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1873-1874
Chapter 17 Part 2
John attended a tableaux exhibition presented by Charles W. Sohier at the First Methodist-Episcopal Church in Lynn. Sohier spent the night at John's house, and their acquaintance resulted in a partnership through the winter and into the spring.
In November, John's company made a short tour, spending much time around Cape Ann. While Henry was a very popular singer, his reputation did not rest entirely on his vocal abilities.
At one time [ said John ] we were singing in Gloucester, on Cape Ann. The concert was in the town hall, and a large assembly was listening. There was a noise in the rear gallery. Some twelve or more fishermen roughs were there. I remarked: "If it is possible to preserve order we will go on." A clergyman of influence in the audience arose and said: "I propose to have order here." Just then Henry leaped from the stage, crossed the hall and went into the balcony. Grasping the ringleader of the party by the collar, he pulled him across the gallery and out through the rear door. I heard them rolling down the stairs together. He put him out of the door and came back a conqueror. The audience roared with delight.
In December, John and Henry, with Charles Sohier, went to New York. In January 1874, they moved on to Washington, taking part in the National Woman Suffrage Association convention. They kept busy, giving many of their concerts at Dr. Tiffany's Metropolitan Methodist-Episcopal Church. At some of the city's schools, Frederick Douglass spoke and John sang. The group stayed several days in Baltimore around the first of March.
"At one time [ said John ] we were singing in Gloucester": John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:63).
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Abby and Ludlow spent much of the winter traveling around the South. But while they were keeping warm, Brother Joshua was making his way through the snow and ice of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. He found himself, as usual, answering many questions about the family, from people who knew just enough to want to learn more. So he wrote a little book about his brothers and sisters, and by this time the text was complete.
Joshua selected a letter from William Lloyd Garrison as an introduction to his Brief Narrative of the Hutchinson Family.
Starting out as inexperienced minstrels on an untried experiment as to what their success might be, even under favorable auspices, they had every conceivable worldly and professional inducement either wholly to stand aloof from the maligned "abolition agitation," and give themselves exclusively to the singing of sentimental and mirth-provoking songs, or else to cater to the overwhelming pro-slavery sentiment that everywhere prevailed; but they were proof against all temptations. Whether they should sing to thin or to crowded houses, to approving or deriding listeners, or whether they should evoke a hospitable or a mobocratic
The most often-quoted passage of Garrison's letter is this:
Never before has the singing of ballads been made directly and purposely subservient to the freedom, welfare, happiness, and moral elevation of the people. Let the example become contagious!
"Starting out as inexperienced minstrels on an untried experiment": William Lloyd Garrison to Joshua Hutchinson, Boston, April 3, 1874, in Joshua Hutchinson, A Brief Narrative of the Hutchinson Family (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1874), 5-7.
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Joshua was a modest man and seldom wrote about himself. More may be learned about him from John's book than from his own. But in his Brief Narrative, Joshua said a little about his career.
[I]t has been my constant desire not to detract from the Hutchinson fame. I have studied to render the song or ballad the best I could; and when the surroundings have been propitious, have had a consciousness of being successful. I have given, probably, fifty public entertainments, on an average, per year, for thirty years past, being sometimes assisted by other voices - or entirely alone. Besides this, I have taught some fifty or sixty schools.
" . . . I had three children," wrote Joshua, "two sons and one daughter, happily gifted in melody. The youngest son died at the age of four; the little daughter at one year.
"My oldest son served in the war, and now has a little quartette of three sons and one daughter, being trained for future development."
In his book, Joshua told of a time, a few years earlier, when he thanked the poet John G. Whittier for his great work in the cause of universal freedom. "If I have done good," said Whittier, "I am glad; if I have done harm, I am sorry."
Joshua's booklet was issued in the early summer of 1874. He told John that the main criticism of his Brief Narrative, as far as he had heard, was that it was quite brief. John had plans to assist with this problem. Toward the back appears an outline of a book that he intended to write. John had been keeping journals most of the time since 1844; and we might infer from his daughter's memoir that, from the beginning, he was thinking about writing a family history.
John's company was still in the midst of a long series of appearances, with Washington serving as their base of operations. "On Monday, the 23rd of March," he said, "the Woman's Christian Association began a week of prayer in Washington. The great temperance crusade, which resulted in the formation of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, had been inaugurated in Ohio the preceding year, by Dr. Dio Lewis. At this time the movement reached Washington in full flame." On the first evening, John's group sang between speeches at a big meeting held in the Foundry Methodist-Episcopal Church.
