Anna Spafford (March 16, 1842 – April 17, 1923), born Anne Tobine Larsen Øglende in Stavanger,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, was a Norwegian-American woman who settled in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, where she and her husband Horatio Spafford were central in establishing the American Colony there in 1881. She was a survivor of the sinking of the French passenger steamer '' Ville du Havre'' in 1873. Her daughters Anna “Annie” (born June 11, 1862), Margaret Lee “Maggie” (born May 31, 1864), Elizabeth “Bessie” (born June 19, 1868), and Tanetta (born July 24, 1871) were lost in the wreck. Afterwards Anna gave birth to three more children. Her husband, Horatio Spafford wrote the song '' It Is Well with My Soul'' after the various tragedies that struck them, which includes the Chicago fire and the loss of their daughters in the sinking of ''Ville du Havre''.

Literature

*Geniesse, Jane Fletcher, ''American Priestess: The Extraordinary Story of Anna Spafford and the American Colony in Jerusalem'', Nan A. Talese (2008) * Tveit, Odd Karsten, ''Annas hus, En beretning fra Stavanger til Jerusalem'', Cappelen forlag, Oslo (2000)

External links

Article from Library of Congress about American Colony and Anna Spafford

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spafford, Anna 1842 births 1923 deaths People from Stavanger Norwegian emigrants to the United States