Music for the Wounded

 

Men in striped pajamas
share a beer, a smoke,
and an accordion.

 

 

 

Even more men dressed in loungewear
surround a military band
that's ready to play a concert.

Both images are examples
of how the healing powers of music,
(and maybe lager and tobacco too),
were once used to restore
soldiers to good health.

 

 

The full photograph shows a group of 23 German soldiers enjoying a period of rest and recuperation outside their barracks at a lazaretto, a wartime military hospital. The term lazaretto comes from an Italian word applied to a quarantine station used for confining maritime travelers suspected of carrying contagious diseases.

 

The location comes from a stamp on the back of the postcard that reads ReserveLazaretti Weingarten (Württ.) with a postmark dated 29 November 1915. It was sent via the German military's free Feldpost, presumably from one of the men pictured on it, but the pencil handwriting is too difficult to decipher. Weingarten is a small town in Württemberg on the border of Switzerland, near the Bodensee or Lake Constance.

 

 

The war was now in it's second year and Germany now had many lazaretti scattered across the country to care for its wounded or sick servicemen. It's curious that none of the soldiers in this photo appear injured or ill, so perhaps it was taken just before they were to be released from hospital and return to their regiments.

 

 

 

 

The second photo was taken in the tiled courtyard of a large unidentified building that looks fairly institutional with its grand cut stone archways. A German army band of about 26 musicians sits with their instruments and music stands as if ready to perform. Surrounding them are over a hundred soldiers, many dressed in pajamas and the rest wearing enlisted rank uniforms. Everone has paused to look at the camera. Behind the band are about two dozen men standing on risers who might be a men's choir. But even if they weren't, though I don't see any evidence there was any beer consumed. I feel certain that there was singing at this concert.

 

Sadly there are no marks on the postcard to fix a place or time other than that they are definitely in German uniforms from the 1914-1918 era. According to the statistics found in the Wikipedia entry for World War I Casualties, the German military suffered 4,215,662 wounded servicemen between August 1914 and November 1918. This compares to 3,620,000 wounded sustained by the armed forces of the Austria-Hungary Empire; and 400,000 to 763,753 for the Ottoman Empire. The number of wounded for the allied powers were similar, 3,749,000 to 4,950,000 for the Russian Empire; 4,266,000 for France; 1,675,000 for Great Britain and its colonies (which did not include Canada, Australia, or New Zealand); and just 204,002 for the United States which did not enter the war until 1917.  Taken all together, easily over 20 million men were wounded, maimed, or traumatized in some way by the war. And this is not even counting the deaths. 

 

Considering the cacophonous noise of battle, not to mention the stressful effort of just staying alive, the opportunity to sing songs with your comrades or listen to a music concert must have felt like a soothing distraction to these soldiers. My only question is, did their pajamas have blue stripes or green, or maybe red? And were the hospital PJs for soldiers of other nations in a different color or pattern?

 

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where everyone is feeling much better now.

The Musical Pony

 

It's not commonly recognized
that horses like music.
But I can personally vouch
that horses are particularly
charmed by my instrument, the horn.
However, apparently some appreciate
the sound of a trombone too,
which is saying a lot
for equine standards of high culture.

But who knew that a horse
could accompany a trombone
on pedal accordions?

 

 

 

The spotted pony pictured on this postcard is intently focused on its part in an outdoor performance with a man who plays a small rotary valve trombone, that is curiously dampened by a mute in the bell. The pony stands on a Persian carpet with three or four large squeeze boxes in front of it that are each equipped with spring bellows and a pair of small brass horns. Both are dressed in formal wear, in as much the man is in white tie and tailcoat, and the horse has a fancy leather harness topped with a feather plume. Is it a circus act? How many tunes did the pony know?

There is no caption on the front which would be typical for an entertainer's promotional postcard, and no postmark or message on the back, except for the publisher:

Lübecker Lichtdruckanstalt Schmidt & Gebr. Böttcher.

So this duo languished in my unknown file folder until I found a second identical postcard that was posted from Lillehammer, Norway on 19 July 1913.

 

 

Lilleh. 19-7-13

Kjære Tante

Det er Ole, som gaar og ber om nogen vil skrive dette kort. Han indres saa paa kortet, som dri loute ham. Ham har varet i S. mer (?) vilde ned iggen, for ham likte sig visit bedre hjenne. Skal hilse fra dem alle.