On April 2, John was a guest of the sculptor Vinnie Ream. Of course he sang. "I selected 'The Blue and the Gray,' a song commemorating the act of the women of Columbus, Miss., who on Memorial Day strewed flowers alike on the graves of Confederate and National
"It has been my constant desire not to detract from": Joshua Hutchinson, A Brief Narrative of the Hutchinson Family (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1874), 59-60.
A recent page on the World Wide Web adds to the literature on Joshua Hutchinson's career. A reminiscence by Nellie T. Gifford of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, reports that Joshua gave a number of concerts at Adin Ballou's Hopedale Community and that he taught a singing school there one winter. Source: Nellie T. Gifford, Fitchburg, MA, n.d., in "hoperemNGifford," www.oocities.org/daninhopedale/hoperemNGifford.html, accessed March 28, 2006.
Thanks to Prestonia Mann Martin scholar Enid Mastrianni for calling this Web page to my attention.
"My oldest son served in the war, and now has a little quartette": Joshua Hutchinson, A Brief Narrative of the Hutchinson Family (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1874), 26.
Justin Edwards Hutchinson was buried at St. Patrick's cemetery in Amherst, New Hampshire.
Gravestones of Joshua's wife and their other children may be missing.
Joshua and Irene Hutchinson, as mentioned in an earlier note, also adopted a son, who they named Louis Kossuth Hutchinson.
"In his book, Joshua told of a time, a few years earlier": Joshua Hutchinson, A Brief Narrative of the Hutchinson Family (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1874), 64.
"Joshua's booklet was issued in the early summer of 1874": Joshua's Brief Narrative must have been issued after Garrison's April 3 letter, but before Joshua wrote to John on August 6.
"He told John that the main criticism of his Brief Narrative": Joshua Hutchinson to John W. Hutchinson, New Boston, NH, August 6, 1874, in John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:354-355).
"John had been keeping journals most of the time since 1844": Viola Hutchinson Campbell, Memories of a Busy Life (Plymouth, Mass.: privately printed
John's book took two decades to complete and turned out to be quite different from the one he originally proposed; but that is another story.
"On Monday, the 23rd of March, he said, the Woman's Christian Association": John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:37).
For a brief account of the great women's temperance crusade of 1873-1874, see Jack S. Blocker, Jr., American Temperance Movements: Cycles of Reform (Boston: Twayne, 1989, paperback), 74-79. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union was founded at a convention in Cleveland, Ohio, November 18-20, 1874.
"I selected The Blue and the Gray, a song commemorating the act": John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:39).
The lyrics were drawn from the poem, "The Blue and the Gray," by Francis Miles Finch; John contributed the music.
Wilson Ludlow Scott, a descendant of Sister Rhoda, at one time worked as a Washington, DC, newspaper reporter. Once, when covering a presentation by suffragist and sculptor Adelaide Johnson, she showed to her audience a likeness of a bust she had sculpted of John W. Hutchinson. If you know the whereabouts of this sculpture and would be willing to share your information, please e-mail us by way of the contact link near the bottom of the page.
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No more shall the war-cry sever, Or the winding rivers be red; They banish our anger forever When they laurel the graves of our dead! Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the Judgment Day Love and tears for the Blue Tears and love for the Gray. |
Confederate generals were present. "When I had finished singing the song the three Confederates rose simultaneously and shook my hand heartily. 'Mr. Hutchinson,' they remarked, 'that song is a passport for you anywhere in the South.'"
John's troupe traveled to Richmond for a show at the Virginia Opera House, which took place during a heavy storm.
The last hour of the concert [ said the Richmond Despatch ]
John was back in New York in time for the May anniversaries. Then his company split up. Joshua arrived with Rhoda's daughter, Nellie Gray. "He was confident of success," said John, "and had a right to be, for Nellie had a beautiful voice, which simply astonished me by its sweetness." Joshua, Nellie, John, and Fanny gave several concerts; and Henry sang with them on the 11th at the National Temperance Society anniversary in Steinway Hall.
All this time, Abby and Ludlow had been traveling in the South. One journalist lamented that Abby was not able to lend her voice to the temperance crusade in Washington.
