Bilhorn’s fam­i­ly name was orig­in­al­ly Pul­horn; it was changed by a judge in Ot­ta­wa, Il­li­nois, named Abra­ham Lin­coln. Peter and his bro­ther formed the Eu­re­ka Wa­gon and Car­riage Works in Chi­ca­go, Il­linois. Lat­er, Pe­ter be­came in­volved in Gos­pel mu­sic, stu­dy­ing un­der George Root, George Steb­bins, and others. He wrote some 2,000 Go­spel songs in his life­time, and for a while, worked with evan­gel­ist Bil­ly Sun­day. He al­so in­vent­ed a fold­ing pump or­gan used at re­viv­als in the late 19th Cen­tu­ry, and found­ed the Bil­horn Fold­ing Or­gan Com­pa­ny in Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois.

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

Bilhorn’s works in­clude:

• Crowning Glo­ry No. 1, 1888
• Crowning Glo­ry No. 2
• Soul-Win­ning Songs
• Choice Songs: Hymns of Heav­en­ly Har­mo­ny
• Sunshine Songs
• Songs of Peace and Pow­er
• Century Gos­pel Hymns
• Songs for Male Chor­us­es
• Sac­red and Se­cu­lar Se­lect­ions for La­dies’ Voic­es, 1900
• Songs and Sto­ries of Mo­ther, Child­hood and Home (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Bil­horn Bros., 1903)

Sources

Music

1. Almost
2. Best Friend to Have Is Jesus, The
3. I Will Sing the Wondrous Story
4. Living Where the Healing Waters Flow
5. My Name in Mother’s Pray­er
6. Redemption
7. Sweet Peace, the Gift of God’s Love