Hilsen fra vesle Ole.

Dear Aunt

It is Ole, who goes and asks if someone wants to write this card. He is recognized as such on the card, which was drawn to him. He has stayed in S. more wildly down the bank, because he liked his visit better than her. Greetings from all of them.

Greetings from little Ole.

Alternate translations welcomed in the comments.

 

 

Is it possible that this message from Ole
was dictated by the pony pictured on the front?
 If it's talented enough to play duos with a trombonist,
then it's certainly possible that it had other skills.
Perhaps it could sing too.
 

 To demonstrate the musicality of horses
here is a YouTube video entitled
Serenading Wild Mustangs with my Trombone
from Farmer Derek.
Be patient until he adjusts the camera at 2:45.

 

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where people rarely
put the cart before the horse.

Paper Airplanes

 

Driving is serious business.
It requires a person's full attention
with hands on the wheel
at all times.

 

 

This is especially true
when transporting passengers,
as a driver's level of responsibility increases.

 

Of course the rules of the road
always demand even greater compliance
when the vehicle has left the tarmac
hundreds of feet below.

 

 

 

The first driver seems quite capable and earnest as he pilots his aeroplane, or in his case his Flugzeug, high above a military camp situated in a broad valley. His cap marks him as a soldier, in fact a German soldier, assigned to one of Kaiser Wilhelm's regiments. Despite appearances, this soldier is not a real aviator, as his aircraft is just a illusion painted onto a theatrical canvas.

 

The photo was taken by Gebr. (Gebrüder) Schmid, Truppenübungsplatz bei Münsingen ~ Schmid Brothers, Military training square near Münsingen. The airplane is a simple single-wing craft with a pair of bicycle wheels for the undercarriage. The birds-eye view puts the plane and pilot a few hundred meters above long rows of army barracks. The town of Münsingen is situated in southwest Germany in the district of Reutlingen of Baden-Württemberg. An army training base was established near there in 1895, though at the time the military command gave no thought to building an airfield. 

The back of the photo postcard is signed. I can't decipher the first phrase, but the pilot's name was Johanes Pruiz.(?)

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

The second group of driver and four passengers are also soldiers flying above a military encampment. The quintet are not German but French, and sit crammed close together, as if riding a toboggan, in the narrow fuselage of a monoplane. The pilot wears a woolen stocking cap to keep his head warm, while his four companions wear their French kepi hats backwards to prevent losing them in the wind.

 

Their aeroplane is powered by a stout four cylinder engine and appears made of wood and canvas rigged with wire. Like the German Flugzeug, their avion is a clever Trompe-l'œi painting that makes them appear to be above a field of conical army tents that look like Lakota tepees. 

This carte postale was produced at the studio of another set of photographer brothers, the Moderne LEFEBVRE Frères, of Sissonne, a commune in the Aisne department in northern France. Sissonne is about 30 miles west of the Belgium border, near the Ardennes Forest, and like Münsingen, was also the location of an army base. The French military established it in 1892, but like their German counterparts, they never expected to need an airfield either. 

 

Only one of the five men signed the back, but fortunately he kindly left a date: 3/4/14—3 April 1914.

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

To judge by the large number of photo montage postcards that used this same trick backdrop, the Lefebvre brothers' aeroplane earned a lot of airtime with hundreds of French soldiers who wanted a picture of themselves taking this plane up for a spin. Here a trio of soldiers relax over the same camp and this time the motor exhaust has cleared enough to see their comrades waving to them from the ground. The entire fake scene is identical except that the number on the tail rudder has changed from 3 to D23. 

 

The back of the card is filled with a complicated message that might be the result of three writers, but conveniently a date is clearly written: 17 Juillet 1914. The 17th of July, 1914, was just 11 days before the German invasion of Belgium followed by the attack on France.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

Back in Münsingen, the little Schmid aeroplane took flight operated by a uniformed chauffeur who transports a rakish gentleman in a civilian suit. The back of the postcard has lengthy message written in a language that I am not entirely certain is German. The date is partly scuffed, but I think it is 9.8(?).13 which is 9 August 1913.

