BIO:Ira David Sankey

BORN: August 28, 1840
Edinburg, Pennsylvania
DIED: August 13, 1908
Brooklyn, New York
LIFE SPAN: 67 years, 11 months, 16 days
SANKEY WAS THE PIONEER MUSIC DIRECTOR of the masses in Ameri-
can evangelism. The Sweet Singer of Methodism brought to the 
Moody revivals zest and inspiration that prepared hearts for 
the messages of the famed evangelist. He set the pattern for 
those who later followed in his footsteps--Charles Alexander, 
Homer Rodeheaver, and Cliff Barrows. More than any other man, 
he was the one who ushered in the gospel song era. Sankey was 
a great leader of congregations and choirs. He was a soloist 
of great ability, singing special music wherever he went. He 
also helped in the inquiry room.
        Sankey seldom wrote poetry as did Fanny Crosby and 
P.P. Bliss. However, he did compose music and provide the 
tunes for some of the great hymns written during those days. 
Sankey can be credited with providing the melody for the fol-
lowing: A Shelter in the Time of Storm, Faith Is the Victory, 
Grace 'Tis a Charming Sound, Hiding in Thee, I Am Praying for 
You, The Ninety and Nine, There'll Be No Dark Valley, Trust-
ing Jesus, Under His Wings, and When the Mists Have Rolled 
Away.
        Ira David Sankey was born into the home of pious 
Methodists, David and Mary Sankey. One of the chief pleasures 
of his boyhood was to join the family circle around the great 
log fireplace. Long winter evenings were spent singing the 
old hymns of the church. He learned to read music this way 
and by the age of eight, he could sing many famous hymn tunes 
correctly. Spiritual interests were kindled by a Mr. Fraser, 
who loved children. Along with his own sons, he took Sankey 
to a Sunday School held in an old schoolhouse. Sankey had 
educational opportunities that many were denied. He became a 
Christian in 1856 at the age of 16, while attending revival 
meetings at a church known as the King's Chapel, located 
about three miles from his home. A year later the family 
moved to Newcastle where he became a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. His talents were soon recognized and he was 
elected superintendent of the Sunday School, director of the 
choir, and class leader. His father was the president of the 
bank which also provided young Sankey with a job.
        He became active in the fight to bring musical in-
struments into church services and he was responsible for the 
first organ to be installed in his own church. Here he gained 
invaluable experience and his voice began to attain that 
rich, resonant quality which was to make him world famous 
later on.
        When President Lincoln called for men to help the 
government in 1860, Sankey was one of the first young men to 
enroll as a soldier. His company was sent to Maryland. In the 
army, his love of singing endeared him to his companions and 
he often led the singing for religious services held in the 
camp. He organized a male chorus in the company and assisted 
the chaplain with services. President Lincoln appointed his 
father as a Collector of Internal Revenue and after his term 
of service and the Civil War was over, Sankey returned to 
Newcastle to assist his father and enter governmental ser-
vice. He remained with the Internal Revenue Department for 
several years.
        At the age of 23, on September 9, 1863, he married 
Fanny V. Edwards, who was a member of his choir and a teacher 
in his Sunday School. The Sankeys had three sons, one of whom 
was born in Scotland.
        In 1867, a branch of the Y.M.C.A. was organized at 
Newcastle and he became its secretary and, later, president. 
Many years later, he had the pleasure of presenting a 
Y.M.C.A. building to his city. The building, including a gym-
nasium and library, cost more than $40,000. The funds were 
realized from the sale of his gospel hymns.
        Sankey's fame as a singer spread throughout western 
Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. He received invitation after 
invitation to sing for conventions, conferences, and politi-
cal gatherings.
        He attended so many musical conventions, and spent so 
much of his time in religious work, that his father once 
said, "I'm afraid Ira will never amount to anything. All he 
does is run around the country with a hymn-book under his 
arm!"
        To which his mother replied, "Well, I'd rather see 
him with a hymn-book under his arm, than with a whiskey bot-
tle in his pocket!"
        Sankey had no desire to make music a profession. It 
was never his custom to receive any remuneration for his ser-
vices. In his work with the Y.M.C.A., he found an ever-widen-
ing field of usefulness. In June of 1870, he was appointed a 
delegate to the International Convention in Indianapolis. For 
several years he had read in the religious press of the work 
of Dwight L. Moody. In connection with the convention, it was 
announced that Moody was to speak at an early morning prayer 
meeting in a Baptist church on a Sunday morning. Sankey was 
most anxious to hear and meet the man. Having arrived a lit-
tle late at the meeting, he sat near the door with a Presby-
terian minister who urged Sankey to start a song. At the 
right moment, as Moody requested a song, Sankey started to 
sing There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood. The congregation 
joined in heartily and the meeting took on a new impetus. At 
the close of the service, he was introduced to Moody, who 
abruptly asked him terse questions. When asked about his 
business, Sankey replied that he was employed by the govern-
ment. Moody remarked, "You will have to give it up!" 