Her health has been delicate for some time and she is now in Florida, writing home glowing letters from beneath the blooming magnolias. She is still a beautiful woman, with that soul beauty which lights up her great shining eyes, and flushes her pale cheeks at times into something far more attractive than mere rose and lily flesh and blood can give. Her tiny frame vibrates with every emotion when she
"When I had finished singing the song the three Confederates rose": John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:40).
"The last hour of the concert
"He was confident of success, said John, and had a right to be": John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:43-44). Cf. "Nellie Gray, the bright, rising star of this family, never shone brighter than on this occasion, and she received a rapturous encore." Source: "The Hutchinson Concert," Amherst, NH, Farmers' Cabinet, n.d., in John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:60).
"Her health has been delicate for some time and she is now": Marie LeBaron, St. Louis Globe, n.d., in John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:41).
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In April, Abby and Ludlow started for New Orleans and then traveled up the Mississippi on their way home, where they visited with various Hutchinsons and Pattons. Then they made a quick trip to Milford. Time was tight, for they planned to leave on the first leg of a tour that would last a couple years.
On Saturday, May 16, 1874, Abby, Ludlow, and Rev. William Patton, sailed for Liverpool. "Henry and I," said John, "stood on the pier as the Adriatic steamed away. It seemed as if we were never to see her again."
Abby sent many wonderful letters to her family and friends. "Old Ireland and the Shamrock gave my heart a great shaking," she wrote, "and we saw one of the prettiest green countries of the world while there." From Edinburgh, Scotland, she told Henry to read Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake, to become acquainted with the scenes she had visited. "Oh Henry, life and death, love and hate, trust and jealousy went on then just as now; and the great human heart beats just as grandly to-day as ever."
By July 1, the Pattons were in London, staying with family on Abbey Road. On the 4th, they sailed up the Thames with Loftus and Emily Patton Perkins. "Whole crowds of young men," wrote Abby, "in what I call a decided undress. Nothing on but under-vests and white flannel pantaloons, their arms bared to the shoulder, their legs bare from the knee to near the ankle."
All the while, Sister Abby was visiting with old friends from the Hutchinson Family concert tour in the 1840s.
They do not know me as a rule, for I was only sixteen when we were here
Next, Abby and Ludlow sailed to Italy - which they seem to have used as their departure point for tours of Europe and Africa. By the end of August they reached Switzerland. On the 25th, Abby wrote to Henry from Lucerne. "None of you will know us when we get home with our European accomplishments."
That summer, Joshua and John made a singing trip through the White Mountains. In the fall, with Walter Kittredge, they sang in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts. Later, John, Fanny, and Henry began a trip through Portsmouth and up to Portland, giving successful concerts along the way.
"In April, Abby and Ludlow started for New Orleans and then": Abby Hutchinson Patton to Henry J. Hutchinson, Magnolia, FL, April 7, 1874, in John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:368-369).
"On Saturday, May 16, 1874, Abby, Ludlow, and Rev. William Patton": "In Steam-Ship Adriatic, for Liverpool," New York Times, May 17, 1874, p. 5, col. 2.
It is puzzling, but a March 1875 New York Times article placed Abby at a Sorosis meeting in New York in 1875, at a time when we would otherwise understand her to be on the other side of the Atlantic. A case of mistaken identity? A brief stop home? Several years later, the Loftus Perkins who is mentioned here in the main text was the proud owner of the Anthracite, a famous steam-powered yacht of his own invention that, we are told, astonished observers by the speed with which it could zip across the Atlantic. Was this Abby sighting by a New York Times reporter evidence of an early experiment in Perkins-style high-powered steam power? A case of mistaken identity does seem most likely. Nonetheless, the Times article does raise an intriguing question that we confess we cannot answer. For the specific reference, see "The Sorosis Dinner," New York Times, March 16, 1875, p. 10 cols. 3-4.
"Henry and I, said John, stood on the pier as the Adriatic": John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:44).
"Old Ireland and the Shamrock gave my heart a great shaking": Abby Hutchinson Patton to Henry J. Hutchinson, Edinburgh, June 4, 1874, in John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:369-370).
During their tour, the Pattons published numerous letters about their travels in American newspapers. Much of Abby's correspondence ran in the Portland Weekly Transcript. Many of Ludlow's letters appeared in the Milford Enterprise.
Ludlow liked to use a variety of pseudonyms, such as Brother Jonathan, Traveler, Visitor, and Nottap Woldul - Ludlow Patton spelled backwards.
A collection of Abby's correspondence was stolen - not for the letters, themselves, but rather for the bag they were in. See John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:44). Through one cause or another, very many of her known papers have been lost to researchers. This is but one of many examples.