 

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

The Schmid brother's Münsingen Flugzeug was apparently a very reliable aircraft as it took three enlisted men up for a tour of their training camp.They were allowed to personalize the plane's fuselage with a slogan written in chalk. 

Flucht aus schwäbisch Sibirien
~
Escape from Swabian Siberia

 

The old name for this region of Baden-Württemberg, is Swabia, a place that has little to do with Siberia, but for young soldiers confined to the Münsingen army base, it must have felt like a Russian prison. They may have been disappointed that their little aeroplane was not able to reach the height of the zeppelin far above them in the sky. The clouds obscured it in the previous photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

History credits Orville and Wilbur Wright as making the first successful powered fixed-wing flights in December 1903. But it took them several more years before they produced a machine that was truly capable of pilot-controlled flight. It was not until early 1908 that they secured contracts from the U.S. Army Signal Corps and then the French government to develop their design into a practical machine. 

 

One important requirement was that the airplane have sufficient power to carry a passenger. Since the Wright brothers were talented bicycle mechanics, they quickly added a passenger seat to their Wright Flyer III and demonstrated it twice in May 1908 carrying Charles Furnas (1880–1941), one of their assistant mechanics from Dayton. Later that summer, Wilbur took one of their machines to Le Mans, France where he gave the first public demonstrations of powered flight in August 1908. 

 

A month later, his brother Orville began test flights with a second Flyer for the U. S. Army at Fort Myer, Virginia. On 9 September 1908 he set a new record with a flight that lasted 62 minutes 15 seconds. That same day and three days later Orville gave rides on the Flyer to two army officers. But tragically on 17 September 1908 while taking Lt. Thomas Selfridge along as an official army observer, the Flyer's propeller broke at an altitude of about 100 feet (30m) causing the plane to crash. Though Wilbur was severally injured, he recovered. Lt. Selfridge however suffered a fractured skull and died from his injuries, the first passenger victim of an airplane accident. 

 

By 1906 several European competitors began matching the Wright brothers' achievements in powered flight, but it was not until 1909 that their collective aeroplane inventions became a viable aviation industry. It's amazing to me that in a very short time span, less than 6 years, humans literally broadened their horizons to produce so many varieties of flying machines giving reality to a real birds-eye-view, that it inspired countless people to have their photograph taken behind the wheel of a fake aeroplane. 

 

It was a novelty to be sure. For all I know, the Schmid and Lefebvre brothers also offered customers in their studios a different theatrical set that created the photographic illusion of driving a fancy automobile, sailing a grand yacht, or tooting the whistle on a locomotive. Yet until 1908, the very idea of operating your own aeroplane was an impossible folly to imagine. It must have been an awe inspiring experience to witness Orville and Wilbur operate their first Flyer. I think we see some of that wonderment in the expressions of these men behind their mock aircraft. The world added another dimension that people had never been imagined before. A world where UP no longer had any limits.

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where the weight of history is never light.

The Wearing of the Green

 

The first thing you notice is their hats.
Tall, silky black top hats,
and lots of them.
And next are the mustaches.
Long, bristly, mustaches
like cartoon Yosemite Sam's brush.
And then it's their sticks.
Not umbrellas or canes,
but very slender knobbly sticks,
almost switches really,
with small American flags attached.

It's a curious bunch of gentlemen,
assembled outdoors on the steps of a building
for a formal group photo.
Oh, and there's a brass band too,
which is why I took an interest
in the photograph.

Unfortunately there is nothing stenciled
on the bass drum head to identify them.

{Click on any image to enlarge it.}

 

 

Altogether there are 69 men and one boy in the group, and everyone is wearing a hat. On either side are two men astride horses with felt homburg hats. (The men, not the horses!) The band has 16 musicians, one hidden behind the horseman at left, dressed in wool uniform coats with short brimmed field caps. The band's leader, holding a cornet and wearing a longer wool coat, stands in front right. Further right next to a tall trombonist, is a young boy of seven or eight wearing a larger winter-weight hat. The remaining 51 gentlemen, sporting nearly identical top hats, zylinders in German, wear heavy double-breasted overcoats. It appears to be a sunny day but there is snow on the ground.

 

On the back of this 8" x 10" albumen photo, mounted on brittle buff card stock is a helpful stamp from the photographer.

