It Is Well With My Soul: The True Story of the Writings of the Beloved Hymns (Mormon Tabernance Choir Concert)
(By Hugh Bonneville)
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| Author | Hugh Bonneville |
To help his wife and daughters heal, Horatio decided the family would spend Christmas in Paris in the hopes of finding peace after so much tragedy.
Although Mr. Spafford had intended to sail with his family aboard the Ville du Harve, his work required him to stay in Chicago for a few days. He planned to take another ship and join his family in Europe as soon as he could.
About four days into the crossing of the Atlantic, the Ville du Harve collided with another ship, and, twelve minutes later, the ship had slipped beneath the dark waters of the Atlantic, carrying with it 226 of the 313 passengers, including the four Spafford children.
A sailor, rowing a small boat over the spot where the ship went down, spotted a woman floating on a piece of wreckage. It was Anna Spafford, still alive. He pulled her into the boat, and they were picked up by another large vessel, which, nine days later, landed them in Cardiff, Wales. From there, she wired her husband a message which began, “Saved alone, what shall I do?”
Mr. Spafford booked passage on the next available ship in order to join his grieving wife. After about four days of sailing, the captain called Spafford to his cabin and told him they were over the place where his children had died. That night Spafford wrote the hymn “It Is Well with My Soul.”
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.
Reunited and with renewed faith, the Spaffords returned to Chicago where Horatio’s business flourished. Anna gave birth to three more children, one of whom died at age four from pneumonia. In August 1881, the family moved to Jerusalem near Bethlehem and opened an orphanage and hospital for children, The Spafford Children’s Center, which still operates today and has blessed many families who have suffered because of the turbulent situation in the Middle East. ”
