1865–1936

Introduction

illustration
Bilhorn Organ Ad, 1895
portrait

Born: Ju­ly 22, 1865, Men­do­ta, Il­li­nois.

Died: De­cem­ber 13, 1936, Los An­ge­les, Ca­li­for­nia.

Buried: In­gle­wood Park Ce­me­te­ry, Ing­le­wood, Ca­li­for­nia.

Pseudonyms

portrait

Biography

Peter was the son of Jo­hann Ge­org F. Püll­horn-Bill­horn and Ka­the­re­na Nie­hardt, and hus­band of Nel­lie May Mc­Caugh­na (mar­ried 1894). The fa­mi­ly name was changed by a judge in Ot­ta­wa, Il­li­nois, named Ab­ra­ham Lin­coln.

His fa­ther died in the Am­eri­can ci­vil war. Pe­ter and his bro­ther formed the Eu­re­ka Wa­gon and Car­riage Works in Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois.

In 1882, Pe­ter came to Christ at meet­ings in Chi­ca­go led by George F. Pen­te­cost and George Steb­bins. He then be­gan mis­sion work in Chi­ca­go while he stu­died mu­sic un­der Steb­bins, George Root, and oth­ers.

In 1886 he sold his bu­si­ness and be­came whol­ly in­volved in ev­an­gel­ism. He wrote some 2,000 Gos­pel songs in his life­time, and for a while, worked with ev­an­gel­ist Bil­ly Sun­day.

He in­vent­ed the Bil­horn Te­le­scope Or­gan, a fold­ing pump or­gan used at re­vi­vals in the late 19th Cen­tu­ry, and found­ed the Bil­horn Fold­ing Or­gan Com­pa­ny in Chi­ca­go.

A high point in Bil­horn’s ca­reer came in 1900, when he tra­veled to Lon­don. There he con­duct­ed a 4,000 voice choir in the Crys­tal Pal­ace, and Queen Vic­tor­ia in­vit­ed him to sing in Buck­ing­ham Pal­ace.

Works

Sources

Lyrics

Music