All-American Girls

September 13, 2013, 11:36 am

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"LADIES, PLEASE! Pay attention.
Once again from the beginning."

"Look over there. Is that who I think it is?
Do you suppose he can see us?"

"Hey! That's sharp! Watch what you're doing, Virginia."

Yes it was a fine day to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of Kingston, New York. Actually three days - May 30, 31, June 1, 1908. The bleachers had 13 rows specially built strong enough to hold 452 young ladies of Kingston. Their costumes were cleverly designed with blue, red, and white capes and contrasting white and red coronets. Technically the 46 starlet ladies were not appropriate for the current 1908 flag of the United States which had been around since Utah was admitted to the Union in 1896 as our 45th state. But the organizers of Kingston's All-Lady Flag must have decided to rearrange the upper left corner in anticipation of Oklahoma becoming the 46th state one month later on July 4, 1908.

The good people of Kingston, NY evidently had some difficulty choosing a year to celebrate the 250th anniversary of their city. The arithmetic would make that 1658, but according to the Friends of Historic Kingston, the real date was 1652 when the Dutch established a town on the Hudson River called Esopus, named after the local Native Americans of the Esopus tribe. The settlement was renamed Wiltwijck in 1658 by Peter Stuyvesant, who was the Director General of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. That was the foundation year they used in 1908, even though the Dutch gave over their colony to the English in 1664, who then renamed the town Kingston. When the British colonies formed the United States of America in 1776, Kingston was briefly the first capital of New York until the British burned the city in October 1777 shortly after the Battle of Saratoga. History is never simple.

Daily Kennebec Journal, Maine May 29, 1908

In fact, the Kingston 250th anniversary celebration was carefully coordinated with another memorial event, the re-burial of the body of  George Clinton(1739 -1812), 1st Governor of New York,  and 4th Vice President of the United States under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.  (There was no family relation to Bill Clinton, the 42nd US President)

Vice President Clinton, who was also a brigadier general in the Continental Army, had been buried in Washington D.C. after his death in office in 1812. But he was exhumed in 1908 and brought to Kingston, where he had served as New York's first governor. This was a major event that involved a military escort, a parade down Broadway in New York City, and attendance at the re-interment in a Kingston cemetery by many politicians and dignitaries of the day, including President Teddy Roosevelt.

This was the special context of pomp and ceremony that explains why 452 young ladies were assembled into a giant human flag.

The young ladies appear to be singing. They are led by the woman conducting in front with her baton in a blur.  Can you spot the two girls who were moved from a white stripe to a red? What did their mother have to say about that?

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where everything this weekend is made in America.

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English Ladies Orchestras

September 20, 2013, 2:45 pm

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As usual they are unknown. An unmarked postcard with no names, date, or place. Since I acquired it from a dealer in England, it would be reasonable to describe them as an English Ladies Orchestra.  But they might be Danish, or German, or even Welsh. What we can know is that this elegant ensemble has 10 women musicians posed on what appears to be an outdoor stage, perhaps a performance area at a seaside hotel garden or an amusement pier.

The orchestra has four violins, cello, double bass, flute, cornet, percussion, and standing 2nd from left, either the pianist or a violist. The conductress or orchestra leader stands in the center  wearing a black dress in contrast to the other 9 ladies in white. My guess based on their hairstyles and fashion is that they are from 1910 to 1918.




They captured my attention because of how they resembled the Greenhill Ladies' Orchestrawhich I featured on my blog back in July 2011. The postmark on this postcard was obscured but the stamp of King George V meant it was no earlier than 1912. These two ladies orchestras did not play serious chamber music. Not with percussionists anyway. Their music programs were more likely to have waltzes of Johann Strauss Jr. than opera arias of Richard Strauss. This was a time when people heard the sound of music only if a live musician was performing. Since hotels and restaurants needed a hook to bring in more customers, ladies orchestras became a novel attraction for these respectable venues. The high class orchestras of the symphony hall and opera house were still a musical preserve for men only. But women found they could perform in musical groups if they were on stage with other female musicians.

Earlier this summer I acquired a small cdv photo, also from an English dealer, of an anonymous woman violinist. She stands on the ever present photographer's fur rug and in front of rather odd striped drapes. The lighting looks like it might be outdoors too. The woman has her violin and bow in a relaxed stance, and stands next to a music stand that sadly has too much glare for us to see the notes and read what music she is playing.

There are no clues, no identification, no photographer's name. Nothing. But something about her face seemed familiar.

I think she is Bessie Lillian Greenhill. She was born in 1873 in Hampstead and began performing in the 1890s with her older sister, Christine Greenhill, who accompanied on piano. Here is their 1891 census record for Wilsden, England where Christine, age 21 lists her occupation as Pianist, Professor and Bessie, age 17, is a Violinist.

The name of Bessie Greenhill - violinist, appears several times in musical journals and magazines of the 1890 - 1900 era. A cdv portrait like this would have been a useful promotional photo for a professional entertainer like Bessie. If we account for the age difference, I think these are images of the same woman separated by about a decade. Of course there can never be a certainty, but I think the likenesses are very close.

Bessie died in 1943 in St. Austell, Cornwall.  She never married, but I believe she made her living as a music teacher and violinist.  

In this pre-suffragette age, there were formidable challenges for a woman to become a successful professional musician. It required bravery to face the discrimination, the inequity, the favoritism, and even outright hostility that confronted working women. I imagine that brave face as Bessie's, and now I can imagine I have two images of her.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

Click the link for more vintage photos of strong women.

Boys with Sticks

September 26, 2013, 11:27 am

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Ready?

A small English boy spreads his arms wide as he prepares to lead the band. Dressed in a traditional British military bandsman uniform of the 19th century, the boy wears a cap with a badge shaped like the anchor emblem of the Royal Navy.

Once again please!

His music is now folded so we know the piece has finished. The boy bandleader grins as he asks the band to play it again. These novelty postcards were published by Davidson Bros., Real Photographic Series, London and New York. The postmark date was Oct 19, 1907 from Barnes in SW London.

It was addressed to Miss S. Bessent of "Walnut Tree Farm", Lonsdale Road, Barnes "Local". The trivial and yet odd message gains charm from "Laura"s fine handwriting and embellished "quotation marks". 

"E. Weldhen just been to confess that letter handed to her 12:30 yesterday to post was posted at 6 this morning" Fond love to all from; "Laura."

Miss Bessent was one of 7 children belonging to Harriet and Frank George Bessent, a market gardener living on the south side of the River Thames opposite Chiswick. Of the four Bessent daughters - Beatrice, Edith, Ethel, and Elsie, the youngest - Elsie, who was age 17 in 1907,  seems the likely recipient of this postcard.

In 100 years, will we derive as much fun from reading a cellphone text log?

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On the continent, another small boy raises a baton to start the music. Is he conducting a band? An orchestra? Since he is seated and looks to be singing, maybe it's a choir. This postcard is a kind of hybrid photo/illustration and though the handwriting of the message is in French, the card publisher is from Bologna, Italy. The writer begins with the word DO, the term for the musical pitch C, as used in Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si. The music on the stand appears a real music manuscript of a trio or quartet.

The postcard was sent to Monsieur Michel Gascon of Nice, France in October but the postmark left too faint an impression for the year. My guess is 1905-09.

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Das Konzert beginnt.
Aufgepasst , eins, zwei und drei,
Los, dass alle Wände beben: 

Unsre Liesel, die soll hoch

Dreimal hoch soll Liesel leben.

 The concertbegins.
Watch out,one, two andthree,

Come on,all the wallsshake, 

Our Liesel, which is high
Three cheersshall Liesel live.

This German boy shouts dramatically as he leads some hidden group of musicians. His sheet music is however a vocal song with piano accompaniment. My attempt at translation hits a snag with Liesel which is not a German word but may be a familiar name for a celebrated woman.  I don't think it refers to the wife of Kaiser Wilhem II, who was Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, but it might be Austria's Kaiser Franz Joseph's wife, who was Elisabeth of Bavaria. However Empress Elisabeth was murdered in 1898 by an Italian anarchist, so maybe this boy conductor means someone else deserves three cheers.

The postcard was sent on February 23, 1913 to a Fraulein Hartman of Leipzig.




Fortunately for the anxious mothers of these three musical boys, all their batons had blunt points. Real conductor batons are usually much sharper and have been known to cause injury to either musicians, conductor, or both!

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where other boys are stuck in bed with a sore throat.

A Horn Trio

October 4, 2013, 8:53 am

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click to enlarge

It's still magic. Even when you know the trick, it remains a wonder.  In just an instant the light flashes through the camera lens and strikes the thin chemical film. Silver crystals in a gelatin emulsion capture the light and preserve that brief moment as an image. In the era before photographic film, this image was saved onto a dry glass plate as a negative that reversed the light and dark. On this glass plate a horn player, a pianist, and a violinist are forever frozen on a single musical note.

There might be dozens or even thousands of photographic prints made that reproduce that moment. But there is always only one negative. It is the original record of the raw light that a camera saw.

In the past, we would need a photographer's skill with a darkroom, an enlarger, and more chemicals to translate that negative into a positive print. But today we have a modern magic that converts the silver into numbers, and a second trick removes the confusion of tones for our limited human eyesight.

Now the three men are clear. The pianist sits at an ornate upright piano with the horn player and violinist to either side. The hornist reads off the piano score (and maybe turns pages) and the violinist plays from memory. They are in a drawing room of a private home. Fine paintings hang on the walls. Atop the piano is a porcelain vase. An elegant oil lamp sits on a wonderfully carved table. The blur of the violin bow recreates a real moment of musical performance.

A second glass plate has the pianist alone. The negative hides the details from our eyes until digital technology once again transforms the pixels into 5 million shades of grey we can understand.

