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486 Ballads and Songs of Michigan
was brought to Michigan from Ohio when he was a baby and who, in turn, had learned many songs from his father.
Mrs. Charles Cleary, Ypsilanti, is a cultured woman, past middle age, who grew up in St Clair, where she learned many songs in singing school and at social gatherings. Most of her songs are too late and too sentimental to be included.
Mrs. Emelme Jenks Crampton, St. Clair, like her sister, Mrs. Charles Cleary, Ypsilanti, was a cultured woman. During her early life she wrote down the songs she heard and wanted to remember. Mrs. Cleary loaned us the manuÂscript, but as most of the songs were of a late, sentimental type, they are not included in the collection.
Mrs. William Durfee was a middle-aged Irish woman in 1916; she was born on a farm near Hillsdale, where she had spent most of her life until she went to Ypsilanti for the education of her children. Mrs. Durfee had learned her songs from her parents and from acquaintances about Hillsdale.
Mr. Bert Eddy, of middle age, was running an up-to-date gas station in Romeo in 1930. During his early life he had some acquaintance with lumber camps and while in them had picked up a few songs. He much preferred, however, to sing late songs, some of them his own compositions, in memory of happy deer-hunting parties.
Mr. Otis Evilsizer is a farmer near Alger. He learned most of his songs from hearing them sung by his father. See Introduction, pp. 7-8.
Mr. Seth Evilsizer, who died in 1934 at the age of eighty-two at the home of his son near Alger, had known, before his memory failed, many old ballads learned m his youth, which was spent among country folk near Zanesville, Ohio.
Mrs. Jim Fisher was a middle-aged farmer's wife living near Kalkaska before her death in 1935. She was born near Wauseon, Ohio, in 1868, and had learned most of her songs there before moving to Michigan in 1878.
Mrs. Frank Gamsby, Saranac, was born of English parents about seventy years ago in Cookshire, Quebec, Canada, and moved to Saranac in 1902. Her songs were learned in her childhood from older brothers and an older sister.
Gernsey manuscript (The). See note on Mrs. William Warner.
Mr. Russell Gore, of The Detroit News, published in the feature section of that paper, April 29, 1934, a story containing several lumber-camp songs which Mr. W. S. Gilmore, the editor, gave us permission to reprint.
Mr. Emery W. Haras was born in Erie County, Pennsylvania, in 1847. He moved to Kalamazoo County, Michigan, in 1852 and lived there for twenty years, except for two years spent in Missouri just after the Civil War. In 1872 he went to Greenville, Michigan, where he now lives with his middle-aged son. Only a few winters ago Mr. Haras drove to Missouri with his horse and covered wagon. Most of his songs were learned in Michigan, a few in Missouri. Mr. Haras used to be a great "fiddler" and often played at dances. He has a very good memory, reads a great deal, and discusses many topics interestingly.
Mr. Aristus Tissle Heikes was born in York Springs, Pennsylvania, in 1855; he moved to Windsor, Indiana, in 1868, where he learned most of his songs. In 1901 he moved to Michigan and died in Kalkaska in 1935. Mr. Heikes did |
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