Sanford Fillmore Bennett

Sanford Fillmore Bennett was an American teacher, newspaper editor, Civil War officer, pharmacist, physician, poet, and hymn writer born in Eden, New York, on June 21, 1836. His family moved west while he was young, and he studied at Waukegan Academy and the University of Michigan before working in education and journalism. In Elkhorn, Wisconsin, he became associate editor of the Independent. In 1864 he served as a second lieutenant in Company D of the 40th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry.

After the war Bennett returned to Elkhorn, opened a drugstore, and studied medicine. He later graduated from Rush Medical College in 1874 and practiced medicine for more than two decades. During his Elkhorn years he collaborated with composer Joseph P. Webster on songs and Sunday school music. Their most enduring work was “In the Sweet By and By,” written during work on Webster's collection “The Signet Ring.”

Bennett's own recollection of the song's creation was preserved by Ira D. Sankey and Charles H. Gabriel. A near-contemporary account by Gabriel states that Bennett's name was on no church roll, so a specific denominational affiliation cannot be assigned confidently.