The pianist may be playing solo, but the violin rests on top the piano lid, and the horn, though hidden by his back, is on a small table under the large painting. The image has an intimacy and spontaneity that is very rare to find in vintage photos. Like the first photo, we can almost hear the chord that he plays.

AGFA photografic plates, 1880 source: Wikipedia

Glass plate negatives allow no inscription or notes. With no names, no date, and no photographer's logo, we can only guess at their description. Perhaps American, but equally they might be Canadian, English, or German too. From their clothing it would be reasonable to say they lived in the decades before or after 1900. And in addition to the quality suits, I would say these three musicians have playing postures that only professional musicians could have.

But there is another detail that only a horn player like myself would see. A musical trio of violin, horn, and piano is most unusual. Though these instruments perform together in orchestras and larger chamber ensembles, there is really onlyone piece of music that these three particular instrumentalists would likely play - the Horn Trio in E flat major, op. 40 by Johannes Brahms.

Written in 1865, it is a monumental piece for all three instruments that has some of Brahms' most beautiful music. No other major composer of the Romantic period wrote for these three instruments, so it has long been a favorite of horn players. Though originally written for the natural horn without valves, it was soon taken up by players of the modern valved horn. This horn player uses a single rotary valve horn that is usually pitched in F, but his horn has a crook in E flat I think, which would put it in the key of this piece.  (note: Brass musicians spend a LOT of time analyzing the twist and turns of plumbing.)

But it was not until the late 20th century that other composers would again write for this combination of instruments. Brahms died in 1897, revered around the musical world as one of the greatest composers. Because his Horn Trio was the only prominent chamber music available in 1900 for these three musicians, I believe that is what they are playing.

I can't prove it, but imagination has magic too.

The Horn trio is usually played with seated musicians, but I found this wonderful video on YouTube that has the two solo instruments standing like the musicians in the photo.  It is so artfully filmed that it conveys the excitement of Brahms' great music.

It is also my favorite part of the Horn Trio.

>> <<

>> <<

This amazing performance of the 4th movement Finale of Johannes Brahms' Horn Trio was produced for the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art by Stéphan Aubé. The musicians are Bruno Schneider (horn), Daishin Kashimoto (violin) and Eric le Sage (piano).

I highly recommend their recordings of the other three movements too.

My suspicion is that the musicians in my photo are really in the second movement.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday.
Click the link for more vintage out-of-focus photos.

An Oktoberfest Band

October 11, 2013, 11:53 am

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Here it is the second week of October and yet Oktoberfest in Munich finished last weekend. This famous Bavarian festival celebrates traditional German beer, food, beer, music, beer, fun, and beer. The musicians of the Bayrische Bauerntrachten-Kapelle "Die Dachauer"  look like they are just getting started. Under the Direktion of Seppl Weinzierl of München, Kurfürstenstrasse 22, the band's name implies that they are from Dachau, which is a small town about 12 miles northwest of Munich in upper Bavaria.

This six man ensemble calls itself a Bauerntrachten-Kapelle ora "Peasant Costumed Band". In addition to beer steins, their equipment includes violins, double bass, lute-guitar, rotary valve trumpets, tuba, and trombone, and an Alpenhorn, a folk instrument of Europe's central mountain range. The Alpenhorn or Alphorn is made from a single spruce tree. The wood is split in half, each side carved and hollowed out, and then re-assembled into a long conical horn. It is played like a brass instrument by buzzing the lips into a wooden mouthpiece, but is limited to a narrow set of tones like those on a bugle. This particular alpenhorn is much shorter than those typically played today, which are about 12 feet long and pitched in the key of F (or 11' and F# if it's a Swiss model). This one looks to be in a higher pitch, perhaps B-flat.

The postcard of "Die Dachuer" musicians was posted on 2 October 1905 to a Fräulein Frankiska Baum of Ramersdorf, which is a southeast suburb of Munich. 

This second postcard of the Bayrische Bauerntrachten-Kapelle "Die Dachuer" is a few years older and has the sextet posed at a photographer's studio. They have 3 violins, viola, double bass, and accordion. Clustered in the center are 5 rotary valve brass instruments. I don't see any beer. 

The music direction is by Hans Bauer, and some of the players are different. I think the 3 musicians on the right look similar to three of the musicians in the first card. My guess is the leader, Herr Bauer, is the accordion player here, and the large violinist on the right, who might be seated left on the first card, is Herr Weinzierl .

This card was posted in Bern, Switzerland on 19 August 1902 to Herrn Haus Hoirmann(?) of Bern. The group may have traveled and played at hotels and restaurants in the Swiss Alps.

The musicians from Dachau look to be a good humored bunch. Of course this is a decade or so before the trials of WW1 and a generation before the horror and tragedy that will forever mark Dachau's name. But we will speak no more of that here.

Dachau also has a long tradition of an annual folk festival, but theirs begins in August before the one in Munich. There are dozens of videos on YouTube where you can watch the Dachauer Volkfest parade, the beer, the carnival, the beer, the music, and the beer, but this one from 2010 has better closeup shots of the horses. Look out for the Bauerntrachten - "peasant costumes" and you will see that the Bavarian costumes from 1900 are still brought out for important events.

Germans certainly love their buttons and badges.

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Prost!

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

click the link to see what other people have on their launch menu.

The Zanesville Rube Band

October 18, 2013, 8:43 am

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{click the image to enlarge}

Clowns and music have been partners in foolishness since forever. What fun would Carnival and  Mardi Gras be without musicians in masquerade? How would ancient folk traditions like Mummers Plays continue without musicians and dancers in elaborate costumes? In American culture, the clown band became a popular entertainment with small town society groups, and the Rube Band of Zanesville, Ohio was a great example of that silliness.


This large format photograph shows twenty musicians dressed in a wild assortment of crazy outfits. Some wear masks, while others are in makeup. One man wears a woman's dress and wig. Their instruments are mostly brass cornets, tenor horns, and trombones along with a few drums, a clarinet, and a penny whistle. Stenciled on the bass drum head is Rube Band, and in the corner the photographer has written:

Copyright 1908 

by J. Lincoln Smith

Zanesville, O.

Mr. Smith even took the time to record it in the official U.S. Catalog of Copyright Entries as taken on June 17, 1908.





The name Eagle Rube Band refers to the Fraternal Order of Eagles which was a mutual aid society organized in 1898 by 6 theater owners. The membership was initially made up of men associated with the performing arts. The group is credited with creating the holiday of Mother's Day and advocating for the establishment of Social Security.

Born in 1860, the photographer John Lincoln Smith came from a family of Prussian emigrants, and his parents moved to Zanesville, OH from Baltimore. Smith's photography studio was listed in the Zanesville city directory from around 1890 to 1922. As a town photographer he became quite a prominent member of his community. A biographical sketch was included in a gazette of Ohio's Muskingum County social elite. It notes the following:

Mr. Smith is connected with a number of fraternities, being a valued representative of the Masons, Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, Red Men, Woodmen, Maccabees and the Royal Arcanum, while at one time he was also an Elk. His political views accord with republican principles and at one time he was a trustee of the city cemeteries.

Sadly, Mr.Smith suffered some illness or injury, and in his later life was described as totally paralyzed and confined to a wheel chair. He died in 1923.








The Zanesville Rube Band performed not only in Zanesville but also at numerous F.O.E. conventions around the country. In August 1905 the Denver Rocky Mountain News reported: 


The famous, or rather infamous, Rube band of Zaneville, is here in a special car, and will make things hum when the parades come on. It is led by Professsor Dasmer Dittmer of Zanesville, and is strictly an Eagle's organization. Their work is altogether done in Rube makeup and they are said to be the best organization of the kind in the country. It consists of thirty pieces and together with John Rhinehart, the delegate from Zanesville Aerie No.31, the members represent the city.

The Rotarian September 1916

In September 1916, a photo of the Rube Band appeared in The Rotarian, <<click this link if you can't see the image above|  the monthly journal of the International Rotary Clubs, in a report on the Rotary Club convention in Cinncinatti, OH. Evidently the band either changed sponsorship or was part of multiple fraternal groups. I found them also appearing for the United Commercial Travelers Society, and the Letter Carriers Union. By the late 1930s, the Zanesville Rube Band seems to have ceased clownish activity.

In 1943, on the death of its longtime bandleader, Fred Geiger Jr., a Zanesville newspaper described how the band was responsible for inventing a popular phrase for the city.

The story is told of how the Zanesville band, composed of able and talented musicians, once stole the show at a big convention in Denver. Mounted on a truck, the band attracted a large throng of Denver children. From the truck, someone would shout: "What's the capital of the world?"  To which the Colorado youngsters would reply in unison: "Zanesville!" Their reward was always a handful of pennies, taken from a barrel on the back end of the truck.


Today many Masonic lodges have clown bands that march in parades and perform at civic events with a similar tradition. But there is a serious flip side to all the fun. Bands like the Zanesville Rube Band were a good advertisement for community development. A celebrated band could both boost and boast about the great social and commercial interests of a town.

Even The Capital of the World needed wacky cheerleaders.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where this weekend everyone is in costume!

Sepia Saturday No. 200

October 25, 2013, 12:18 pm

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This weekend we are celebrating the special 200th edition of Sepia Saturday, an internet club that I have been proud to participate in since the Sepia Saturday No. 56 of January 8, 2011, and everyone has been challenged to submit their favorite entry from the last 200 thematic prompts. 

At the time I joined, it seemed like just an entertaining way to add readership to a blog, but I soon learned that I was linking into a new type of media, a kind of weekly internet digest. Its imaginative editor-in-chief, Alan Burnett, produced this magazine by inviting bloggers from around the globe to focus their attention on an unusual black and white photograph and then write their own story based on similar old photos.  Now nearly three years later, I have used Alan's clever choice of subject (or sometimes those of his wonderful assistants) as the inspiration for every post on my website.