 I. U. Doust
Photographer,
Supplies, Printing and
Developing for Amateurs
130 E. Genesee St.
Syracuse, N.Y.

 

   

The photographer's full name was Isaac Uriah Doust. Born in Syracuse in 1856, he first opened a studio and gallery in Syracuse in 1875. Mr. Doust also sold photography supplies, materials, and equipment and continued in business until just a year before his death in 1937 at the age of 80.

The photo's albumen print style is typical of the late 19th century going into the first decade of the 20th. But dating men's clothing is difficult since top hat fashions didn't change much between the 1850s and the 1920s. Initially I mistook them for a minstrel show company. In this era there were dozens of professional minstrel shows touring the theater circuits of America. Minstrel bands and singers, which often numbered over 50 members, typically marched in a parade before commencing their first concert, all dressed in identical long overcoats, top hats, and carrying canes. My story from 2018, Hi Henry's Minstrels and the Big Dog, featured a similar photo of 32 men wearing top hats standing outside a civic building in San Francisco. That photo was dated from 1899.

But here there are many more sticks and fewer instruments. Most of these fellows don't look like they ever wore blackface or sang novelty minstrel songs. Who were they? Could there be more clues?

 

 

Behind the group on the two columns framing the portico entrance are two pairs of numerals, 18—82, which I interpret as the year the building was constructed. In front of the doorway, one of the men holds a pole on which hangs a fringe-edged banner. It has the words DIVISION No. 8 separated by an design of a harp, a symbol recognized around the world as the emblem of Éire—Ireland. This was a terrific clue as no one likes to march in parade better than an Irishman.

Syracuse, New York has a long history of Irish immigration and even today Irish ancestry makes up the largest segment of nationalities represented within the city's population. So not surprisingly Syracuse has a tradition of celebrating St. Patrick's day on March 17, the Catholic feast day of Saint Patrick - the patron Saint of Ireland. In the newspaper archives I found several reports of the event beginning in the 1880s and continuing on to the 1920s. The principal organization responsible for overseeing the Syracuse parade was an Irish-American fraternal society, the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Founded in New York City in 1836, the A.O.H. sought to provide assistance and protection to Irish Catholic immigrants, and defended Catholic churches from anti-Catholic abuse that the Irish encountered in 19th century America. The Irish harp is prominently displayed in its emblem, along with shamrocks and the flags of Ireland and the United States.

 

Emblem of the Ancient Order of Hibernians
Source: Wikipedia

In a report from the 1894 St. Patrick's parade in Syracuse, there was a description of the A.O.H. units marching with blackthorn canes and bands playing tunes like "Yankee Doodle", "Garry Owen", and "The Wearing of the Green". Yet even though it was a long parade, the order listed only five Hibernian divisions, not eight. But in 1896 the celebration promised to be even larger, a "Monster Parade" with close to 1,500 men.

 

Syracuse NY Sunday Herald
16 March 1896

 

In the days of old, newspapers were printed on extra-large paper sizes with tiny fonts and multiple dense columns. The editor of the Syracuse Herald managed seven column pages and parades like this were always a great way to fill space with hundreds of official's names and details on the street route that would never get mentioned in reports today. On this St. Patrick's day there would be 10 divisions of the A.O.H. and Division No. 8 would be led by Patrick J. Guilfoyle followed by the band from Marcellus, a community about 12 miles west of the Syracuse.

 

  

Syracuse NY Evening Herald
17 March 1896

 

The parade started in the afternoon after mass was observed at Syracuse's Catholic churches that morning. The day was crisp and clear, though "the only disagreeable feature was the slush  through which the paraders tramped. The decorations of the stores and other places of business were in keeping with the occasion. The green flags, with the cherished 'Erin Go Braugh' were fluttering from many places. Side by side they were hung with the red, white and blue. Little bits of green were on pinned on coats out of honor to the patron saint." Thousands of people turned out to watch the parade which lasted several hours before it finished. Entertainments continued throughout the evening and into the early morning.

 

 

Syracuse NY Sunday Herald
16 March 1896

 

The Syracuse weather report for the previous day confirmed that it snowed overnight, a common springtime occurrence for a city so close to Lake Ontario. This snowfall matched the frozen precipitation seen on the ground in my photo. The slippery slush and mud must have given trouble even to the horses. Still it made good business for laundries and shoeshine boys.

