Michigan Fiddlers

Newaygo Co.

Source:

Portrait and biographical album of Newaygo county, Mich., containing portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county ... also containing a complete history of the county, from its earliest settlement to the present time. Page 520. 

Commentary:

The following excerpt is one of my favorites in the entire series. This is a letter of complaint from a newspaper regarding the poor consistency and timeliness of payments to the paper. In the letter, the writer complains about how folks will pay other bills in a timely manner but not the paper. The thing that makes this so interesting is that, among the various items the writer mentions that folks pay on time is the "fiddler's bills."  The concept of "fiddler's bills" being listed among such others as grocery and blacksmith bills really is an interesting example of how central fiddling was to the community. The following letter was written in 1861.

Excerpt:

"Now, gentlemen, this is abominable. There is no excuse for such cussed tardiness, or willful negligence, in paying the small sums due us on subscription. There is not a man who takes this paper who is not perfectly able to pay for it in something. We suffered ourself, in times past, for the want of our pay, because our patrons were poor, and their crops poor. But for the last two years crops have been good, and yet we are oppressed for the want of that which every delinquent has in abundance. This fall we are cramped. And this fall, " by the eternals," we will have our pay. Those of you who have not paid for your paper may now begin to make your calculations accordingly. We will have either our pay or a judgment for what is in arrears, and our pay in advance for the coming year, if we do not have a circulation of over 50 names. We know that our delinquents can pay, and now we mean they shall do it. We have been so lenient in times past that, instead of reciprocating the favor with promlpt pay now when you are able, you seem to think it a matter of little consequence whether you pay at all. We have, as all acknowledge, published as good a country sheet as is found in the State; we have done as well by our subscribers as they could ask, had they paid us promptly. And to ask us to continue this paper without any pay is asking a little too much. We will take almost any kind of grain, at a fair price. But we do not want you to rush in your buckwheat, and rye, or any other article that you cannot sell or give away. We want some of these articles, true, but we want wheat, oats and corn, principally. When you kill your beef or pork, bring us a piece amounting precisely to our subscription. Don't be hogs. Men will gladly and promptly pay their shoe bills, grocery bills, blacksmith bills, fiddler's bills, studhorse bills, and the like, with the best article of produce they have got; but if they pay the printer at all, they want to pay in something that they can make no other disposition of. Now, these things have become intolerable; and by the Holy Ghost we will not endure it longer. As to legal advertisements, some of those that are in arrears will perhaps be promptly paid; others will be paid at the end of an execution, and that shall be the end of that kind of trouble, as the publishing of those notices without our pay in advance is at an end. Some may not fancy this article, but we do not care a " cuss " whether they do or not. We mean what we say, and say what we mean, and the sooner the cause of such articles is removed, the better it will be for all parties concerned. That's all."

Eaton Co.

Source:

Pioneer history of Eaton County, Michigan, 1833-1866. Page 141.

Comp. by Daniel Strange.

Commentary:

This is an interesting biography, mostly related to feats of strength, but focusing on a character called "Fiddler Bailey," likely because of his musical talents. 

Excerpt:

"Ira Bailey, 'Fiddler Bailey,' 'Rail Bailey' was an early character here of whom many amusing stories are told. Long, angular, awkward; he required an immense pair of boots but asked to buy them very cheap as he wanted to pay cash. That was a rare offer for those days but he was finally fitted. To test them he deliberately walked out in mud ankle deep and returning he again explained that he wanted to pay cash but he had not a cent in the world. A tradition remained for many years that he never paid for the boots but the amusement this afforded the roisterers paid for them many times. This giant could run like the wind. Pitted against the assumed fleetest man in the county he easily outran him and then said he could outrun him while carrying the heaviest rail in a given fence. This too he did. Another version is that he carried the heavy rail and outran a horse a distance of ten rods, Bailey taking a running start, the horse to start as he passed him. Like the settlers in Bellevue these men were much given to athletic sports and horse-play. Merrils Freeman was the smallest man in town and men of giant strength like Bailey and Jim Taggart were dumbfounded when Freeman could easily outlift them."

Calhoun Co.

Source:

Biographical review of Calhoun County, Michigan : containing historical, biographical and genealogical sketches of many of the prominent citizens of to-day and also of the past. Page 305. 

Commentary:

This is a mention of the old fiddler, Grandfather Morehouse, who used to travel in the west side of the state early on. Morehouse was active in the early to mid 1800s it appears. What is interesting about this selection is the phrase "general trainings." This could refer to dance schools (which did exist in Michigan fairly early on). 

Excerpt:

"The maternal grandfather of our subject, was too old to labor then, but he had been a fiddler and he traveled all over the country to play for general trainings and dances."

Source:

Commentary:

This is an example of a fiddler's life from Calhoun. The playing of the fife was a common aspect of musical life. This related to New England traditions and martial traditions. 