Not only has it influenced my choice of photo story, but it has been the best defense against that bête noire of authors, the writer's block. Alan's perceptive insight on the hidden story inside an image, has led me and my fellow Sepian contributors to look beyond the camera lens and search for shadows of forgotten time. Those shades often have great tales to tell, though sometimes, just like ghosts, there really is nothing there. But that's part of the fun too.

It also has been a great delight to meet so many people who share Alan's wonder of vintage photos. Not only have they expanded my knowledge of history and geography, but I have been introduced to countless fascinating families, collections, and interests. We've become one gigantic interrelated clan, as I'm quite sure I am not the only one who thinks Alan's Uncle Frank and Aunt Miriam are part of their own family tree.

The best part of Sepia Saturday though, has been following the many creative writers who all share an insatiable curiosity and a love for a good story. The photos may inspire but the good writing will easily keep us going on to number 300.

So thank you, Alan. And my thanks to each of you who have read my stories through Sepia Saturday.

** **

As the unofficial music correspondent of the Sepia Saturday group, it was very hard to select just one musical post from my blog. The title of my website, TempoSenzaTempo comes from fusing together two common Italian words used in music - Time Without Time. It describes the characteristic of many of the anonymous photographs in my collection: unknown musicians from some unidentified place and some forgotten time.

The story I chose comes from earlier this year and was inspired by the theme image for Sepia Saturday No. 161. It's an 1890s photo of a fruit and oyster vendor in Raleigh, North Carolina, which just happens to be the state where I live. This typical street view shows two merchants in front of their shop and just to one side stands an unidentified black man, perhaps an employee, who adds an intriguing element to the picture. By chance, Alan's theme came on the week that the United States inaugurated Barack Obama to a second term as President. And this event also occurred on the national holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.

It happened that I had an anonymous photo that fit perfectly with this alignment of themes, and inspired by my friends on Sepia Saturday who have encouraged my fiction, I invented the following story. I hope you enjoy this reprise. 

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A Band for Juneteenth

25 January 2013
Posted by Mike Brubaker

    A short fiction   
    glimpsed through the summer haze    
    of an old photograph.   

It was still early in the afternoon, and being a Sunday, people were in no hurry to get to the park. The teams had yet to arrive, so no one was up in the bleachers. Hal took the band through the march one more time.

"No, no, no," he shouted. "Something's not right." The music sputtered to a stop. George gave one last thud on his bass drum. "That last part wasn't even close to the right speed. And you," said Hal, pointing to the trombones, "are playing it all wrong or something." He squinted at the music on his stand. "I know Mr. Sousa didn't write it that way."

The boys looked at one another. Henry called out from the back, "Maybe Tom's got gum on his shoe again and can't tap his toe." They giggled. And laughed again when a loud burp came from one of the tenor horns.

"Would you all just keep quiet a minute and let me figure this out," cried Hal. He scratched his ear and frowned at the music. He looked toward the fence where a man was sitting on a picnic table. "Say Franklin, can you make out what the problem is?"

The tall black man came over to the band and smiled at the boys. "Well Mr. Hal, I was listening right close and I think when the tune comes round again, some'a you cornets played an extra bar." He looked at the trombones. "And there's a queer note sounding in that 'companiment."

"Dang it, Milton," said Hal. "That's an A-flat. Watch your key signature." He twisted the curl on his mustache. "Cornets did you get that? The second time through you got to skip over that first repeat.  Show them how it goes, Franklin."

Franklin drew a breath  and in a deep voice sang their part, adding emphasis to the correct pitch. He gave a nod toward the drummer. "Mr. Francis, you could help them out with the rhythm there too. Taaa, tuh, ta, ta, ta.  Taaa, tuh, ta, ta, ta.  Ta, ta, ta, Taaa, tuh, taaa"

Hal picked up his tuba. "Alright. Let's give her another push, and maybe get her going down the right track. From the top. ONE, TWO. ONE, TWO." The music stumbled along with a melody that stayed mostly upright. Franklin stood to the side waving his hand to the beat.

The band finished and Hal could see that the crowd in the grandstand was getting larger now. "Take a short break, fellas. Leo, you keep next to your brother and don't go wandering." They placed their instruments down on a bench near the diamond's backstop. . "And don't forget," he called, "we got a photographer from Marshall's going to take our picture after the game!" 
 
Just past the assembly of wagons and pony traps over at the corner, some of the players were getting off the street car. The umpire had unpacked his bag and was setting out the bases. There was a pleasant summer taste to the air. It was a fine day for baseball.

Hal re-shuffled his stack of music. "I sure am glad for your help, Franklin. Ever since Mr. Holloway left, we've been lacking a good ear." He set his tuba down by the bench and walked over to the table. "We don't play the Tremont team too often. Shame we couldn't do it on Flag Day, but that rain last week was enough to float Noah's boat. It would have made a real special day for the band."

"Yes, sir, Mr. Hal, but it's still a special day alright." He smiled at the sky. "It be Juneteenth. A very special day"

Hal frowned. "Juneteenth? Oh, you mean June 19th."

"No, I mean Juneteenth. The day Mr. Lincoln freed the slaves." He smiled again. "My daddy was in Galveston back then, and ever since I was a little'un we always celebrate Juneteenth. Now since I come up here though, there not many black folk around to remember with."

"I never took you for a Texas cowboy, Franklin." Hal pulled out his watch and checked the time. "Now I recollect my paw used to talk about Emancipation Day being in January. He served with the 36th Illinois Volunteers."

"Well down in Washington D of C they take their day in April, and others got January or September. But daddy always said that to hear those words was to hear a rainbow, so I always liked Juneteenth."

Hal watched his friend sigh and thought back to the stories his own father had told. All along the campaign, from the mountains in Tennessee to the ocean in Georgia, he had seen countless black people rejoice at liberation. That wondrous joy had made the terrible great burden of war easier to bear.

Hal saw the umpire was waving the players onto the field. "Come on boys, let's form the circle," he said picking up his tuba.  He motioned to Franklin. "Get your self in the center and lead us through the anthem, Mr. Franklin. I 'spect this town needs a Juneteenth jubilee song."

There was no need for the folios as the boys knew this tune from heart. George and Francis struck up the drum roll. Franklin turned to the flag now waving in a light breeze, and his strong baritone soared above the ball field noise. 

       My country, 'tis of thee,
       Sweet land of liberty,
       Of thee I sing;

       Land where my fathers died,

       Land of the pilgrims' pride,

       From ev'ry mountainside

       Let freedom ring!

 
       My native country, thee,
       Land of the noble free,      
       Thy name I love;
       I love thy rocks and rills,
       Thy woods and templed hills;
       My heart with rapture thrills,
       Like that above.

 
       Let music swell the breeze,
       And ring from all the trees
       Sweet freedom's song;
       Let mortal tongues awake;
       Let all that breathe partake;
       Let rocks their silence break,
       The sound prolong.

 
       Our fathers' God to Thee,
       Author of liberty,
       To Thee we sing.
       Long may our land be bright,
       With freedom's holy light,
       Protect us by Thy might,
       Great God our King.

 

< >

Lost in time and space, this photograph of an unknown band was never meant to be anything but a memento of a day. But it had one element that made it different from the thousands of similar photos of bands from the 1900s - a black face. We can't know if this man played an instrument or just drove the wagon, but since he wears the same simple uniform cap, there is a small sense of inclusion, perhaps even acceptance of this man in an era when African-Americans were not afforded an equal place in society.

On this week where we commemorate the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. and inaugurate President Barack Obama to a second term as leader of our nation, it seemed fitting to use the Sepia Saturday theme photo to inspire a small story about how far our country has moved. Juneteenthis a real holiday that deserves to be celebrated by all Americans. And despite today's over production performances of the Star Spangled Banner, in 1900 it was not the usual national anthem performed in most small towns and America, perhaps because it is easier to sing, was the better known patriotic song.

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As a special treat, here is a 1917 recording of the song with baritone Arthur Middleton
accompanied by unnamed singers and band, produced by Edison records,
and restored by the Library of Congress Archives.

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This was my favorite contribution to Sepia Saturday
for both No. 161 and No. 200.

Click the link for more popular stories from the past 200.

The Band at the Big House

November 1, 2013, 10:22 am

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We know the scene, even if we can't remember the movie. The camera shows us the stone walls, harsh lights, and dark grey of a grim prison. A scowling convict stands at his cell door. Slowly he begins to bang his tin cup on the bars. Soon other prisoners have taken up the rhythm. A murmur becomes a chant. "Give him back his tuba! Give him back his tuba!"

Okay, maybe that wasn't the exact line. But it might have been heard at the Wisconsin State Penitentiary where the Wisconsin State Prison Band, at Waupun, Wis played. The 23 uniformed inmates of the band are arranged in a square formation in the prison yard. Beside them are some benches and a single chair on a box with a music stand. Next to it is a man wearing a broad brimmed hat who is presumably the bandleader or warden. The ensemble carries mainly brass instruments with a few clarinets, and the band's name is neatly painted on the bass drum head. This postcard was never mailed but was probably produced in the prison print shop around 1910.

This second postcard shows a different angle from the walls of the Wisconsin State Prison, and we can see the imposing main castle of the Waupun penitentiary with two lines of inmates standing in rows and facing prison guards. This card also was un-posted, but both may have been kept in the same old photo album.

Waupun is a small city with about 11,340 residents today, but in 1910 the population was only 3,365. The correctional facilities occupy much of the city center. In 1913 the prison had an average population of 732 inmates, male and female. In this same 1914 Wisconsin State report, a table was included that listed the occupations and professions of the prisoners. In 1913 the prison had the same number of musicians as ministers amongst the incarcerated, i.e. - 1.  Most convicts were laborers (125), followed by carpenters (15), cooks (12), and barbers (11).

