Horatio Spafford wrote the words to It Is Well With My Soul, but Philip P. Bliss composed the stunning music, and named the tune Ville du Havre
Philip P. Bliss composed the music to It Is Well with My Soul in 1876, the tune named after the ship on which Spafford’s daughters died, Ville du Havre. P. P. Bliss was born in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania in a log cabin.
His father was Isaac Bliss, who taught the family to pray daily, his mother was Lydia Doolittle. He loved music and was allowed to develop his passion for singing. His sister was Mary Elizabeth Willson, a gospel singer, singer, composer and evangelist.
In 1869, Bliss formed an association with Dwight L. Moody. Moody and others urged him to give up his job and become a missionary singer. In 1874, Bliss decided he was called to full-time Christian evangelism. Bliss was a well-known composer in his day, made significant amounts of money from music royalties and gave them to charity and to support his evangelical endeavors.
On 29 December 1876, the Pacific Express train on which Bliss and his wife Lucy were traveling in approached Ashtabula, Ohio. While the train was in the process of crossing a trestle bridge it collapsed, and the carriages fell into the ravine below.
Bliss escaped from the wreck, but the carriages caught fire and Bliss returned to try to extricate his wife. No trace of either body was discovered.
Ninety-two of the 159 passengers are believed to have died in what became known as the Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster. The Blisses were survived by their two sons, George and Philip Paul, then aged four and one, respectively.
Read more about this, and how Horatio Spafford was truly a modern-day Job, in It Is Well with My Soul: from Tragedy to Trust, out now on Amazon.
