In December of 1876, the train on which Phillip Bliss was riding fell 60 feet into a ravine near Ashtabula, Ohio after the trestle which it was crossing collapsed. The pot belly stoves used to warm the train cars burst and set the wreckage on fire. Bliss burned to death while trying to rescue his wife, and about 100 others also died. It was the country’s worst train wreck up to that time.
In his luggage was a manuscript with the words to “I Will Sing of My Redeemer,” a hymn he had just written. His friend George McGranahan, an up-and-coming gospel singer and hymn writer set the words to music, and it was published in 1877. Just the other day, I heard a choir perform “I Will Sing of My Redeemer” on the radio.