Waupun Penitentiary c1893 source: Wikipedia

The Waupun Penitentiary was established in 1851 and built of local yellow sandstone taken from the prison quarry. To answer public concern over housing young juvenile offenders with the adult inmates, a reformatory school was added in 1857. The castle scheme of the big house at Waupun was common to many prisons of this era, but it lacked one thing that most other penitentiaries had. There was no execution room, since in 1853 Wisconsin became the third state after Michigan and Rhode Island to abolish the death penalty.

Wisconsin State Prison, Waupun c1885 source: Wikipedia

The grounds of the Wisconsin State Prison covered 23 acres, and included a farm as well as a quarry. Inmates were employed as road crews, furniture makers, and worked at manufacturing twine and fabrics that were sold to the public.

According to the warden's report of 1914, the prison chaplain directed a band and orchestra that "takes second place to no prison band in the country."  The orchestra played each day at the noon mealtime in the prison dining hall, while the band provided music for summer baseball games and sometimes performed concerts in the front yard for the general public.

What makes this a unique image can be seen in the enlargement. It shows several men of color playing alongside white musicians. This was a very rare mix to find in any band of this era, as integration in American society was still many years away. Waupun's town citizens who saw this band when it occasionally played outside the prison walls, must have remarked on this unusual group of musicians. It matches similar mixed race prison bands that I've written about previously in Fort Madison, Iowa and Red Wing, Minnesota,

The Waupun Prison introduced its band program in 1908, and the reformatory followed with a boys band in 1917. This was part of a reform movement of the 1900s that campaigned to improve conditions of our nation's prisons. Across the country, new progressive wardens were hired to eliminate corruption and harsh treatments, and initiate modern methods for rehabilitating criminals. Rather than relying on punishment alone, the prison wardens focused on basic education, disciplined work, and recreational activities to motivate prisoners. Providing musical instruments to create bands and orchestras in the prison was seen as a way to restore the humanity of the inmates and also promote the other prison improvements at large.

So Yeah,Warden! Give Him Back his Tuba!

  

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where a house of correction is the exception this weekend.

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Jummy the Cat from Rugby

November 8, 2013, 9:26 am

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Dogs find their way into antique photos with some regularity. Cats? Not so much. Even less so, cats that have a name.

This postcard of a handsome black cat has the following caption:

"Jummy" the Cat which walked from Hampstead to Rugby, a distance of 85 miles, June 1904. It was taken from Rugby to Hampstead in a closed basket.

Underneath is a note:

Are you going to
Rugby Show?
Heard you were in town
last Thursday.

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The postcard, which left Rugby at 9:30 PM SP 7, 1905, contains a cryptic message to a Miss Smith of Heath House, Brinklow, Counventry.  The secretive admirer offered this short doggerel, but signed it with only his (or her) initials. 

I wish I was I know where,

And I know who was with me.
I wish I had I know what,
And I know who could give me.
C.D.R.? L.B.

A cat that made a solo trek of 85 miles would be remarkable at any time, and Jummy made the news even in Ohio, as the Cleveland Plain Dealer ran this detailed report in its September 18, 1904 edition. The cat was owned by Mrs. Mark Robinson of No.9 Belsize Grove, Hampstead, and in June 1904 Mrs. Robinson moved to Hampstead from Overslade, which is near Rugby. Her cat was then about 7 years old and a medium sized cat. When furniture began to arrive at his new home, Jummy took exception and disappeared. After several weeks, news came from Overslade that Jummy, thin and rough, had returned to Rugby.



What made this notable was that Jummy could not have seen this route on his first trip to Hampstead because he had been carried there in a closed basket!

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Google Maps shows us a possible pedestrian route northwest from Hampstead in London  to Rugby and gives a better appreciation of the distance Jummy walked. Today this pathway measures only 78 miles. The world is smaller now, I'm told.

View Larger Map

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But I believe Jummy might have taken a longer but easier course. Interlaced between roads and railway tracks is another line of transportation that Google does not recognize - the inland British Waterway system. The section that connects London to Birmingham is now called the Grand Union Canal, and both Hampstead and Rugby are "ports" on this intricate system of narrow canals and locks. Regent's Park which is along the canal is only a modest stroll from No.9 Belsize Grove. 

The Grand Union was made from an amalgamation of several 19th century canal companies and is now 137 miles long with 166 locks. Stanfords map store provides this image to which I have added red arrows to show Hampstead and Rugby.

Grand Union Canal source: Stanfords

Wikipedia provides this nice photo of the Hampstead Road Locks in London. What sensible cat would turn down an opportunity to hitch a ride north on a narrowboat? It might be longer, but it certainly would save the paw leather and offer some food and lodging on the journey.

Camden Lock, or Hampstead Road Locks source: Wikipedia

Whether Jummy walked or floated the entire distance back to his purrrferred home, we can never know. Yet it is still a feat worthy enough to record his name in the digital Catalog of internet trivia.

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Last spring on our holiday to Britain, my wife and I had the great pleasure to meet another spirited cat who easily could be one of Jummy's descendants. Starsky lives in Kensal Town, not far from Hampstead and only a block from the Paddington branch of the London canal network. His mistress takes him everywhere and on this holiday, they joined us on a trip to Weardale in the Pennines of the north of England, where Starsky keeps a second home.

On a beautiful June day we took a long walk around the Burnhope reservoir and Starsky insisted on accompanying us (and complained about it too) the whole way. Though he sometimes got carried, he managed to circumnavigate this lake complete with pastures, forests, sheep, and dogs for a distance of nearly 5 miles. A very impressive feat for a medium sized cat.

On our return, Starsky took his boots off to wait for his tea and posed for my camera.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

scratch the link for stories on old photographs and maybe cats too.

Greetings from Windthorst, Texas!

November 15, 2013, 7:31 am

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Prost!

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Postmarked from Windthorst, TX on May 28, 1911 this postcard was sent to Miss Mary ?Steaberly? of Ft. Worth, Texas. The heavy pencil script is difficult to read. The writer is unknown except for their initials, and there is no location or name given for any of the 16 members of this family group.

            Windthorst
                        May 28
I will take the ?blame? in sending you this card hoping yours are all well as is here with us.  ?We? the same it is getting ?_? warm and hot. I thought Id send this card to see wether you know any on this photo There is one a missing that was sick and then on ?stam_? at here was a little sick with ?_?
__? regards C.G.

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View Larger Map

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Windthorst, Texas is northwest from Dallas and was settled by German Catholics in the 1890s. It had its first post office in 1892, and Google Street View shows the current post office and general store built by Mr. Weinzapfel in 1921. In 1895 there were 75 families in the community. Windthorst reached its peak in 1977 with 1000 citizens and twelve businesses, but according to the 2010 census the population today is only about 409.

I trust the guitar player and trombonist enjoyed that Dunkler Bock beer. What songs did they sing together with that accompaniment?

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where the door is always open to guests.

Feuer in der Oper! Fire at the Opera House!

November 22, 2013, 11:22 am

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It was described only as Hoftheater, Dresden. The hazy image had no people, no vehicles, no shop fronts. It appeared to be just another faded photograph of an unremarkable city building. But a closer look revealed that the dark blotch at the top of this carte de visite was not a discoloration, but actually smoke and fire! This was no ordinary architectural photo but a record of a great catastrophe.

It also turned out to be the key piece to a puzzle.

Written in ink on the back was an annotation.

Hoftheater in Dresden

Während des Brandes

Court Theater in Dresden

During the fire

The photographer is Marie Steffen-Groth of Dresden, Annen Strasse, vis-à-vis No.1, who was active from 1865 to 1876, according to a terrific website that documents early European photographers - Fotorevers.eu  The website does not say, but since the first name is feminine, we must presume that Marie was a female photographer, which adds another dimension to this unusual picture.

My reason for acquiring this photo was because it was part of a large set being broken up by a dealer for individual sale. All except this one were cdvs of members of an orchestra. Here are just two musicians of the group that I purchased.

This distinguished flutist sits for the camera while holding his fine blackwood flute. On the back is written in pencil ?f? Dr. Fleischer. The backstamp, like that of the Hoftheater photo, is for Marie Steffen-Groth & Co. but someone has struck through the address on Annen Strasse, leaving the und Dohna Platz No12. as printed.

Madam Steffen-Groth's camera was moved back a bit for this violinist who sits as relaxed as if he was waiting for the concert to begin. Written on the back is ?_? ?Reg___gisatr? Weigel Viol.1. 

At some future date, both musicians will return for Part 2 of the Dresden Hofoper Orchester, as that is the ensemble I believe they were members of. All of the other musicians were from Dresden and many had written their names on the back of the photographs. About a third posed in Marie Steffen-Groth's photography studio.


But this story is about the Hoftheater - the Royal Court Theater and Opera House of the King of Saxony.  On the 21st of September, 1869 at half past eleven in the morning, the Dresden watchman rang the alarm. The Opera House was on fire!

When the photo is corrected for fading, the fire and smoke seem to leap out from the roof of the theater. But it is really a clever special effect that Marie Steffen-Groth's studio painted onto an older photo of the Hoftheater. This was a commemorative photo made as a souvenir of the fire. The real inferno would have been far too hot for a photographer to set up a camera this close. And where are the firemen?

They were actually very busy.

Erstes Opernhaus Sempers ca1850 1860 Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Hoftheater was also known as the Semperoper , named after its architect Gottfried Semper (1803-1879). The Dresden Court Opera first opened on 13 April 1841 with an opera by Carl Maria von Weber, and would be the site of many premieres of music by the great composers of the 19th century. One of its first opera directors was Richard Wagner, who staged his operas  Der fliegende Holländer (2 January 1843) and Tannhäuser (19 October 1845) in Dresden. In 1849, Wagner ran afoul of the authorities when he became involved in the unsuccessful May Uprising in Dresden. To avoid arrest he fled to Switzerland, and would not return to Germany until 1862.