Nonplussed, Sankey listened to the evangelist who said, "I 
have been looking for you for eight years." Sankey was inter-
ested but not ready to render a decision. Moody asked him to 
meet him at a certain street corner the next day. Moody 
brought a big box and asked Sankey to mount it and then re-
quested that he sing something. Sankey complied and sang Am I 
a Soldier of the Cross. Moody then began to speak to a large 
crowd of working men, who had left the mills to hear him. At 
the end of the service, he announced that he would continue 
the meeting at the Opera House. Sankey led that large packed 
Opera House gathering in singing Shall We Gather at the 
River?
        It took Sankey six months to consent to spend a week 
with Moody in Chicago. This visit concluded with a great mass 
meeting at Farwell Hall where Sankey sang Come Home, Prodigal 
Child at the last service. Soon, his resignation was sent to 
the Secretary of the Treasury, and a life of faith began.
        At the age of 30, Sankey began his work with Moody 
early in 1871 and labored with him daily until the great 
Chicago Fire erupted on October 8, 1871, which destroyed ev-
erything. Moody had just finished speaking to a crowded 
Farwell Hall audience. As Sankey was singing, in the middle 
of a song, his voice was drowned by the clanging of fire en-
gines. Confusion arose from the streets and Moody dismissed 
the congregation. The two men parted, not to meet again for 
        Sankey had spent many hectic hours in the confusion 
that followed the fire. At first, he tried to aid in prevent-
ing the spread of the flames, but a large wind all but doomed 
the city. The fire was moving toward the business section and 
Farwell Hall. The flames followed so closely, he was com-
pelled to shake falling embers from his coat. When he arrived 
at his room, he grabbed his most valued possessions and left 
the building. He could find no means of transportation so 
headed toward Lake Michigan. After many harrowing experi-
ences, he reached the lake shore in safety, exhausted, and 
very thirsty. He found a small rowboat, and, putting his pos-
sessions on board, rowed out far enough to find fresh water. 
Tying his boat in position, he watched the destruction of the 
city.
        A whole day passed and now, on the evening of the 
9th, Sankey determined to return to shore, even though the 
city was still engulfed in flames. To his dismay, he discov-
ered that the line which fastened his boat had broken. He was 
swept out on the rolling lake and for a time his life was in 
danger. But God overruled and brought him to shore safely.
        He took a train for his Pennsylvania home and stayed 
there until a brief telegram arrived from Moody asking him if 
he would please return to Chicago and assist in the new min-
istry at the crude temporary tabernacle that had been re-
cently constructed. Returning, Sankey was to discover that he 
and Moody would often sleep together in a corner of the tab-
ernacle with only a single lounge for a bed. During these 
busy months Moody was soliciting funds for the recon-
busy months Moody was soliciting funds for the reconstruction 
of the church. Soon, a new edifice was dedicated.
        Sankey moved his family to Chicago in October of 
1872. While Moody was in England during this year, Sankey, 
with good assistance, kept the great work in Chicago going. 
Upon Moody's return, they seemed to work together better than 
ever. An evangelistic campaign in Springfield, Illinois, saw 
unusual power and blessing.
        About this time, Sankey's esteemed friend, P.P. 
Bliss, returned from Europe with impressive engagements lined 
up. He made Sankey an enticing offer to accompany him and as-
sist in the services of song--but Sankey declined. The part-
nership with Moody continued as they worked well together. 
Moody would arouse and startle his hearers with his preaching 
and at the conclusion of his appeal, Sankey would rise and 
sing. His melodious voice was soothing and comforting, with 
deep conviction, and he believed that souls could be saved 
with each note he sang. Moody decided that Sankey would be 
his associate on the next trip abroad, and agreed to pay him 
$100 per month.
        The memorable 1873-75 revival throughout the British 
Isles began in June of 1873. Mrs. Sankey and Moody's family 
accompanied the team. En route to Liverpool, where they 
landed, they had been notified that the men who had invited 
them to come to England were dead and no meetings were sched-
uled. Remembering the Y.M.C.A. at York had invited him to 
speak there, should he ever return to England, Moody obtained 
the use of the Independent Chapel and evangelistic services 
were announced. The first service was attended by fewer than 
fifty persons and Sankey found he people unaccustomed to his 
methods and to his type of songs. F.B. Meyer, a leading Bap-
tist minister of the city, helped turn the tide by his enthu-
siastic endorsement of the team. Invitations began to come 
from various towns. At Sunderland, Sankey sang several favor-
ite songs, unaware of the opposition by the pastor to solos, 
organ music, and choirs. However, the Reverend Rees was im-
pressed and posted notices announcing that Mr. Sankey, from 
Chicago, would "sing the gospel." This phrase came to be 
widely used thereafter. One night as Sankey sang Come Home, O 
Prodigal, Come Home, a cry pierced the silence and a young 
man rushed forward and fell in the arms of his father, beg-
ging forgiveness. The entire congregation was impressed and 
hundreds pressed to an adjoining room seeking prayer and par-
don. Next came Newcastle, where he first began to use the 
songs Sweet By and By and Christ Arose. Here, the first choir 
was organized and revival fires burned for two months.
