Voice and Spirit, it seems to me, tells the first 30 years of Alleghanians history in one place for the first time ever, complete with some detail and with documentation of information sources.  Please correct me if this is wrong.

The scale of this first, booklet-length edition of this Alleghanians biography falls into some middle ground.  It is disappointing, on the one hand, that we have nowhere near as much information about the Alleghanians as we have about the Hutchinson Family.  It would be hard to overemphasize this disparity.  On the other hand, this first edition turned out to be six times the length I originally projected.  Looked at this way, the first edition proved to be highly encouraging.  The initial rough draft of a second edition is a good deal more extensive still.  If, in addition to my own fact-finding, we can now tap the interactive power of the Internet for all it is worth and get to swapping information with even more researchers who have related interests, perhaps an expanded second edition of Voice and Spirit can bring the full Alleghanians story into the twenty-first century.

Dr. Jason Rockwood Orton, the author of the passage quoted above in this note, was a friend and colleague of the Alleghanians.  In addition to writing a capsule biography of the group up to the summer of 1850, he also contributed lyrics for Alleghanians songs, "Our Glorious Union Forever" being arguably the best.  He was a frequent contributor to the Message Bird, which figures in the information source citation posted in the first paragraph of this footnote.  Dr. Orton was a social reformer who may be best remembered today for his concern over the treatment of Native Americans.

Evidently discussions of the idea of changing the name of the country raged from March to May, 1845.  This was a full year before the Alleghanians vocal group was founded, but apparently something of this notion still resonated with Oakley, Boulard, and Dunning in the spring of 1846.  The then-new spelling, "Alleghania," has been attributed to Henry B. Tuckerman.

"Oh! It Was Not My Own Native Land" seems to be the original title of this essential Alleghanians song, but group members for some reason tended to call it "Our Dear Native Land."  Either way, this is one of the most interesting songs the company regularly performed.

Both of these versions of "My Own Native Land" already existed in 1846 when the Alleghanians first started giving public concerts, but evidently it was not until 1852 that the quartet began singing this song, and by all appearances they performed the William B. Bradbury version.

The "Rayners," a vocal group that was named in this notice, was actually the famed Rainer Family, also known as the Rainers and as the Tyrolese Minstrels.

The passage cited above, in this footnote, quoted an unnamed individual  -  William H. Oakley would be my guess  -  as saying, "I have engaged a quartette of vocalists, who gave three concerts in this city last month, under the title of Alleghanians, and have added to them a lady who possesses three qualities, likely to win favor with the 'pensive public,' viz. a rich contralto voice, good looks, and an ardent desire to please."  From there, though, the passage switched to future tense, speaking of what the quintet will do.  This change of tense is worth considering further.

A distinction is to be made between items such as concert advertisements and announcements, which note what is anticipated or expected in the future, and other items, such as concert reviews, news articles, histories, and biographies, which report, one would hope, what has actually happened in the past.  Since the Knickerbocker article switches to future tense when speaking of the Alleghanians as a quintet, we should not be too quick to judge that the group actually did become and continue to be a quintet from thereon.  Such sources as sheet music cover illustrations and press notices, collectively, imply that this concert company was a quartet more often than not; and a later Alleghanians songster says that in 1846 and evidently in the extensive tour of the United States and Canada that followed, the Alleghanians was "organized as a Quartette."  Source: Alleghanians, The Alleghanians, Vocalists and Swiss Bell Ringers' Songster: Sketches and Travels ([New York?]: s.n., [1873?]), 3.

The Knickerbocker article cited in this note refers importantly to someone named Corbyn.  Previously this has been taken to be a reference to Wardle Corbyn, a pioneering entertainment promoter.  It seems reasonable enough.  There was also a New York City music publisher named William Corbyn who, in fact, published a number of pieces that, in the coming years, would be sung by the Alleghanians.  So William Corbyn cannot be ruled out as a possible match for the Corbyn named in this Knickerbocker article.  William Corbyn was actually my own first thought.

Wardle Corbyn is a particularly interesting candidate, for a variety of reasons.  By all appearances, he was already professionally connected by this time with actress, singer, and soon-to-be Alleghanian Carrie Hiffert.  Also, late in life, Wardle Corbyn was based in England.  James M. Boulard led concert companies to the United Kingdom at least twice in this period.  It would be interesting, indeed, if we were to learn that Wardle Corbyn was somehow involved in these tours, most likely as a promoter.

