Ira David Sankey (August 28, 1840 – August 13, 1908) was an American gospel singer and composer, known for his long association with Dwight L. Moody in a series of religious revival campaigns in America and Britain during the closing decades of the 19th century. Sankey was a pioneer in the introduction of a musical style that influenced church services and evangelical campaigns for generations, and the hymns that he wrote or popularized continued to be sung well into the 21st century.
Sankey, born in Pennsylvania, was an amateur singer and church worker when he was recruited by Moody in 1870, after the latter heard him sing at a convention. Until Moody's death in 1899 the two campaigned together, Moody preaching while Sankey sang both old and new hymns, inspired by writers such as Fanny Crosby and Philip Bliss. Sankey also became a prolific composer of hymn tunes, and a compiler and editor of popular hymn collections, in particular Sacred Songs and Solos and Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs. The proceeds from these publishing ventures were used for a range of charitable purposes.
After Moody's death, Sankey attempted to carry on the work alone, but was defeated by ill-health and the eventual loss of his eyesight. He died in 1908. He was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1980.
Life
Background and early years
Sankey was born in Edinburg, Pennsylvania, on August 28, 1840, one of nine children of David Sankey and his wife Mary Leeper Sankey. The family's ancestry was English on the father's side and a mix of Scottish and Irish on the mother's. David Sankey was a banker, a former state senator and a Methodist lay preacher. As a young boy Ira displayed a love of music that was encouraged by his parents, who typically spent evenings with him at home, singing hymns. At the age of eight he began attending Sunday school.
When he was 19, Ira underwent an experience of religious conversion at a revivalist meeting held at a nearby church, King's Chapel. A year later the family moved to New Castle, where the young Sankey joined the local Methodist Episcopal Church. His enthusiasm and talents were quickly recognized and led to his appointment as Sunday school superintendent and choirmaster.
In 1861, at the start of the American Civil War, Sankey answered President Lincoln's call for volunteers and joined the Twelfth Pennsylvania Regiment. He served between 1861 and 1863. In the army he continued his religious and singing activities, forming a choir and assisting the chaplain. When his period of enlistment was over he returned to New Castle, where his father had been appointed by Lincoln as a Collector of Internal Revenue. In 1863 Sankey joined his father in government service and, that same year, married Fanny Edwards, a member of his choir.
With Dwight L. Moody
Early campaigns
Back in New Castle, Sankey developed a local reputation as a singer, much in demand in churches and revival meetings. In 1867, when a local branch of YMCA was formed, Sankey became its secretary and later its president. As president, in 1870 he was a delegate at a national conference held in Indianapolis, where he encountered the noted preacher Dwight L. Moody for the first time. Moody was instantly impressed as Sankey demonstrated his ability to enliven an audience rendered soporific by inactivity and overlong prayers by giving an impromptu rendering of the hymn "There is a fountain filled with blood". Meeting Sankey at the end of the session, Moody demanded that the young man join him in his mission work: "I have been looking for you for the last eight years". Unable to decide on the spur of the moment, Sankey returned to New Castle and pondered Moody's challenge for six months before deciding to return to Chicago for a week's trial with Moody. Before the week was up he resigned his government post and threw in his lot with Moody's mission, thus beginning their lifelong partnership.
Within the Moody–Sankey mission, Moody preached and Sankey sang. Late in 1871, mission work was interrupted by the Great Chicago Fire, which destroyed 18,000 buildings, killed around 300 people and left a third of the city's population homeless. Sankey watched the conflagration from a small boat in which he rowed out into Lake Michigan. The fire destroyed Moody's church, and Sankey returned temporarily to New Castle. However, he soon received a message from Moody asking him to come back to Chicago and resume the partnership. He did so, and worked with Moody in the revival of churches in Chicago, Springfield and elsewhere. In October 1872 Sankey moved his family permanently to Chicago.