        The Edinburgh, Scotland, crusade began on November 
23, 1873. Apart from the Psalms, music was not used to any 
degree. Man-made hymns had much prejudice against them. Moody 
caught a cold and could not speak the first night. J.H. 
Wilson was to take his place. Tactfully, Sankey asked the 
congregation to join in singing a portion of the 100th Psalm. 
Scripture and prayer followed. Sankey then sang his first 
solo, Jesus of Nazareth Passeth By. The intense silence bore 
testimony that this novel method of presenting the gospel was 
being accepted. After the message, he selected Hold the Fort 
and asked the congregation to join in the chorus. Scotland 
was now ready for the ministry of Moody and Sankey. Gospel 
singing and the organ were now being accepted. The rest of 
the amazing ministries of those days is told in the biography 
of Dwight L. Moody (number three in this present Fundamental 
Baptist Church Biography Series). The 1875 climax was the 
great London Crusade.
        Arriving back home in America, on August 14, 1875, 
their first services were in Northfield, Massachusetts, 
Moody's home town. Moody's mother professed conversion there 
and Sankey sang The Ninety and Nine for the first time in 
America.
        The team's first large campaign in the states began 
on October 31, 1875, in Brooklyn. Sankey's choir numbered 250 
voices, aided by a large organ. However, when he sang, he ac-
companied his solos on a small organ, a practice which he al-
ways preferred, not wanting the music to detract from the 
message. The next crusade began in Philadelphia on November 
21st where, despite torrential rains, 9,000 showed up for the 
opening service. Here, his choir numbered 500 voices. The New 
York crusade began on February 7, 1876, at the Great Roman 
Hippodrome on Madison Avenue. A choir of 600 voices was led 
by Sankey, and Moody had his largest audience to date.
        Sankey's health was somewhat impaired, so he returned 
to his home in Newcastle. He busied himself preparing his new 
song book, Gospel Hymns Two, with his good friend, P.P. 
Bliss, assisting him. Bliss was to die a tragic death later 
that year, while on his way to visit the Chicago Crusade. The 
Boston Crusade began on January 28, 1877, in a temporary 
structure, and the staid, old city enjoyed his renditions as 
much as any.
        Cities across the nation, in Canada and Mexico, were 
to enjoy the team in the years that followed. Back in the 
British Isles, 1881-84, they found many converts of former 
years.
        Sankey's publishing ventures grew to tremendous 
proportions. His first hymn book, published in England in 
1873, was called Sacred Songs and Solos. It included 23 se-
lections. Then his Gospel Hymn series followed, with numbers 
one to six being published between 1875 and 1891. These con-
tained hundreds of hymns still widely used. Several editions 
o these enjoyed sales that totaled millions of copies in many 
languages. Royalties from his song books would have given him 
a modest fortune, However, much of the royalty income was 
used to help Moody's educational ventures, especially the 
erection of his first school, Northfield School for Girls. 
Sankey was active in the Northfield Conferences which Moody 
conducted, and Sankey lived in Northfield in the summer. 
Fanny Crosby, also, spent several summers with the Sankeys 
there.
        Sankey, his family, and a few friends sailed from New 
York in January of 1898 for a visit to the Holy Land. This 
was one of the great delights of his life. In 1899, Sankey 
returned to Great Britain. There, he held special services in 
sacred song and story, in some 30 cities and towns. It was 
this extended engagement that impaired his health to the ex-
tent that he eventually lost his eyesight.
        The team of Moody and Sankey was to be together for 
the last time at a Brooklyn Church pastored by a Dr. Storr. 
The two spent a Sunday together in New York and then parted 
for the last time. Moody's last letter was dated November 6, 
1899, and he died soon after. Sankey continued conducting 
services of sacred song and story for some time.
        As blindness overtook him in 1903, he lived out his 
days at his Brooklyn, New York, home on South Oxford Street. 
During his last five years, he had extreme weakness and much 
pain as glaucoma had destroyed the optic nerve. Sankey main-
tained a sweet spirit of patience, and his mind remained 
clear to the end. Of all his earthly friends, who cheered him 
during his lonely hours, none proved a greater benediction 
than his beloved friend, Fanny Crosby. They would sing, pray, 
and fellowship in their blindness and discomfort. How they 
rejoiced in knowing that they would soon be together in glory 
with the Saviour they adored and reunited with D.L. Moody and 
other loved ones.