 

 

 

A week later the Syracuse Sunday Herald rand a full page of news on the "Secret Societies" around Onondaga County. There was reports on the activities and lodge meetings of the Elks; the Odd Fellows; the Masons; the Royal Arcanum;  the Good Templars; the Select Knights; the Knights of Honor; the Knights of Pythias; the Knights of Sobriety, Fidelity, and Integrity; the Red Men; the United American Mechanics; the Ancient Order of United Workmen; the Foresters of America; the Daughters of Liberty; the Patriotic League; and a short followup on the Ancient Order of Hibernians at their St. Patrick's day parade.

 

 

 

Syracuse NY Sunday Herald
22 March 1896

Ancient Order Hibernians.

True to general expectation, Division No. 8 was far and away the finest appearing body in the parade on St. Patrick's day. The members were all attired in new dark clothes, the very latest style silk hat and carried themselves in fine marching style. Each member wore a bouquet and had an American flag fastened to the end of the cane, which was carried at the shoulder. Eighty men were in line, and the Central City band, the finest in the line, discoursed sweet music during the parade. All the pretty girls along the line were loud in their praises of Division No. 8.

 _ _ _

 

The description of the wardrobe worn by the Hibernian members of Division No. 8 could not be a better match for the smart coats, boutonnieres, canes, little flags, and silk hats that we see in my photo. So I am pretty confident that it exactly dates the photograph to 17 March 1896. 

 

 

 

 

However there is one mystery that will never be solved. The original photo is quite faded and bleached, but digital photo software is amazingly adept at restoring the image's contrast. But when I did that I noticed there was one man in the center, third row back, whose face has suffered an ink stain. It might be the result of an accident at Mr. Doust's studio or a blemish caused by storage next to a leaky ink pen. But I wonder if it was deliberate smudge, an inept attempt to eradicate the man's face. Could it be a mark of an Irish "black hand"? Sadly, not everything can be knowable. 

 

 

* * *

 

 

This photograph is a great example of two popular American pastimes, parades and fraternal societies. Once upon a time Americans loved the spectacle of parades, big or small, either watching one from the sidewalks or actually taking part as a marcher. Pick a newspaper from the 1890s at random and inevitably there is news about a parade. And every parade required a band to provide music. For this Hibernian celebration there were ten bands listed in the parade order. It was a source of pride for a community to have good bands, and in big cities like Syracuse there was a lot of work for professional musicians in accompanying an important parade.

 

This photo also illustrates how America's heritage was built by fraternal societies. These groups were originally formed as a means of self-protection and insurance against the many hardships America inflicted on immigrants and workers. The Irish-American gentlemen who marched on St. Patrick's day were celebrating more than just a Catholic tradition. The Ancient Order of Hibernians were demonstrating a patriotic connection to both old Ireland and their new home in America. It was a fun celebration, to be sure, but it was also a political statement as well, particularly since Ireland in this era was not free, but still an unwilling subject to Great Britain's monarch and parliamentary laws. In America the Irish could find freedom from the long history of English domination and repression. That deserved raising a toast to the American flag too.

 

After researching this photograph, I have reassessed a story I wrote in January 2018, Top Hats on Parade, about an unmarked postcard photo of a parade of men in top hats led by a British military band. At the time I speculated, based on the houses in the background, that the picture was taken in Canada. Now I think the men in black top hats could be a Canadian lodge of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.  

 

I can't resist adding some music to this story. One of the favorite tunes played by the bands on that St. Patrick's day was "The Wearing of the Green", a old Irish street ballad that laments the English suppression of the Irish Rebellion of 1798. The lyrics also describe an Irish rebel's exile to a free foreign land which might be France or America.

 

The melody can easily be played at a spirited tempo suitable for marching, but I bet later that evening after the parade the gentlemen of Division No. 8 sang the this song in a way not unlike this version recorded in 1912 by the celebrated Irish Tenor, John McCormack (1884–1945).

 

 

 

 

 Oh! Paddy, dear, an' did you hear the news that's going round,
The shamrock is by law forbid to grow on Irish ground.
No more Saint Patrick's Day we'll keep, his color can't be seen,
For there's a true law agin' the wearing of the green.