Members of the Hutchinson Family, from the start, thought and felt that they were on a music-sweetened moral reform mission.  They wrote in journal books, saved stacks of press clippings and other memorabilia, and took whatever steps came to mind to ensure that their lives, music, career, and reform efforts would be set down in writing, as well as captured in countless photographs and sketches, for their generation and for many generations to come.  The idea of being remembered in the near and distant future did not seem to weigh anywhere near as heavily on the minds of the Alleghanians.

Again, it is quite possible and even likely that this group spokesman was founding member and leader of the Alleghanians, William H. Oakley.

If you know the name of the "pianist of considerable talent" who accompanied the Alleghanians in these early days and you would be willing to share what you know, please e-mail us by way of the contact link near the bottom of the Web page.  This quite possibly could prove to be very important information.

The quote included in the main text is part of a passage which says that, in 1846 and evidently in the extensive tour of the United States and Canada that followed, the Alleghanians was "organized as a Quartette."  The timeline used in this project, as far as it goes, suggests that the "extensive tour of the United States and Canada" included the 1847-1848 concert season.  In other words, those "liberal offers" did not necessarily come all at once after the group first started giving concerts in the New York City area.

Regarding this song's notion that "There's not a heart in all the land That beats not firm and steady For the hero of the Rio Grande Old gallant Rough and Ready," it is notable that, during the 1848 presidential campaign, the Hutchinson Family sang the song, "We'll Never Vote for Taylor."  Apparently their heartbeats were something other than "firm and steady."

James M. Boulard was said to have come originally from Worcester County, Massachusetts, which seems suitably vague.  It appears, though, that his birth family moved from one Worcester County community to another at least once, which may, in part, explain why no specific town has been named.   I expect to report back if and when this firms up, but I believe I may have found members of Boulard's family in Worcester County, Massachusetts, in the United States Census.

If you know the names of James M. Boulard's parents and you would be willing to share your information, please e-mail us by way of the contact link near the bottom of the Web page.   I may have found Boulard's mother in the United States Census, but I do not have enough information to be certain of a match.  At present too much guesswork is involved, and I am hoping to compare notes with someone who believes she/he knows the identity of James M. Boulard's parents.

How much interest there may be in Boulard's family history would be hard to say.  But members of his marriage family were very much in the news around the turn of the 20th century.  One of these news stories centered on a court case which was ultimately decided, adversely, by the United States Supreme Court.  One of the all-time most famous U.S. Supreme Court associate justices, Oliver Wendell Holmes, dissented from the majority in this decision.

The name actually given in this obituary is "Fanny Hiffert," but currently available indications make it seem highly unlikely that there was anyone by that name in the 1840s New York entertainment community.  Hiffert is and has been a rare surname in the United States, and this is one of the less common spellings: Heffert, for instance, is or at least was a good deal more common, and for some reason the Google search engine often prefers Hoffert over Hiffert.  Chances are very strong, to say the least, that the "Fanny" Hiffert named in the Miriam Goodenow Robb obituary in the Chicago Tribune was actually Carrie Hiffert.

This work follows the thought that Carrie Hiffert sang as a member of the Alleghanians for two years or more in the late 1840s.

The question of when in the 1840s Carrie Hiffert left the group and when subsequently Miriam G. Goodenow joined is of tremendous importance to Alleghanians history.  Carrie was second only to James M. Boulard as the longest-running member of the company, while Miriam may have been the group's all-time most critically acclaimed member.  In the period 1850 to 1852, the Alleghanians was probably the top American vocal group of its kind, built largely on the singing ability and star power of Miriam G. Goodenow.

It is now my belief that Carrie sang as a member of the Alleghanians from 1846 or 1847 to 1848 or, more likely, the early months of 1849, and that Miriam G. Goodenow joined the group probably sometime in 1849.

Another matter is worth noting.  In this study, so far, the earliest published reference found that unambiguously identified Miriam G. Goodenow as a member of the Alleghanians is from the year 1850.  It is Alleghanians, Songs and Quartettes, Sung by the Alleghanians ([New York]: Message Bird Office, 1850), 1, 1n.  At the bottom of the Copyright Office's deposit copy is the handwritten note, "Deposited in the Clerk's Office So. Dist. N.Y. Sept. 3, 1850."  Earlier documentation of Miriam Goodenow's membership in the Alleghanians is very much needed.

