Samuel L. & Amanda Speck

Samuel L. Speck

Samuel L. Speck was born of French descent in Cornwall, Ontario,  June 15, 1862, and died in 1943 at the age of 80 or 81. In his book, When the Trumpet Sounded, C. E. Brown says, “Samuel L. Speck became one of the most energetic and successful preachers of the old days. … At the age of ten, a fatherless child in deep poverty, he was compelled to leave school and go to work, first as a newsboy, then as an attendant in a billiard saloon, and later as a chore boy in a general store. At the age of seventeen he became a clerk in a wholesale whisky store, where he became addicted to liquor. Since this manner of life brought so much reproach from his family, he ran away and went to the Michigan timberlands, drifting from there to Chicago where he fell into gambling. Under the preaching of J. C. Fisher he was converted, October 28, 1882.

“After assisting in the Grand Junction meeting where seventeen souls were saved, Speck helped in another meeting where thirty were converted. … He was ordained in June, 1884, by the laying on of hands. After that he traveled for a time in company with D. S. Warner, but mostly with J. C. Fisher, until the latter’s defection from the work. In the first revival which Speck held by himself he saw the conversion of thirty-five persons. There he found his future wife and was married, November 10, 1889. He traveled and preached, usually with a tent, in eleven different states and in the province of Ontario.” – When the Trumpet Sounded, pages 116-117.

His wife, Amanda L. (Bear) Speck was born July 28, 1865, in Akron, Indiana, and died April 26, 1963, in Pendleton, Indiana, at the age of 97. Both she and her husband, Samuel, are buried in Huntsville Cemetery, Fall Creek Township, Madison County, Indiana.

The names of S. L. and Amanda Speck appear frequently on the pages of the Gospel Trumpet literature, including several songs. S. L. Speck wrote the chorus and air to Evening Light Songs #167, “Jesus Is My Shepherd,” and the words to #315, “Go Forth.” He also wrote the words and air to “Complete in Christ,” #15 in Songs of the Evening Light, published in 1897 as well as #35, “Walking with Jesus,” in that same songbook.

Amanda L. Speck wrote the music to Evening Light Songs #28, “The Blameless Church,” #272, “Love Is Freedom’s Law,” #319, “Tell It Again,” and #411, “Come and Be Saved.” She also had a part in the writing of other songs in the older songbooks not printed today.

Below is a picture of Samuel L. and Amanda L. Speck and their family at the Moundsville, West Virginia camp meeting in the late 1800s or early 1900s (exact date uncertain).

Samuel L. and Amanda L. Speck and family at Moundsville, WV camp meeting