I met with Napper Tandy and he took me by the hand,
And he said "How's poor old Ireland? and how does she stand?"
She's the most distressful country that ever you have seen,
They're hanging men and women there for wearing of the green.
 

Then if the color we must wear is England's cruel red,
Let it remind us of the blood that all Ireland has shed.
Then take the shamrock from your hat and throw it on the sod,
But never fear, 'twill take root there, though under foot 'tis trod.

When the law can stop the blades of grass from growing as they grow,
And when the leaves in summer time, their colors dare not show,
Then I will change the color to I wear in my caubeen,
But 'till that day, praise God, I'll stick to wearin' o' the green.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where if you're not careful
somebody's liable to get poked in the eye.

 

The Little Vernon Brothers

 

It's a photograph with instant charm.
Three young boys, surely brothers,
pose for the camera in identical velvet suits
fringed with lacy collars and cuffs.
But it is their musical instruments
that really draw our attention.
The oldest boy plays a violin,
the middle one a piccolo,
and the youngest holds a cello
so much taller in proportion
that it looks like a double bass.

It's a peculiar trio of musical siblings
that I felt certain were part of a family of professional entertainers,
but frustratingly this unmarked cabinet card photo offered no clues
as to the photographer, the location, or the date,
much less the names of the three boys.

So for a few years their photo
languished in my collection
under the very large category–
Unknown Musicians.

Until I found a second copy of the photo.

 

 

Though badly cracked, chipped and faded
it was the exact same image of the three boys,
yet this photo had the trifecta of valuable information.
First and second place went to
the photographer's name and location:
S. E. Jessup
Marshalltown, Ia.

And the real prize was a penciled note on the back:

Sidney, Howard and Percy Vernon
Marshalltown Iowa

 

 

 

With these excellent clues I easily found them in the newspaper archives. On Monday evening, November 25th, 1889, the little Vernon Brothers gave a musical and literary entertainment at the Methodist church in Eldora, Iowa, 30 miles north of Marshalltown. Tickets were 25 cents; children, 15 cents.

 

 

Eldora IA Herald
22 November 1889

 

As found in the 1900 census, the full names for the little Vernon brothers were Sidney Clyde Vernon, born 1878 in Elgin, Ontario, Canada; Howard Alexander Vernon, born 1881 in Marshalltown, Iowa; and Percival Lessington Vernon, born 1884, also in Marshalltown. Their father was Edward Henry Vernon who listed his occupation in the 1881 Canadian census as accountant. The boys' mother was Mary Jerusha Vernon. She was born in Massachusetts but Edward H. Vernon was originally from London, England. 

 

Using the birth dates, I estimate the photo was taken around 1892, placing the brothers at ages 14, 11, and 8. This time frame fits with the boys' fancy attire too as this was when American mothers became enthralled with a boy's fashion fad, the Little Lord Fauntleroy suit. 

Poster for the play, Little Lord Fauntleroy,
Source: Library of Congress Archives

This fictional character came from the novel Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924). This rags to riches story was first published in serial form in St. Nicholas Magazine from November 1885 to October 1886. In 1888 the author adapted her popular novel for the stage and it first opened on May 1888 in London, and then on Broadway in December 1888. The plot follows Cedric Errol, a boy living in a poor New York City neighborhood with his recently widowed mother. One day they are approached by a lawyer who makes an offer from Cedric's wealthy English grandfather, estranged from his deceased son who chose to marry an American woman. The grandfather wishes to raise Cedric in England as his heir to an earldom. In return his mother will receive a house and a pension but her father-in-law still rejects her. Of course the boy changes his grandfather's heart and all is made good in the end. The novel and play were adapted to film several times and some critics have described Little Lord Fauntleroy as the Harry Potter of his time. 

The author's description and the illustrations of little Lord Fauntleroy popularized a fashion trend for boys of aristocratic velvet jackets and lace collars. Given that Mr. and Mrs. Vernon were also an English-American couple it's seems likely that Mary Vernon was inspired by the story to dress her talented sons in this fancy wardrobe. I don't know if there is a musical instrument in the story, but I have several photos in my collection of young musicians similarly attired. Take a look at my story from December 2017, Boys with Sticks 3.