Carrie Hiffert, back in the fall of 1846, was working with one W. Corbyn, who may have been Wardle Corbyn and who also may have been the "Corbyn" mentioned in the Alleghanians-related passages of The Knickerbocker; or, New York Monthly Magazine, August 1846, p. 188.  It is worth keeping in mind that also in the fall of 1846 Wardle Corbyn was collaborating with a very important musician of the day, George Loder.

One thing that is really amazing is that most Alleghanians literature has not mentioned Carrie Hiffert at all.   I, personally, do not recall ever hearing of her until Kati Szego listed the group's membership from the time the Alleghanians sang in Honolulu in 1859.

A Copyright Office deposit copy of the sheet music for the "Alleghanians Boat Glee" is intriguing. (It is one of two copies which currently can be accessed via the Library of Congress' perfectly amazing American Memory website.)  Handwriting at the bottom says, "Deposited in the Clerk's Office So. Dist. N.Y. Oct. 1, 1849."  The lower three illustrations are of William H. Oakley, James M. Boulard, and Richard Dunning, not necessarily in that order.  The picture at the top is the woman who looks to me so much like Carrie Hiffert that I am quite convinced this is who she is.   A big "X" is drawn through the illustration of the woman.  The "X" is just low enough, just far enough off-center to allow for the usual ambiguity; but it would certainly be my reading that, by October 1, 1849, someone involved with the Alleghanians was literally crossing out references to Carrie Hiffert.

The latest copyright deposit copies of Alleghanians scores I know of, prior to the crossing-out episode and bearing the same cover illustrations, are "Our Home Is on the Mountain's Brow," which was deposited October 4, 1848, and "I Wandered by the Brookside," which was deposited September 25, 1848.  So it seems to me that a good place in time to start looking for evidence of the transition from Carrie Hiffert to Miriam G. Goodenow as the Alleghanians female vocalist would be the period from October 4, 1848, to October 1, 1849.

A detailed Alleghanians timeline is in the very earliest of early stages of development.  If you have data regarding births, deaths, marriages, and the hugely more numerous concert appearances and you would be willing to share your information, please e-mail us by way of the contact link toward the bottom of the Web page.

In the case of concert engagements, it is not always necessary that you know the year.  Often we can calculate the year with certainty, depending on how much other information we have.  Say, for instance, we know that the Alleghanians, featuring James M. Boulard, Richard Dunning, Miriam G. Goodenow, and William H. Oakley, gave a concert at the spacious Broadway Tabernacle in New York City on Monday evening, January 5, but we are not told the year.  From the makeup of the group, we can narrow the range down to the years 1848 to 1852.  These four singers never performed together in any other years.  Even 1848 may be unlikely.  We then use a perpetual calendar to figure in what years January 5 fell on a Monday.  The answers I get from my perpetual calendar, around the right time, are 1846, 1852, and 1857.  We can easily rule out the first and the last years. The group had not been organized yet by January 1846.  Miriam Goodenow, sadly, was deceased before 1857.  So the year calculates to be 1852; and that, indeed, is right.  The Alleghanians did, in fact, have a very big concert at the Broadway Tabernacle on Monday evening, January 5, 1852.

So if you have, say, a concert bill or you have an advertisement clipped or copied from a newspaper and it has good details but those details do not include the year, chances are quite solid that we can accurately calculate the year based on the details you do have.  Even if we can not be sure of the year, we can still note the event at several possible points in the timeline for future consideration.  If you have information that you would be willing to share, then, please do not let the lack of the year keep you from doing your sharing.

Perhaps with help from visitors to these Alleghanians Web pages we can pull together a better concert itinerary, along with other details that would go into a full-fledged Alleghanians timeline.  Dated or datable lists of members of the group would also be very helpful.   A more detailed timeline could make future research a great deal easier which, in turn, would help us sort out the lives and career of this fascinating vocal group.

"Sloman" refers to Jane Sloman.  Some sources, for some reason, credit this music to Charles Sloman, though no source I have seen says why.

Recently published album notes by Professor Dale Cockrell of Vanderbilt University speak of the "Roll On Silver Moon" verses as having been printed in England "some years before" Jane Sloman set them to a new tune.  Source: Various Artists, The Arkansas Traveler: Music From Little House on the Prairie (CD, Pa's Fiddle Recordings PFR 0168-2, 2006).  The ages of many songs which were early recorded on broadsides may be measured in centuries rather than years, but evidently "Roll On Silver Moon" may not be an example.  The lyrics were printed at various times under several somewhat different titles.