"Whole crowds of young men, wrote Abby, in what I call": Abby Hutchinson Patton to Henry J. Hutchinson, London, July 5, 1874, in John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:370-373).
"They do not know me as a rule, for I was only sixteen": Abby Hutchinson Patton to Henry J. Hutchinson, London, July 5, 1874, in John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:370-373).
"None of you will know us when we get home": Abby Hutchinson Patton to Henry J. Hutchinson, Lucerne, Switzerland, September 25, 1874, in John J. Hutchinson (1896, 2:373-374).
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In recent years, Asa was content to live a farmer's life; and his musical engagements concentrated on those that involved singing for causes, such as woman suffrage and the Vineyard Church building fund. On May 8, his company began a tour to benefit the Minnesota Temperance Union. Later, the original one-month engagement was extended to the end of the year.
Their December appearances took place along the railroad line from Ramsey Junction to LaCrosse. "Our temperance work," wrote Lizzie, "is going on nobly." "Since the days have grown too short to hold day meetings Brother Satterlee, the State Agent, goes on in advance of us, giving stirring lectures, and making arrangements for our concerts. We follow with songs, taking a fee at the door, for the expense of the Temperance Union. Although times are hard, and money scarce, the people are doing well for
[O]n the way to the Church [ wrote Rev. W. W. Satterlee ] we all stopped into the parsonage of the
Lizzie Hutchinson was stricken with paralysis and died on Sunday, December 20, 1874. "She was a woman of remarkable sweetness of disposition," said the Minneapolis Mail, "and the impress of her Christian example will be felt on all who knew her."
On December 23, Lizzie Hutchinson's funeral took place at the home of her daughter, Abby Anderson. After a brief service, the procession moved to the Vineyard Church, where a large crowd was waiting. She was buried in the cemetery at Hutchinson.
"On May 8, his company began a tour to benefit": W. W. Satterlee, In Memoriam: The Power and Blessing of a True Womanhood, Illustrated in the Life, Labors and Death of Mrs. Elizabeth C. Hutchinson, of the Hutchinson Family, (Tribe of Asa) (Minneapolis: Johnson and Smith, 1875). It appears to be reasonably certain that this is Rev. William Wilson Satterlee, author of the utopian Looking Backward and What I Saw (1890) and other works.
"Our temperance work, wrote Lizzie, is going on nobly": Elizabeth C. Hutchinson, "Something from Beth,"
"On the way to the Church [ wrote Rev. W. W. Satterlee ] we all stopped": W. W. Satterlee, In Memoriam: The Power and Blessing of a True Womanhood, Illustrated in the Life, Labors and Death of Mrs. Elizabeth C. Hutchinson, of the Hutchinson Family, (Tribe of Asa) (Minneapolis: Johnson and Smith, 1875).
"She was a woman of remarkable sweetness of disposition": "Death of Mrs. Asa B. Hutchinson," New York Times, December 25, 1874, p. 5 cols. 2-3; originally published in the Minneapolis (MN) Mail, n.d.
"Her willingness, said Rev. Satterlee, to work and labor": W. W. Satterlee, In Memoriam: The Power and Blessing of a True Womanhood, Illustrated in the Life, Labors and Death of Mrs. Elizabeth C. Hutchinson, of the Hutchinson Family, (Tribe of Asa) (Minneapolis: Johnson and Smith, 1875). Cf. "He Giveth His Beloved Sleep," s.l.: s.n., n.d., in Item 77r, Ludlow Patton's Hutchinson Family Scrapbook, Wadleigh Memorial Library, Milford, New Hampshire.
"On December 23, Lizzie Hutchinson's funeral took place at the home": W. W. Satterlee, In Memoriam: The Power and Blessing of a True Womanhood, Illustrated in the Life, Labors and Death of Mrs. Elizabeth C. Hutchinson, of the Hutchinson Family, (Tribe of Asa) (Minneapolis: Johnson and Smith, 1875).
Elizabeth Chace Hutchinson (1828-1874)
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Behold the day of promise comes, full of inspiration The blessed day by prophets sung for the healing of the nation Old midnight errors flee away, they soon will all be gone While heavenly angels seem to say the good time's coming on
The good time, the good time, the good time's coming on The good time, the good time, the good time's coming on |
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Brattleboro, Vermont: Published by the author. 2006, 2007.
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