 

 

A few years later I acquired another photo of the Vernon brothers. This one has them arranged in a different order and as if playing their instruments. The photographer is Burpee Studio of Beloit, Wisconsin. Mr. Burpee has conveniently added a note in the print, Copyright 1891, which is not common to find in cabinet card photos of this era but was probably considered important for photos produced for a commercial purpose. The two older boys, Sidney and Howard are noticeably shorter and their hair cut very short, though Percy has long wavy locks. I think they are a bit younger than the previous photo which is why I dated that one to 1892. The brothers are dressed differently here with velvet suits ornamented with elaborate cord knots in a kind of Germanic fashion.

 

 

Janesville WI Daily Gazette
27 February 1891

In 1891 when they posed for this picture the Vernon brothers were taken on a winter tour that lasted several weeks. This review appeared in the Janesville WI Daily Gazette on 27 February, and describes them as "musical prodigies". By this time the "little Vernon brothers" were experienced entertainers having presented numerous concerts in towns and cities far beyond their hometown of Marshalltown, Iowa. The boys, Sidney, Howard, and Percy played violin, piccolo, and cello respectively, but other instruments were never mentioned in reports. I believe they were usually accompanied by their mother, probably on piano or reed organ, and also sang songs, whistled, and did recitations of poetry. Almost all their concerts were modest entertainments confined to churches, Y.M.C.A. halls, and similar wholesome family venues. Very often there was a lecture/sermon by the church pastor. Like other small family bands of this era,  the Vernons never listed themselves as a vaudeville act and, as far as I know, they never performed in theatrical revues.

 

Tully NY Times
24 July 1897

 

Over the next few years from 1890 to 1899, the Vernon trio played in countless towns and cities from Nebraska to Massachusetts. Newspapers promoted their successful performances but only rarely gave reviews and those were always flattering and never critical. The boys' musical programs were never listed but it seems they did not play any classical fare, which is not rally surprising as Mozart didn't write any trios for violin, cello, and piccolo. Instead they performed well-known Sunday school songs and other light Christian music. Again like with most of the family bands of this era, the boys' ages were never accurately reported and newspapers always lowered their actual age by a few years. 

 

 

In this next photo the entire Vernon family posed for the camera. The photographer's imprint on the front of the cabinet card is The DeMorat Studio, but on the back it is H. B. Hansbury, the successor of  DeMorat on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It likely dates to 1893 to judge by the small change in the boys, especially with Percy. 

 

(The information on the Philadelphia photographer came from CabinetCardPhotographers, a terrific archive compiled by AnyJazz, a former regular blogger on Sepia Saturday.)

 

 

The Vernon brothers first appeared in Philadelphia in January 1893 and again in April 1894 so I think the photo was taken then. By their last performances in 1898-99 the newspapers reported that the Vernons had moved from Iowa to Philadelphia.

 

 

 

The photographer, or maybe the Vernons themselves, chose to display all their faces in a similar profile turned slightly right. It allows us to see the resemblance between Howard Vernon and his mother Mary, as well as between Sidney and his father Edward. The boys are still in knee breeches but the lace cuffs and collars are a bit subdued. Little Percy wears a gingham shirt tied at the neck with a colored ribbon bow. Clearly he was always the centerpiece for the brothers' show.

 

 

 

The last years of the group's musical career did not have as many concerts as in the early years. By 1899 Sidney was 21 years old, Howard 19, and Percy 15, and yet their notices continued to call them the little Vernon brothers. How the boys were educated is not clear, probably from lessons given by their mother. One reviewer noted that they claimed not have ambition to become professional musicians, so the family's mission was likely driven by other motives, probably related to their Christian faith. Curiously in the 1900 census, Mary J. Vernon and her three sons were living in Detroit, Michigan. She and the boys all listed their occupation as Music. Since Detroit is on the Canadian border, their father, Edward H. Vernon, may have been away in Ontario on business. Sadly Mary died in 1908 at age 53, and Edward in 1917 at about 63. 

 

 

 

It's interesting to compare the talented Vernon brothers to my stories of other traveling family bands. As a mostly string trio the Vernon brothers resemble the three Harry Sisters, who nearly match them in ages and also limited  their entertainments to just church venues.