Dale Cockrell has produced two delightful albums so far in his "Little House"/Pa's Fiddle compact disc series:  Happy Land and the recent The Arkansas Traveler.   A fine recording of "Roll On Silver Moon," performed by Judith Edelman and the Blair String Quartet, appears on The Arkansas Traveler.

Concert programs show that members of the Alleghanians were, indeed, fond of singing songs by, or commonly associated with, the Hutchinson Family.  They also liked songs sung by the Baker Family.  On the other hand, the Hutchinsons drew important elements of their vocal style and stage manner from the Rainer Family, John W. Hutchinson borrowed many songs from the repertoire of Henry Russell, and the Hutchinsons liked performing the music of John C. Baker of the Baker Family.  There is nothing at all remarkable about the Alleghanians singing material connected with the Hutchinson Family.  John's annoyance, as expressed in the passage quoted in the main text, must have had more to do with how very competitive, to his mind, the Alleghanians were with the Hutchinsons.  This was not a group to be taken lightly.

Certain Worldcat database records, which can be found when searching for the serial publication, the Message Bird, include the line, "Musical world (M. T. Brockelbank and Company) - Indexes."  This could be taken to mean or suggest that, at some point, M. T. Brockelbank may have been the proprietor or publisher of the Musical World, a journal connected with Oliver Dyer.  This publication was titled, at various times, the Message Bird, the Musical World and Journal of the Fine Arts, and, more simply, the Musical World.

If you know the full name of M. T. Brockelbank or have other details of his life and career and you would be willing to share your information, please e-mail us by way of the contact link toward the bottom of the page.

A good part of the point of this booklet is to set the stage for an expanded second edition, after compiling more information about the Alleghanians, the group's members, and their associates.  If further research goes well, many details may be added and many points may be clarified by then.  Carrie Hiffert's comings and goings from the Alleghanians could use some clarification.

It is my belief that "Miss Carrie Hiffert" was actually married and later widowed.  It looks, at the present moment, as though Carrie may have received unsettling news from home, while she was on tour, not long before the time when I believe she left the Alleghanians, in or quite close to the spring of 1849.

With a lot more work and maybe a little luck, as President Kennedy said, we will know more later.

Notice that the passage quoted in the main text makes no mention of the women who preceded Miriam Goodenow, though we know that several did, nor mention of any woman singing alongside her in her early days with the Alleghanians, though we know, for instance, that in Hartford in early 1850 the group included two female vocalists.

It certainly would have been delightful of the Alleghanians if they had ever said how it came to be that a girl based in upstate New York, not far from Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, was recruited into a New York City professional vocal group made up of three much older men.   A Chicago Tribune obituary spoke of the invitation for Miriam Goodenow to join the Alleghanians as being a surprise, and it made reference to varying opinions "entertained respecting the propriety of a young lady brought up in a secluded part of the country, a comparative stranger to the world, destitute of experience, entering upon a life surrounded with the most refined and fascinating temptations. . . . "   Source: "Obituary: The Late Mrs. Robb, Formerly Miss Goodenow," Chicago Daily Tribune, April 30, 1856, p. 3.

The particulars of how Oakley, Boulard, and Dunning became acquainted with Miriam Goodenow may make for an interesting story.  But since we are left to guess, my guess is that the men of the Alleghanians learned of Miriam's talent simply by hearing her sing in or near her hometown.  It is known, for instance, that the troupe was through her home area, or at least quite nearby, in late October or early November 1848.  Later, when the Alleghanians needed a soprano, they recalled one they really liked, Miriam G. Goodenow.  This would be my guess.

It is my belief that the writer of Miriam's Chicago Tribune obituary erred in reporting that she was in her 19th year when she joined the Alleghanians.  At this point, it appears highly likely that, instead, Miriam Goodenow may have been age 19 when she became a member of this vocal group.  Just as one becomes age 1 after one's first year, one becomes age 19 after one's nineteenth year.  It seems to me the obituary writer may have been confused on this point.

A quick search of genealogy sites and other postings on the World Wide Web, along with a search of my own files, did not locate Miriam G. Goodenow's exact date of birth.  She was recorded as age 21 in the 1850 United States Census, which figures out to a birth year of 1828 or 1829.