 

Dresden Hoftheater c1841 Source: Wikipedia

This colored illustration from 1841 shows the opulent interior of the Dresden opera theater. The orchestra would be just in front of the stage. Hanging from the ceiling is an impressive chandelier. According to a recent investigation by Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (Central German Broadcasting, MDR), the Dresden Semperoper Fire was an accident caused by workmen using a flammable rosin to glue rubber gas hoses to the chandeliers. MDR put together an elaborate report for television using people in historic costume and with authentic 1869 fire fighting equipment. It is in German but the report has some great photos.

Several of those modern MDR images use the same techniques of special effects that were used by the Steffen-Groth studio and other Dresden artists of the time. A picture of a fire really needs color for best effect.

Source: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

This is a Lithograph of the Hofoper showing the 1869 fire. In the foreground, very small firemen are valiantly manning the hand pumps to spray water on the flames. It would be in vain. In fact their bigger problem was that the conflagration might spread to adjacent court buildings.

Source: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

In this next colored Lithograph, which is also from the archives of the Dresden Art Museum, the artist has depicted a more realistic number of firemen and spectators. The fire fighters appear more professional but the Dresden townspeople really don't look properly horrified. One could almost believe there was a brass band playing a concert in the background.

Source: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

The photographers came out the next day and this photo of the Hoftheater shows the ruins after the fire. Since most of the interior and structural components were made of wood, the building was a total loss. However no one was killed and no other buildings were touched by the fire.

 Could some of the musicians of the orchestra be in the group posed in front?

Dresden Altstadt Semperoper 1865 Source: Wikimedia Commons

Dresden has always been famous for its art and architecture, and considered one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. This photo taken in 1865 from the riverfront shows the Dresden Royal Court Cathedral in the center and the Semperoper on the right beyond the old Augusta Bridge that crosses the River Elba.

Following the great fire, the opera house was rebuilt by Gottfried Semper's son, Manfred Semper according to his father's plans, and reopened in 1878. The music of symphonies and opera would fill this new hall for 67 years, until one dark night in February 1945  when alarms would again sound.

Dresden after the bombings of February 1945 Source: Wikipedia

On February 13th, 1945, in one of the largest air raids ever conducted by the Royal Air Force, somewhere between 22,700 and 25,000 people perished in a devastating firestorm that destroyed not only the Hoftheater but incinerated over 90 percent of Dresden's city center. In that one night 772 British bombers dropped 2659.3 tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs over the city. It still remains one of the most controversial and tragic events of World War 2.

The Semperoper of Dresden during flooding of the River Elba in 2005 Source: Wikipedia

The city was rebuilt though it took many years. After the war, Dresden was part of East Germany and behind the Iron Curtain. Reconstruction of the Semperoper was not finished until the reopening on 13 February 1985, exactly 40 years after the bombing. The program was the same opera last performed before its destruction in 1945, Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber. Today it is the home of the renown Staatskapelle Dresden, but this magnificent theater is still subject to threats, this time from water of the River Elba, shown here in the flooding of 2005.

The photo of the Dresden Hoftheater Fire is one piece of a larger puzzle that needs more time to solve. So stay tuned for more stories on the orchestra musicians of Dresden. They were all there on that fateful day in 1869.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where momentous events are the feature this weekend.

Tonight at the Apollo Theater

November 27, 2013, 5:32 am

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Tauschek, Steiner, Smeschkall, and Winter await your musical pleasure. The musicians of the Wiener Schrammeln - „Die Urwiener” are appearing at the Apollo Theater. You wouldn't want to miss them.

Oops, we're a little late, as this postcard was sent from Stettin on 19 January 1903 to Fräulein Auguste Wagner of Hildesheim.  Before the end of the German Empire in 1918, Stettin was in Prussia at the mouth of the River Oder in what was once called Pomerania. Now it is known as Szczecin and is in Poland.  Hildesheim is in Lower Saxony in north central Germany.

The image is not quite clear enough to identify where the Apollo Theater on their poster is located, but it is probably not the one in Harlem. If the theater was in Stettin on the Baltic Sea, the musicians of Die Urwiener who are Wiener Schrammeln are very far from their home on the Blue Danube.

Contraguitar Source: Wikipedia

This quartet of two violins, accordion, and guitar is not an unusual ensemble for 1903. The gentleman in the center strums an Austrian version of the Harp Guitar. It was called a Contraguitar and typically has an odd number of strings, either 13 or 15. The lower neck has the traditional 6 string guitar tuning, while the upper neck has seven open bass strings plucked like a harp and tuned in a chromatic scale down from E-flat. The contraguitar pictured here has 15 strings.

Chromatic Button Accordion Source: Wikipedia

The contraguitar player's companion holds a  Schrammelharmonika which is a Viennese version of the chromatic button accordion. In between the white buttons are black buttons making the fingering nothing like the piano keyboard found on other accordions. According to the Wikipedia entry, in 1900 there were 72 accordion makers in Vienna. It was a very popular instrument not only in Austria and the Alps, but also in other parts of Eastern Europe which were once part of the vast Austrian-Hungarian Empire.

Note that on the rustic table there is also a small rotary valve posthorn. A brass instrument similar to the cornet, it provided the obligato solo voice for rustic Austrian songs.

These instruments along with the two violins were standard instrumentation for Schrammelnmusic groups from Wien, or Vienna as it is known in English. This Schrammelmusik is named after two brothers, Johann and Josef Schrammel who developed a mixture of traditional Austrian folk song melodies and dance tunes in the late 19th century that were played by a small quartet. I believe they are the two musicians on the left in this photo found under their Wikipedia entry. 

Schrammel Quartet 1890  Source: Wikipedia

The music that Johann Schrammel (1850-1893) and his younger brother Josef Schrammel (1852-1895) composed became as distinctive of Viennese culture as the dance music of the more celebrated Johann Strauss Jr. (1825-1899) and that of his brothers Josef and Eduard and also his father Johann Strauss. In many ways the light-heated music of the Schrammels was just as influential as Struass's and still remains part of traditional Austrian music.

Perhaps the Schrammel brothers are less celebrated because they failed to achieve mustachios as grand as that of Herr Strauss.

Johann Strauss II Source: Wikipedia

The small Schrammeln quartets were well suited for the many wine gardens or Heuriger, of which there are currently 621 in Vienna. These rural taverns sold only their own house wine with simple dishes of food, and were not the same as a public house or restaurant. Heurig means this year's and refers to the wine grower's recent wines.

Schrammel Quartet circa 1890 Source: Wikipedia

In this second photo. the Schrammel brothers seem to have acquired an enthusiastic fan club. It was clearly taken on the same day as the first photo but was described as from 1878. I don't think the photos are that old, so I will compromise and call it circa 1890. The musician on center right is playing a small clarinet, another traditional Schrammelen instrument. They appear to be drinking beer so perhaps they are not at a Heuriger. What do you suppose was in the spritzer bottles? 

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And now for your listening pleasure, courtesy of YouTube, here is the Philharmonia Schrammeln playing the  Schmutzer-Tanz by Johann Schmutzer. The video has some super closeups of the contraguitar and the button accordion. Unfortunately their concert venue is as far removed from a Heuriger as one could get, as it looks like the interior of Vienna's Opera House. (I bet they've never played the Apollo!) In any case the music is best enjoyed with a glass of wine.

Mustaches are obviously no longer the style for musicians in 21st century Austria, but good music will always be on offer in alte Wien.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
Click the link for more prize winning mustaches.

Ladies with Brass

December 6, 2013, 6:25 pm

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On stage are six young Mädchen, the trumpeters or Fanfarenbläser of the Damen-Trompeter-Corps „Alpenveilchen”, who stand at the ready and await their conductor's cue. Their trumpets have no valves and are actually long bugles complete with fanfare flags.

The AlpenveilchenDamen-Trompeter-Corps und Gesangs-Ensemble, or Ladies Trumpet Corps and Vocal Choir, were under the direction of J. Reinstadler, shown in this next postcard standing at the back with his baton and medals. His brass band and singers number 9 women and three men, as presumably Herr Reinstadler also sometimes played lead cornet. The musicians (except for the drummer) have rotary valve brass instruments  and include an impressive bass helicon arranged in front on the floor. The young ladies wear the same uniform with a generous sash belt as in the first postcard but they sport a large white cap. The gentlemen are in formal evening dress minus the hat.

The postcard was sent on August 24, 1903 from Leipzig to someone in Eschenbach, Germany.

Herr Reinstadler produced another postcard with the Alpenveilchenladies trumpet corps but economized with a cheap printer who used blue paper. The band here has only 11 musicians, 4 men and  7 women. Were they related? Brothers and sisters? Cousins? Perhaps married?

Unfortunately such questions will never have an answer.

This postcard was send from Markersdorf, Germany on Christmas Day, December 25, 1901, and postmarked at 6-7 in the evening.

Cyclamen purpurascens Source: Wikipedia

The European Alpenveilchen (Cyclamen purpurascens) is the German name for the purple cyclamen, an alpine flower.  Can you guess the color of the ladies uniform of the AlpenveilchenDamen-Trompeter-Corps? 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where other ladies turn trumpets into bullets.

A Puzzling Parade

December 13, 2013, 10:12 pm

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This is a photo puzzle, and here is the first corner piece. We can see a figure of a boy, or maybe a young man, wearing a white shirt, coat, and the common soft cap of the early 20th century. He is also African-American. He is on the edge of a street and as we shall see, he is leading a parade.