The serious competition for groups like the Harry sisters and the Vernon brothers were larger family troupes that played America's theater circuits. On one occasion I found the Vernons playing in a town just as The Noss Family Band of Practice Makes Perfect were performing at the town's theater. And the notion of a young cellist smaller than their instrument was nothing novel as seen in my stories Sibling Rivalry, Two Young Cellists, and Master Harry Barreuther - Boy Cellist. In the last one, the Barreuther family orchestra/band began playing concerts in 1889 when little Harry Barreuther was only age 7. 

 

But none of them could match
Percy's awesome cuteness in his velvet and lace suit.

  

 

 

 

 

 

At this point I could stop
but there is more to the story
of the remarkable Vernon brothers
that deserves to be added as a coda.

Music was not their only common interest.   

 

* * *

 

 

 

Cleveland OH Plain Dealer
14 May 1903

 

In May 1903 the Cleveland Plain Dealer ran a short report on the front page with the headline: "Boy Preacher" is Ordained. From Chardon, Ohio, about 30 miles east of Cleveland, came the news that Rev. Howard A. Vernon was ordained a minister at the Chardon Baptist church. Though the reporter got his birth year wrong, it was 1881, not 1880, Howard A. Vernon became one of the youngest ministers in Ohio. He had begun study for the ministry at age sixteen and preached his first sermon at seventeen. 

 

Two months later in July 1903 it was announced that young Rev. Vernon was offered and accepted the position of assistant pastor at the Trinity Congregational church in Cleveland. The pastor said, "Rev. Mr. Vernon is a talented young man. He has been known as 'the boy preacher,' and has done evangelistic work for a number of years. He possesses unusual ability as a speaker, and undoubtedly will have a brilliant career in the profession which he has chosen. Mr. Vernon comes of a family of preachers, which makes his early success more easy to understand. The fact that he is a member of the Baptist Church will not interfere at all with his usefulness while serving us."

 

There was no mention of the piccolo.

 

 

 

Cincinnati OH Commercial Tribune
10 October 1918

Sometime after that, Rev. Mr. Howard A. Vernon was joined in the ministry by his brother Percy. In October  1918, a photo of Rev. Percival L. Vernon, pastor of the Columbia Baptist church in Cincinnati, Ohio was published with the news that he had been granted a leave of absence to enter war activities. During my research I uncovered his passport application which was needed for his service as a Y.M.C.A. chaplain for the American Expeditionary Force in Europe. 

It was not clear if he took his cello to France.

 

 

Davenport IA Daily Times
23 September 1919

Around this same time, the eldest brother, Sidney Clyde Vernon also took up a ministry position. In September 1919, the Daily Times of Davenport, Iowa, ran photos of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney C. Vernon who would be coming to the First Presbyterian church of Davenport as assistants to the pastor, in charge of young people's work and musical activities. Prior to this Sidney taught violin at the Baldwin-Wallace College conservatory of music. After his ordination, Rev. Sidney C. Vernon served several churches, finishing as the pastor of the Beachland Presbyterian church in Cleveland for over 25 years.

Rev. Sidney C. Vernon died at his home in East Cleveland, Ohio on ! October 1952. He was age 74. 

 

His brother, Rev. Dr. Howard A. Vernon died 17 July 1955 at his cabin on Bass Lake, near Brainerd, Minnesota where he had been the pastor of First Congregational church since 1944. He was 73.

The last and youngest Vernon brother, Rev. Percy L. Vernon, died 19 July 1979 at a nursing home in Natick, Massachusetts. Until his retirement he had been pastor of the United Baptist church in Lewiston, Maine for 19 years. Rev, Percy L. Vernon was 95.

 

 

 

 

It's intriguing to think how performing music influenced the Vernon brothers to each choose a  life of service as a church pastor. Certainly their parents' Christian faith played the most important part in guiding them to a higher calling, but learning music at such young ages taught them useful skills like public speaking and artistic discipline that doubtless proved valuable in their later careers. 

 

Though each brother settled in different parts of the country separated by long distance, I wonder if for special family occasions, did they ever play their instruments as they once had as young boys? Or maybe just whistle an old favorite song?     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where every trio has a story to tell.