        His publication, My Life and the Story of Gospel 
Hymns, came out in 1906. It was written from the memory of 
the original manuscript, which was lost in a fire in 1901 at 
Battle Creek, Michigan, just prior to publication.
        Sankey passed on in his sleep without a struggle. Fu-
neral services were held at the LaFayette Avenue Presbyterian 
Church, where Sankey was a member during his latter years. 
Several of his own hymns were sung at the funeral by an aged 
cousin, C.C. Sankey, including: The Ninety and Nine, There'll 
Be No Dark Valley, Faith Is the Victory, and Hiding in Thee. 
The sermon was delivered by the pastor, Charles E. Locke. 
Buried in the local Greenwood Cemetery, his grave stone has a 
bar of music with `Good Night' and `God Is Love' above and 
below it.
        Stories of his hymn compositions seem a fitting way 
to conclude this biography. His first and most famous compo-
sition was The Ninety and Nine. Sankey and Moody were en 
route from Glasgow to Edinburgh, Scotland, in May, 1874, as 
they were to hold a three-day campaign there. This was at the 
urgent request of the Ministerial Association. Prior to 
boarding the train, Sankey bought a weekly newspaper for a 
penny. He found nothing of interest but a sermon by Henry W. 
Beecher and some advertisements. Then, he found a little 
piece of poetry in a corner of one column that he liked, and 
he read it to Moody, but only received a polite reply. Sankey 
clipped the poem and tucked it in his pocket. At the noon day 
service of the second day of the special series, Moody 
preached on The Good Shepherd. Horatious Bonar added a few 
thrilling words and then Moody asked Mr. Sankey if he had a 
final song. An inner voice prompted him to sing the hymn that 
he found on the train. With conflict of spirit, he thought, 
this is impossible! The inner voice continued to prod him, 
even though there was no music to the poem, so he acquiesced. 
As calmly as if he had sung it a thousand times, he placed 
the little piece of newspaper on the organ in front of him. 
Lifting up his heart in a brief prayer to Almighty God, he 
then laid his hands on the keyboard, striking a chord in A 
flat. Half speaking and half singing, he completed the first 
stanza, which was followed by four more. Moody walked over 
with tears in his eyes and said, "Where did you get that 
hymn?" The Ninety and Nine became his most famous tune and 
his most famous sale from that time on. The words were writ-
ten by Elizabeth Clephane in 1868. She died in 1869, little 
realizing her contribution to the Christian world.
        Trusting Jesus was written by Edgar Page Stites in 
1876. The poem first appeared in a newspaper and was handed 
to D.L. Moody. He, in turn, gave it to his partner, Ira 
Sankey, and asked him to set it to music. Mr. Sankey agreed 
to do so, on one condition, that Moody would vouch for the 
doctrine taught in the verses, which he did. It became the 
favorite hymn of W.B. Riley.
        A Shelter in the Time of Storm was written by V.J. 
Charlesworth. Sankey found it in a little paper published in 
London, called the Postman. This song became a favorite of 
fishermen in the northern part of England. Sankey composed a 
practical melody for church use in preference to a former 
weird, minor sound it first had.
        I Am Praying for You was written by Samuel O'Malley 
Cluff. Sankey found the poem on a leaflet, in 1874, when he 
was with Moody in Ireland. The song was first used in the 
Moody-Sankey campaign in London in 1875. This was his second 
musical setting with only the famous, The Ninety and Nine, 
preceding this.
        When The Mists Have Rolled Away was written in 1883 
by Annie Herbert Barker. Mr. Sankey added the musical touch 
and another hymn was born.
        Other Sankey songs, not mentioned in the beginning, 
were: Why Not Tonight?; Yet There Is Room; Welcome, Wanderer, 
Welcome; Take Me As I Am; It Is Finished; Jesus, I Will Trust 
Thee; Now Now, My Child; Tell It Out; The Smitten Rock, and 
one of the tunes of the famed Beneath the Cross of Jesus.
        Who knows--perhaps it was Moody, rather than Sankey, 
who benefited most at that fateful meeting in Indianapolis in 
1870, where God brought their ministries together.

There were ninety and nine that safely lay
        In the shelter of the fold:
But one was out on the hills away,
        Far off from the gates of gold.
Away on the mountains wild and bare,
Away from the tender Shepherd's care.

But all through the mountains thunder-riven
        And up from the rocky steep,
There arose a glad cry to the gates of heaven,
        "Rejoice, I have found My sheep."
And the angels echoed around the throne,
Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own.