This is an edge piece that connects to the first one. We see more children running along side a group of men who are walking more than marching, and are in a double line. They wear a mixture of caps and hats, and some have a ribbon or tag on their coat lapel. They look young and clean shaven.

A middle piece shows us that there are people watching this procession on the sidewalk. A sign reads John H. Lyons and underneath Hanover Rye. One man wears a straw boater so the season is not likely to be fall or winter.

Another middle piece from further up the street. There is another sign with vertical letters that reads New York Store. Hanging from some upper windows are American flags.

Another small middle piece makes this a challenging puzzle. If this was a parade of celebration, why do the men in the foreground have serious expressions? They seem oddly somber. They might be a fraternal society, but then they would be dressed in similar suits. And if it was a holiday parade, they should be looking around and smiling. Perhaps instead they are part of a funeral cortege. But would caps and straw hats be suitable for such an occasion?

To add to the confusion we have another corner piece that shows two musicians, a drummer and a cymbal player. Both are black and wear fancy embroidered uniforms with tasseled shakos.

It's a puzzle, alright. Put the pieces together and the complete picture is revealed on this small sepia tone postcard.  {click to enlarge}

Who are they? Why are they in a parade? Can we know where they are, or even venture a guess on which decade?

On the back of the postcard is one more clue. A rubber stamp in blue ink reads Photo by W. M. Adsit. There is no postmark. The AZO stamp box pattern suggests the years from 1910 to 1930. The penciled 1148 is a dealer's mark.

The name of Adsit comes up on an internet search for a photographer from Catskill, New York. In this small town on the Hudson river, halfway between Kingston and Albany, there once lived a Wallace M. Adsit (born 1862) who is listed in the census as a merchant of a candy store in 1910 and a photographer in the 1925 NY census. He lived on West Bridge St.

The other name on the small sign, John H. Lyons, also turns up as a resident of Catskill, NY. Mr. Lyons lived on West Bridge St. and ran a hotel or rooming house.

And the New York Store? It was at 46-48 Bridge St., Catskill, NY.

Catskill NY Recorder April 1918

  Three hits makes a strong case for this to be a parade in Catskill, NY.  Could we date it?

Catskill NY Recorder July 19, 1918

The Great War of 1914-1918 had already entered its third year when the United States reached a tipping point with the revelations in the infamous Zimmerman Telegram. President Wilson then declared war with Germany on April 6, 1917. But the US military was seriously underpowered compared to the millions of soldiers mobilized in the previous three years by its allies, Britain and France, and those of the central powers, Germany and Austria. In 1917 the US regular army had a force of only 121,00 men, so in May, Congress authorized the Selective Service Act. The first draft of young men between the ages of 21 and 31 was set for June 5, 1917. The second round came in June of 1918.

On July 19, 1918 the Catskill newspaper The Recorder appealed to its citizens to join in the big sendoff for the local boys joining up. The event was planned for July 24 when a special train would collect the new inductees to take them to Camp Dix for training.

Do not stand on the street or stay at home in bed — get in the parade! Join the ranks! Be one with the boys! March with them! Shout your loudest for victory and America! Show your appreciation of the fact that they are willing to give their lives for our country and for humanity the world over. Let their memory of Catskill's "send off" be one that will stick with them pleasantly all through their army life, to inspire them to battle and console them in their hours off duty.
"Send them away with a smile," as Gunner Depew writes in his story. "The very best thing you can give your son or husband or brother is a smile." Get in the ranks and march in the parade, people of Catskill.





Downstream in Kingston, NY the newpaper ran a headline on July 25, 1918 - The 360 Left For Camp Dix With Epochal Send-Off.  The inside pages have not only the names and vocations of every draftee, but the names of all the recent causalities suffered by the US troops in France.

Kingston NY Daily Freeman July 25, 1918

Americans were not unaware of the horrors of the Western Front. The public debate leading up to the declaration had been strenuous and contentious. There were many groups opposed to war, and from pacifists and unions to isolationists and German-Americans, there were many strong opinions against the United States joining the conflict. But by the spring of 1918 when the first US soldiers had reached the battle lines, the pendulum of public interest had swung to the side of patriotism.

I believe this small postcard shows men of Catskill, NY taking their first steps toward serving in the U.S. Army in World War One. There is a kind of celebration going on that one can maybe see in the children and adults on the sidewalks, and clearly there is music. The men however appear to have less joy and more grim determination in their stride. Soon they will experience war in a way that no American men have seen in a generation.

The two black musicians remain an enigma. The reports all describe bands participating in these events, but these two drummers are not dressed like typical town bandsmen. Their uniforms are more like those of circus musicians, and I suspect that is who they are. They could be members of a traveling circus or minstrel band who happened to be near Catskill in July 1918 and joined in the grand parade.

Understanding history sometimes seems like looking though the wrong end of a telescope. We have to squint to see vague outlines and very small shapes and yet nothing comes into clear focus. What we can know is that Mr. Adsit took this photo and that someone saved it. Did they recognize a son, a husband, a brother, or a father in one of those faces?

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
Click the link to see more obscure street photos.

Weihnachtsgrüße! Christmas Greetings from the Front!

December 20, 2013, 6:31 pm

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Wir wünschen Ihnen allen

We wish you all

ein frohesWeihnachtsfest 

a happy Christmas

undein herzhaftesNeujahr!

and aheartyNew Year!

Prost!

Cheers!

This small postcard photo of an Imperial German Army Band was undoubtedly sent in a letter as it has no postmark or address on the back.  But the writer, presumably one of the 10 musicians, does add a message (which is unfortunately beyond my ability to translate) and a date:  24.12.16.  Christmas Eve, 24th December 1916 - the third Christmas of the First World War 1914-1918.

The band appears to be indoors in a classroom, perhaps their rehearsal room, but there are no clues to identify their location or to show which regiment they belong to. On the chalkboard are some French words that could be from a language lesson. If you look closely, four of the German bandsmen have ribbons tucked into their tunic. The white/black/white matches the pattern of the Iron Cross award. A typical regimental band would normally have over twice this number of bandsmen, but 1916 was a particularly harrowing year for casualties.

Now nearly 100 years on, it is difficult for us in the future to fully grasp the feelings these young soldiers must have felt to have a place to trim their Christmas tree. Little could they know that they were only halfway though this horrific war, and they would need to endure even more unimaginable adversity and hardship.

Yet even in the hardest of times, the human heart always seeks hope and solace. We must imagine that the sound of their instruments crossed over the empty wasteland between the lines and that German, French, and English voices joined together in singing the musical refrains of O Tannenbaum and for a brief moment shared thoughts of peace.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where I wish everyone a most
joyful and peaceful holiday.

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The Mason City Band

January 3, 2014, 2:36 pm

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Why march in a parade when you could ride? No sensible musician would pass up a spot on the band wagon. But for a parade vehicle of 1910, horse power had a new meaning when the Mason City Band rode on a motorized touring bus.

Fifteen musicians plus a driver, direct their attention toward the camera in this postcard from Mason City, Iowa. The front of the bus has the marque The Overland for the Overland Automobile Company, of Terre Haute, Indiana, which began building motorcars in 1903. The company was sold in 1908 to John North Willys  who renamed it the Willys-Overland company, which became best known in World War 2 as the manufacturer of the all purpose military vehicle, the Jeep.




The model number for this bus is not known, nor is the horsepower, however notice that the rear wheels are chain driven.

Source: Library of Congress

This photograph is titled Seeing Chicago, auto at Monroe near State, Chicago, Ill. and comes from the archives of the Library of Congress.  The photographer was Hans Behm and it dates between 1900 and 1915. The radiator grill is not visible, but many details like the shape of the seats and the running board are so like the Mason City vehicle that I believe it is also an Overland touring bus.

The photographer of the Mason City brass band was standing opposite a building with a sign for
W.J. Daly Co. ...UMBING. This was William J. Daly, whose plumbing company specialized in steam and hot water heating and was located on 314 N. Main St in Mason City. Some years later the street was renamed to N. Federal Ave. Unfortunately Google Street View has not yet mapped downtown Mason City for us to see if the building is still there.

1910 Mason City, IA city directory

The back of the postcard shows a postmark of OCT 22, 1910 and is addressed to Mr. Harold Hazen of Garden City, Kansas.

Dear Son  I am at Mason today it has been raining for some days but it is clear this morning I have been trying to start home for a week but have not got started yet but I am going to start Mon shure am going back to Rockwell this afternoon going out Home tomorrow and start home at 6 ...day Mom ur.. love

In the 1901 census, Harold Hazen, age 17, lived on a farm outside of Garden City, KS with his parents Henry D. and Rhoda J. Hazen and 4 sibilings. 

1910 Mason City, IA city directory

The population of Mason City was approximately 16,800 in the 1910 city directory which listed six bands and orchestras, including the Mason City Band of 25 pieces. It was directed by Harry B. Keeler who also was listed as the president of the Mason City College of Music on 744 E. State St. Mr. Keeler believed his town could be the equal to any of the big cities back east, and he promoted the band as a way of developing Mason City as a center of culture. He must have been a perceptive music director because he recognized talent in a young boy who would one day put Mason City on America's musical map. With 76 trombones.

Today, not far from where Mr. Daly had his plumbing office, is the Music Man Square, a museum and community center devoted to Mason City's favorite son, the composer Meredith Willson (1902 – 1984) who wrote many songs and Broadway musicals, the most famous being The Music Man. Willson developed his early aptitude for music on the piccolo and flute, and in 1918 went off to New York City to study at Frank Damrosch's Institute of Musical Art, now called the Julliard School.

At age 19 he left the school to join John Philip Sousa's band. After working with the premier band in America for a couple of years, he returned to New York to play flute and piccolo with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini. In 1929 he left for California to pursue a career in Hollywood composing music for the new media of radio and movies with sound. The Music Man was Willson's first musical and was produced in 1957 based on material from his 1948 memoir There I Stood With My Piccolo. 