Excerpt:

"Henry B. Waterman was born in Yates county, New York, on the 22d of October, 1822, and thus was seventy-two years and five months of age at the time of his death. In the year following the admission of Michigan to the Union, he came with his parents, John B. and Betsy (Gleason) Waterman, to Athens township, this county, and he was at the time a lad of about sixteen years. He had secured his early educational discipline in his native county and after coming to Calhoun county he was for a time a student in the first school house built in Athens township, the same having been a primitive log structure of the type common to the pioneer days and having been situated in section 14. Mr. Waterman was a man of strong intellectual powers and these he developed and matured through careful and wide reading, through which he became a man of broad and varied information. He continued to be actively associated with the work and management of the old home farm, in section 13, Athens township, until after the death of his first wife, and thereafter he was engaged in the manufacturing of wagons and carriages. in the village of Athens, for a few years. He then removed to his farm, in section 14, northeast of the village, where he continued in the same line of enterprise, in connection with his farming operations. In the summer of 1874 he again established his home in the village of Athens, where he passed the residue of his life. He was a Democrat in politics and was well fortified in his opinions concerning public affairs. The following statements relative to this sturdy pioneer are worthy of perpetuation in this connection: 'He was a great lover of outdoor sports, such as horse races, etc., and in his younger, as well as his latter years, was a hail fellow well met. He always enjoyed a visit from his neighbors, and the melodious strains of his violin and fife will always be pleasingly remembered by the company of his generation of years ago, and especially the strains of martial music to the soldier boys in blue." 

Source: 

Commentary:

In this period, "orchestra" was a term that could be used to reference a dance band. 

Excerpt:

"Mr. Halladay was a prominent and popular man in Battle Creek, and he was a musician of more than ordinary ability. For many years he was a member of the Halladay Orchestra, in that period a noted organization in southern Michigan. Mr. Halladay played both the violin and the double bass viol. He died on May, 26, 1902, and his wife preceded him, passing away on June 13, 1899. Both are buried in Oak Hill cemetery."

Source:

Commentary:

The following is an interesting excerpt of a well-loved musician's life. The array of instruments that Maurice played make it likely that he performed for dancing. It is also likely he equipped a fair number of other fiddlers with instruments. 

Excerpt:

"Regarding Maurice H., it should be understood that above all else he was a natural-born musician. Music was in the very attractiveness of his personality. He was a handsome boy of eighteen and one-half years when he came to Battle Creek, and was as brilliant an amateur flute-player as I have ever known. He also played on the violin and violoncello, and as a little boy he was a village celebrity at Yate,-as a performer on a piccolo, and accordion and a six-hole tin whistle. Music was inseparable from him during his whole life. One might as well separate a skylark from its upward flight and its song heralding of the sunrise. With all sorts and conditions of men and women he was a great favorite as a salesman in the shoe store, and its early success was enhanced more than a little by his influence. He was elected city treasurer in 1875-6-7, and city recorder in 1878. The latter office included the recorder's court at that time, this tribunal having charge of enforcing the city ordinances. In later life Maurice learned to make and repair violins, and in manufacturing the same he modeled them after a fine Cremona instrument that came into his possession in his long continued practice of buying and selling violins. In his business he was intelligent and deeply interested. He passed to the life eternal on the 7th of May, 1904. He married Emily M. Campbell, of Battle Creek, on the 15th of August, 1858, and she died on the 14th of February, 1896. They owned an attractive home that stood on the site of the present Ward fountain, on the depot grounds of the Michigan Central Railroad. "

Source:

History of Calhoun county, Michigan ... Page 38.

Commentary:

This is interesting because it lists specific early events and dances in a particular area. 

Exerpt:

" We then had no roads, but sometimes in going to balls and bees in timber lands a crotched sled hauled by oxen was used, and sometimes, in getting over a large log, the party would slide out behind, but that made no difference. A girl got quite as many invitations to dance as though she had not slipped off the sled. Then we had ' slews' of foot visiting, women and children in the afternoon and husbands in the evening; and the fiddle was brought out and the dance went on, participated in by old and young." The first social party given in the county was by Sidney Ketchum, in Marshall, in his large log house, which stood on the present site of C. P. Dibble's elegant mansion. Every person in town was invited, and nearly all were there, infants included, and the house was not crowded. Mrs. Hays, in writing of it, says, " It was a fine entertainment, and the company were well appearing and well dressed, and would not disgrace Marshall or any town at the present day." The first regular ball was given on the occasion of the opening of the National in Marshall, January 1, 1836, by Colonel Andrew Mann, which was attended by the people for miles around. In April following Colonel Mann gave another soiree dansante, with great success. The first celebration of the Fourth of July was, had in 1836, at Marshall, at which time there was a large concourse of people gathered into the village from the country round about. "

Source:

Commentary:

I love it when there are names and reflections about specific fiddlers. This example from Homer, Michigan in Calhoun County is a good one. 

Excerpt:

"In June of the same year, Robert McCully, formerly from Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, but who came to Michigan and settled in Ann Arbor, this State, in the fall of 1829, arrived and located lands adjoining this village on the north-west, which lands are now owned and occupied by his only son, Andrew Frank. Mr. M'Cully's log cabin was erected about thirty rods south of the town line, and a little west of south ofthe present residence of Willard Cotton. Mr. M. was a single man when he came into the country and for the next four years "kept bach," tilled his own soil and presided over the affairs in his own kitchen. The latchstring of this little cabin was always out, and the weary traveler or land seeker was ever welcome to partake of the hospitalities within. Mr. McCully was a musician of some distinction for the times, and there still reside in this section, those who can recall many a pleasant evening spent at Robert's rude home listening to the melodious tones from the violin. "