Ira D. Sankey
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Ira D. Sankey (August 28, 1840 - August 13, 1908), known as The Sweet Singer of Methodism, was an American gospel singer and composer associated with evangelist Dwight L. Moody.
Ira David Sankey, son of David Sankey, known as the father of Lawrence County, and Mary Leeper Sankey, was born August 28, 1840, in Edinburg, on the outskirts of New Castle, Pennsylvania.
At age 16 he was converted at a revival meeting at the King's Chapel Church, about three miles from his home.
As a young man, Sankey served in the Civil War as a soldier for the Union. After the war, he joined the IRS, and also worked with the YMCA. He became well known as a Gospel singer, and eventually came to the attention of evangelist Dwight L. Moody. The two men met at a YMCA convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, in June, 1870. Some months later, Sankey attended his first evangelistic meeting with Moody, and resigned from government service shortly thereafter.
Sankey married Fanny V. Edwards, one of his choir members, in September, 1863. They had three sons.
In October 1871, Sankey and Moody were in the middle of a revival meeting when the Great Chicago Fire broke out. The two men barely escaped the conflagration with their lives. Sankey ended up watching the city burn from a rowboat far out on Lake Michigan.
In 1883, Sankey and Moody visited the UK. Sankey's hymns were promoted by the famous London Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon, long afterwards. While in Edinburgh, they raised £10,000 for the purpose of building a new home for the Carrubbers Close Mission. During their time in Edinburgh, the foundation stone was laid and the building remains one of the few on the Royal Mile which today serves the same purpose for which it was built.
Sankey composed and collected about 1,200 songs in his lifetime. From 1895 to 1908, he was president of the Biglow and Main publishing company. He was blind from glaucoma the last five years of his life, and no doubt found a kindred spirit in his friend and music making partner, blind hymnist Fanny Crosby.
Ira D. Sankey died August 13, 1908 in Brooklyn.
In 1979-80, the Gospel Music Association recognized Sankey's prodigious contributions to gospel music by listing him in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