Meredith and Rini Willson from their weekday NBC radio program Ev'ry Day. Source: Wikipedia

According to a biography, Meredith Willson, America's Music Man by Bill Oates, Willson got his professional start by playing the piccolo with the Mason City Band under Harry Keeler. Did he ever get to ride on the Overland touring bus? If he did, the most sensible and less deafening place to seat a piccoloist would be on the back right. You have to watch where you point those things!



For another band that might have influenced Meredith Willson, read this post I wrote in 2011 on  The Orphans Home Band of Mason City, Iowa.  There will be another installment on that story in the near future. 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

click the link for more stories on wheels.

A Picture of a Band

January 10, 2014, 2:31 pm

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ONE

TWO 

 

THREE

In the corner of a parlor three unknown musicians play a trio for clarinet, piccolo, and piano. They hardly constitute a band as very few pianists can march and play at the same time.

So where is this Picture of a Band ?

Just behind the beer bottle on the piano desk there is a large photograph of a band with about 24 musicians. There are hazy outlines of cornets, tubas, clarinets, and drums. A drum major with a tall bearskin hat appears to be standing at the back. Written across the bass drum is a long name with letters almost readable, but the camera lens was focused somewhere else so it is forever blurred and unclear. It seems likely that at least two members of the trio are also in this photo. Sadly this is another musical mystery of time and place that will probably never reveal its secrets.

But just like with music, a photo always improves with beer.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where everything is by the book this weekend.

The POW Orchestra at Münster

January 17, 2014, 6:11 pm

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They are soldiers, but their mix of different uniform jackets and caps show that they are clearly not from the same unit. They are musicians, but violins, cellos, and double basses alongside cornets, horns, and clarinets denotes something more than just military bandsmen. In the top corner someone has written in ink (Orchestre Symphonique)– Symphony Orchestra in French, but the hut behind them is not an opera house. In fact it is a barracks of a German camp for prisonniers de guerre– French prisoners of war from the war of 1914 - 1918.

The 34 musicians have military insignia and uniform styles that are mostly French, and though there may be some Belgian soldiers too, I don't recognize any British uniforms. There are three men seated in the center with kepiswho have no instruments and I think they must  be the POW camp officers. Beside them seated on the right is a pale faced man without hat who holds a baton. He is certainly the orchestra's conductor. Though they are French, the brass instruments, including the trombones at the back, all have German style rotary valves instead of the typical French piston valves. One man standing center in the 4th row has a folio which usually designates the pianist.

The postcard was signed:

6
Pierre Rabin
Cie. P, Lager I
Münster  I/18ie

The numeral 6 is perhaps a barrack number. Cie.P stands for Compagnie – Company P. The I/18ie (though the number might be 78) is for 1st division or corps / 18th regiment. Lager I is a German word indicating Camp I in Münster, Westphalia, which is in north central Germany about 80 miles east of the Netherlands.

Münster was one of hundreds of locations for POW camps that the German military constructed shortly after the outbreak of war in August 1914. Eventually the German VII Army Corps would build four camps there for enlisted ranks or Mannschaftslager with Münster I outside the city in rural farmland; Münster II on a horse racecourse; Münster III in a former Army barracks; and Münster IV set apart for just Russian army prisoners.

Back in 2012 I wrote about another Prisoner of War Camp Orchestra which was also in Münster. This was the second of two different orchestra photos that came from the same estate, but the location was not notated on the photographs. This group of musicians included Italian and British soldiers.

I believe the cellist standing at the back left of the first orchestra photo (only his cello scroll and bow is visible) is the same cellist seated left in the second photo.

And the horn player with the champion mustachio seated left on the front row of the first photo is certainly the same horn player standing right in the second photo. I can speak from experience that playing the horn requires that a mustache be well groomed.

The note on the first photograph confirms the location of the other orchestra photographs as being at Münster Lager I. The French soldiers may have been among the first units captured and committed to the Münster POW camp, and so consequently were the first to establish their own orchestre symphonique for musiquefrançaise. As the wind instruments are of German origin, they may have been contributed by the YMCA relief effort which I described in my earlier POW orchestra story.

The same dealer of the first photo had another postcard from the Münster camp which I also acquired. It shows a group of 12 soldiers seated around two crude tables inside some barrack room. They have numerous pens, papers, and card files that suggest some official business. I might have passed over it except that the back of the card was included in the description.

It was signed by the same soldier:

Pierre Rabin
Cie. P, Lager I
Münster  I/18

If you look closely, two of the men are also in the photo of the orchestra.

The older man on the right has the regimental numeral 1 on his collar which though faint matches the kepi and collar of the man seated center in the orchestra photo. The pale faced man on the left is very recognizable as the conductor of the orchestra. There is a patch on his jacket pocket with the number 18 which might match the regiment number written on the back of the two photos. He must have been a skilled musician to assume the position of conductor for this orchestra.

I can not say that either of these two men is Pierre Rabin, or that Monsieur Rabin is even pictured in the two groups of soldiers. But it makes the photos more interesting to have a double link of two recognized faces along with the name.

One the back wall are two notices in French of course, which are difficult to read.

The other sign affixed to the table cloth in front of the officer is more clear.

Bankbüro
Gef...? Lager I
Münster

This translates from German as Bank Office, Gef...? Camp I Münster. Some of the POW camps printed their own camp currency and had tokens for paying for the limited services and goods available to the soldiers. There may have been some substitute accounting for the military pay that could not be paid by the French government. Families of servicemen may also have sent money or goods that needed to be kept secure from any risk of theft in the camp.

This next postcard was produced as a propaganda postal by the German army and shows a concert in an assembly area in one of the Münster POW camps. The caption is in French and Dutch.

Münster-Westphalie 1915 — Concert par la section harmonie, le dimanche après déjeuner
Münster-Westfalien 1915 — Concert door de harmonie afdeling, 's zondag na het ontbijt

It translates as Concertby thebandsection, the Sunday afterlunch (or breakfast if you are Dutch.) Harmonie is the French name for a wind band and no string instruments are visible here, though there are about the same number of musicians as in the Orchestre Symphonique. They are gathered in a circle with a conductor standing in the center. Around them are hundreds of other soldiers listening. In the background are lines of washing set out to dry.

Is Pierre Rabin playing an instrument? Maybe even leading the band? We may never know, but it is a pleasant thought to remember one French soldier's name attached to the camaraderie of orchestra musicians rather than belonging to a long list of casualties on a battlefield monument.

>>> <<<

In August of this year the world will observe the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War also known as World War I. At that time, no one thought the war would drag on for over 4 years, or that so many lives would be destroyed by this horrific conflict. The millions of soldiers who were captured in this First World War may have counted themselves lucky to be spared from the battlefield but they had other hardships to endure. The POW camps were overcrowded and poorly managed, and men were subjected to forced labor, malnutrition, and disease. But if they had one universal complaint it was boredom. Music provided a kind of emotional relief, both for the men playing in the orchestras and the soldiers listening, and it must have contributed to giving them a feeling of hope, optimism, and even liberation. This was an era before radio and recordings so musical performances had a purpose and power that was very different from our modern era. Over the next few years I will be offering stories from military musicians of 1914-1918 that will be my way of commemorating this history.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
Click the link for more faces from the Great War.

The Broughton Band - A Cold Case

January 24, 2014, 7:21 pm

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Though they don't look very cold, they are still standing in snow. There is not much left after a thaw, but it's still enough snow to think that the musicians of the Broughton Band were not playing for the 4th of July. Blowing on a brass instrument in the winter is not a pleasant pastime. With freezing temperatures it is not unlike the schoolyard challenge of touching ones tongue to a metal flagpole. That's why I believe this is either an early spring or late autumn concert photo.

The unnamed photographer of this large 9.25 x 5.5 inch sepia photo posed the band against what appears to be a white limestone wall. The 18 musicians are a mix of ages. The older men sport handlebar mustaches while the young men are clean shaven. There is even one boy age 8-10 (back right) who does not have a uniform. The uniforms appear new and are a simple style that imitates those of military cadets. It was a popular outfit with town bands in the 1900s. The caps have a music lyre badge but no letters. Though they look like a brass band there are three clarinets in the back row. My best guess is that the photo dates from 1895 to 1910.

It is the first photograph of a town band that I acquired for my collection.

It is also a cold case.

Written on the back are the names of some of the members of the Broughton Band.

Uncle Harry Sanders
Second Front Row Mr. Barth
       R.I. Station Master
Will Christ Chapman F.R.
Will Will          "                "
Matt Deitrick                   "

R. Neill Rahm
              Ristine

Roy Bauers   Back Row
Rod Schockinnney
Charlie Arnett

Ten names of musicians written in ink. The band's name stenciled on the bass drum. A photograph style from the turn of the century. All great clues to solve the question of who, where, and when.

Unfortunately this is a puzzle that refuses to unlock any answers.

Broughton is not a common name for an American town. There are only three tiny villages named Broughton in Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania but there is no Broughton Band recorded in the historic newspapers of those community's respective counties. The biggest place that has a single mention of a Broughton Band, presumably named after the bandleader, is in Aberdeen, South Dakota. But the Aberdeen city directory for 1903, 1905, and 1913 does not list the band. New Oxford, Pennsylvania near Gettysburg, had a Broughton Cornet Band in the 1890s but it does not seem to have lasted into the 20th century. It's also possible that the name Broughton came from a manufacturing plant and that this is a company band. But what did they make? Are they in front of the factory walls?

In a search of the census records at Ancestry.com, none of the 10 names showed up for the Broughton villages in Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or for that matter the larger town of Aberdeen in South Dakota. Some surnames produced a few hits, but when the forenames were included the full names were not found in those counties. Removing the location filter for a general search did not produce any patterns either.

