"It Is Well With My Soul" is a hymn penned by hymnist Horatio Spafford and composed by Philip Bliss.
This hymn was written after traumatic events in Spafford's life. The first two were the death of his four-year-old son and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer and had invested significantly in property in the area of Chicago that was extensively damaged by the great fire).
His business interests were further hit by the economic downturn of 1873, at which time he had planned to travel to England with his family on the SS Ville du Havre, to help with D. L. Moody's upcoming evangelistic campaigns. In a late change of plan, he sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sea vessel, the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford's daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, "Saved alone …".
Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died. Bliss called his tune Ville du Havre, from the name of the stricken vessel.
Following the sinking of the Ville du Havre, Anna gave birth to three children, Horatio Goertner (1877), Bertha Hedges (March 24, 1878), and Grace (January 18, 1881). On February 11, 1880, Horatio died of scarlet fever at age three. This final tragedy, after a decade of financial loss and personal grief accompanied by a lack of support from their church community, began Horatio's philosophical move away from material success toward a lifelong spiritual pilgrimage. Anna and Horatio Spafford soon left the Presbyterian congregation Horatio had helped build and hosted prayer meetings in their home. Their Messianic sect was dubbed "the Overcomers" by the American press.
In August 1881, the Spaffords went to Jerusalem as a party of 13 adults and three children to set up the American Colony. Colony members, joined by Swedish Christians, engaged in philanthropic work among the people of Jerusalem regardless of their religious affiliation and without proselytizing motives, gaining the trust of the local Muslim, Jewish, and Christian 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.
Spafford died of malaria on October 16, 1888, at the age of 60, and was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Jerusalem.
