American evangelist, born in Edinburg, Lawrence County, PA, on the 28th of August 1840. He very early in life evinced great fondness for music, and became the leader of the church choir in Newcastle, PA. His habits and inclinations were entirely religious, and he was prominent in the Young Men’s Christian Association in the town; went to Indianapolis in 1870 as a delegate to some convention, and it was there he first met Dwight L. Moody. From that time they worked together for years, Sankey’s singing being a great auxiliary to Moody’s evangelical work. Mr. Sankey gave the Young Men’s Christian Association of Newcastle a fully equipped building, reading-rooms, gymnasium, etc., and also a building-lot to the Methodist Church Society, with which he united when only fifteen years of age. He had a fine baritone voice, and was very successful with his audiences. His published volume of Sacred Songs and Solos had a very wide circulation.