Is Uncle Harry Sanders the tall man with the helicon or the younger man with the trombone?

Mr. Barth is noted as the R.I. Station Master.  The initials R.I. could be an abbreviation for the state of Rhode Island or more likely the Rock Island Railroad which runs southwest from Chicago to Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma. But without a first name, Mr. Barth has too many relatives to make a useful search term. Is he the euphonium player on the left or the tenorhorn on the right? If this photo follows the conventional rules of the time, the cornet player in the center is the bandleader.

The correction on Will and Chris Chapman suggests the person making the annotation was unsure about their memory. Were they brothers? Father and son? Is there a resemblance behind the mustaches of the snare drummer and the bass horn player?

The other names like Rahm and Ristine are possibly incorrect spellings, and Schockinney gets no hits of any kind. Any attempt with alternate spellings makes little improvement.

Sometimes history lines up in little logical boxes like a Sudoku puzzle. But sometimes the numbers still don't add up in the right sequence and just cancel each other out. This photo puzzle defeats me, as I am unable to find any location in the United States where all these names are present at the same time. It is a mystery that now gets filed as a cold case, and the musicians of the Broughton Band, whoever, wherever and whenever they are, will just have to stand out in the snow for a bit longer. With any luck a great great nephew will one day do an internet search and recognize Uncle Harry.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
click the link for more snow stories.

The Multitalented Mr. Jensen and Mr. Johnson

January 31, 2014, 10:24 am

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Photographs of 19th century musicians who display several musical instruments are fairly common, but this young man wins the talent prize for a multi-instrumentalist with five instruments – cornet, cello, two violins, and piano. Seated on a frilly covered piano stool he holds both a cornet and a violin. One foot rests on a violin case and behind it is the cornet case. The cello leans against his knee and on top of the piano is the other violin along with his top hat. There is even sheet music on the piano desk which unfortunately has been overexposed and is unreadable. The arrangement of his pose and instruments strongly suggests he is a professional musician. Though we have to wonder where he sat in an orchestra.

The man's direct stare at the camera accentuates his delicate features and I imagine he might be of Scandinavian origin with straw blond hair and blue eyes. Unfortunately all that remains of this photograph is the thin paper print, as sometime in the past it became separated from its original card mount. That leaves few clues for identification, so he could be American, or Canadian, or European. Since we really can't say where he is, but no one can prove otherwise, I will give him the name of Mr. Jensen.

The cornet's configuration is covered by his hand and the upright piano's label is also hidden, so we can't learn much about those instruments. However the string instruments are unusual because they all have machine gear winders for the strings instead of the more traditional friction pegs. Usually only the heavy strings of a double bass use these devices for adjusting the string tension. The 19th century was an age of innovation and yet novel mechanisms like these failed to last into our 21st century. Today no violin or cello would be fitted with such a heavy apparatus.

The cello keeps the basic form of a violincello but it has a crude almost folk craft construction. It has no end pin and the bridge appears to be fastened on with cord. It also looks like it has suffered some abuse. Most likely because it didn't have a case.

The instruments only give us a general era of mid-19th century for the photo, but Mr. Jensen's suit happens to resemble the clothing of another mufti-faceted musician who can help us date when his photograph was taken. If we compare lapels and buttons, he probably had his photograph made around 1885.

This gentleman wears a nearly identical suit coat as that of Mr. Jensen. It is fastened with only one top button which revealed the vest and allowed a pocket watch to be easily at hand. He only has three instruments placed around him so he rates only a second place prize, though he does get an honorable mention for a champion mustache. He holds a violin and on the floor beside him is a tenor horn (or possibly a baritone ) and a small Parlor guitar. Just behind is a metal folding music stand that has changed very little in 129 years and still remains a standard musician's accessory. It holds some sheet music and there is more in the open violin case next to his chair. The purpose of the music and instruments may be to demonstrate his accomplishment in the cultured art of music, but like Mr. Jensen, he could also be advertising his skill as a professional musician. 

This photograph is on dark green card stock and has no photographer's imprint, but it does have a penciled signature on the back.

Mr. R.  M. Johnson
East Troy
Pa
1885

I have enhanced the scan to bring out the signature and the date of 1885.

The name R. M. Johnson was shared by thousands of American men in the 1880s. Even if we thought this musician's first name was Robert or Raymond, it would still match hundreds of other Pennsylvania names in official records.

Besides that problem, East Troy does not seem to exist as a place name in Pennsylvania anymore. However there are two small townships with the name of Troy. One is Troy Township in Bradford County in eastern Pennsylvania and the other is Troy Township in Crawford County in western Pennsylvania. Both have about the same population of 1,500 today, and to make things confusing, both have roads named East Troy Road.

A puzzle with this many pieces might turn it into another cold case like last week's story of the Broughton Band, except for a brief mention in the Harrisburg, PA, Daily Telegraph.

Harrisburg Daily Telegraph 26 February 1881

This clipping with the heading of
List of Patents comes from the Harrisburg Daily Telegraph of Saturday Evening, Feb. 26, 1881. The report lists 14 Pennsylvanian inventors and their inventions as recorded that week at the U.S. Patent Office. There is F. L. Blair of Allegheny City, cork cutting machine; J. Gearing, Pittsburgh, hoop iron mill; L. P. Teed, Erie, ladder.

And in the middle is
R. M. Johnson, East Troy, thill ripling.

The British government Patent Office conveniently printed a book with all these American names in the March 15, 1881 edition of The Commisioners of Patents Journal.

At the bottom of page 738 is a listing for:

238,124. Richard M. Johnson
of East, Troy, Pa.
for "A thill coupling"
– Application filed
8th January, 1881.
– No model.

Could this be the same man? The patent listing doesn't indicate which East Troy it might be. The name might be just a coincidence.

Except that Richard M. Johnson's U.S. patent application for a thill coupling (ripling is a printer's typo) can also be found in Google's archives. He may not have had a model but he was required to provide an illustration, and in front of witnesses and his attorney, Richard M. Johnson signed it. 

The Letters Patent No. 238,124, dated February 22, 1881 says:

Be it known that I, RICHARD M. JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States, resident at East Troy, in the county of Bradford and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Thill-Couplings; ... (etc.)



This official document places Richard M. Johnson in the East Troy of Bradford County, PA which connects him to the Harrisburg clipping. But is he the same man as the multitalented musician in the photograph?




I think the signatures are a very close match. The upper and lower case letters are of a similar proportion and the slant is consistent. The surname Johnson has the J  and  on  separate, while the two letters oh  connect.

A hunt through Ancestry.com uncovers the name Richard Johnson age 34, occupation Laborer with his wife Alice, age 21 and daughter Bessie, age 2. He was also recorded in the 1860 and 1850 censuses for Troy, Bradford County, PA.  A descendent adds more with a family tree that includes his full name as Richard Morrell Johnson, his birth in 1845, Candor, New York and his death in 1903.

This might seem a confirmation. Except ...

Applying the same search filter to R.M. Johnson but for Crawford County in western Pennsylvania uncovers an entry in the 1870 census of Meadville, Crawford County, PA for Richard M. Johnson, age 26, occupation Laborer with wife Olive and son Charles.

However Meadville is about 30 miles west of the Troy in Crawford County, and this Richard M. Johnson has no other records for this county. This puzzle piece doesn't fit quite as easily as the others. Nonetheless it still keeps the possibility open that R. M. Johnson the musician is from western Pennsylvania and Richard M. Johnson the inventor is from eastern Pennsylvania.

If I am correct, R. M. Johnson was indeed a man of many talents. One of the more celebrated names in the 19th century was that of Richard Mentor Johnson (1780 – 1850), the 9th Vice President of the United States who served under President Martin Van Buren from 1837 to 1841. It would seem a practical habit for any man with the same first name to shorten it to just initials.

>> <<

If you have read this far you might have wondered  what a thill coupling is. Another patent illustration from 1902 of a Horse Detacher invented by T. P. Rumsey helps us understand. The horse is shown harnessed to the wagon between a pair of curved poles or thills (#1). The thills were hinged at the front axle and allowed the connection between horse and wagon to be flexible.

Since the horse was the most common engine of power that people of earlier centuries knew, it makes sense that this animal would inspire so many creative ideas. In the 1881 Patent Journal, in between Thermostat and Thimble, there are 78 improvements on Thill Couplings, including two with Anti-Rattler devices. The newspapers of the 1800s were filled with reports of  frightful accidents caused by horses and wagons. Evidently there was always room for improvements.

 >> <<

In a strange coincidence I found my own name listed in the 1881 Official Patent Report. In November of that same year, an L. K. Brubaker secured a Patent, No.249,741 for an improved Carriage Top. His full name was Levi K. Brubaker and he was from Lititz in southeast Pennsylvania. This is a borough of Lancaster County, the center of Amish and Mennonite traditions and it is where my forebears came from. This same folding buggy cover is probably still in use by Amish families, who believe an automobile, truck, or tractor is unnecessary for their way of life when a mule or horse will do. 

No doubt Mr. R. M. Johnson and Mr. L. K. Brubaker would have traded a lot of stories about horses and wagons had they ever met.
And Mr. Jensen? He probably knew some tall tales too.

>> <<

 
In the 19th century the patent office seemed to publish dozens of books every year. Mr. Johnson's thill coupler showed up on page 463 in a different edition and it included a reduced illustration and description.

But my attention was drawn to the entry just above it. This report has the patents in numerical order and No. 238,123 which precedes Johnson's invention is an image of something that everyone around the world today would instantly recognize. It is the Safety Pin, invented by Joel Jenkins of Mont Clair, New Jersey.

What kind of royalties do you suppose Mr. Jenkins received for his idea?

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where everyone is thinking outside the box this weekend.