Joshua and his twin brother Caleb Hutchinson (1811-1854) were born at Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, on Monday, November 25, 1811. By 1816, they were marching through the fields, roads, and paths near the old Mont Vernon homestead, Caleb bugling and Joshua beating the double quick on an old tin pan. They became known as the "twin buglers," using household items to imitate band instruments. "On several occasions," said Joshua, "our services were engaged at trainings and public festivities. On one occasion, father put us on the steps of the town-house, and as we struck up some of our stirring marches the multitude gathered round, and were almost wild in their admiration." As a youth, Joshua sang in village festivities - evidently in the 1820s, possibly even earlier.

In 1835, Joshua married Irene Fisher (1810-1888) of Francestown. Only one of their children, Justin Edwards Hutchinson (1837-1912), lived to adulthood. They also adopted a boy who they named Louis Kossuth Hutchinson (1842?-1902).

In 1836, Joshua was a student for ten days in a "Teachers Class" that was under the direction of the eminent Boston musicians, Lowell Mason and George J. Webb. On his return, he immediately opened, in Milford and in neighboring towns, what were then called singing schools.

Joshua had done much to teach music to his younger brothers and sisters; and he, more than anyone else, encouraged their efforts. His singing schools gave the youngest brothers some of their first opportunities to entertain outside their home. He did much to smooth the way for Judson, John, Asa, and Abby. It is doubtful that the Hutchinson Family would have become professional singers if not for Brother Joshua.

In 1840 it was Joshua and his brother Jesse who promoted the first Hutchinson Family concert. This event seems to have left John and Asa - the youngest brothers - hooked on the roar of the crowd. Joshua joined them when, along with Judson, they gave a concert early in 1841 at Lynn, Massachusetts.

Some of Joshua's own concert bills from later on, in the 1850s, contain a quote from the Philadelphia Daily Register with a passage that calls him the founder of the Hutchinson Family as a band of singers. (See illustration) Joshua was certainly not inclined to boast, and it seems likely this claim was made on his behalf by, say, Zephaniah or Jesse. Yet, in a sense it's quite true.

Joshua's family responsibilities, commitments to his singing schools, and position as director of his church choir combined to keep him from living the life of a touring musician until the mid-1840s. But, as Brother John said, "It was always possible for us, when any member of the main concert company failed to respond to a call for service, on account of sickness or other cause, to get a substitute in Joshua or Jesse."

When Judson, John, Asa, and Abby made a trip to the United Kingdom, Joshua sang in the "Home Branch" of the Hutchinson Family, with brothers Zephaniah and Caleb, sister Rhoda, and cousin Ann Marvell. They performed with notable success throughout the Northeast.

From singing in the Home Branch and sometimes managing the main group, Joshua became quite well known in the cities of the North. Then he launched a solo career, giving an average of fifty concerts a year for about thirty years. In the 1848-1849 concert season, he performed as part of the short-lived "New Branch" of the Hutchinson Family. Later, Joshua frequently toured in company with Walter Kittredge (1834-1905), the writer of one of the greatest hit songs of the Civil War, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground." He and Kittredge often sang a satirical piece called "Adam and Eve" that eventually entered the folk tradition.

Sing hey, sing ho! I can but grieve,

The times have changed since Adam and Eve.

During the 1866-1867 season, Joshua performed in a trio with Kittredge and Judson's daughter, Kate Louise Hutchinson (1845-1917).

Available papers connect Joshua with one cause above all others - antislavery. Some reason exists to believe that he may have been the most radical member of the family on this issue. It comes as no surprise, then, that William Lloyd Garrison wrote a wonderful introduction for Joshua's book, A Brief Narrative of the Hutchinson Family. A list of Joshua's friends and associates, as well as those people he admired, suggests that he was concerned, too, with temperance and other major nineteenth-century social reform movements. Some of Joshua's songs, such as "The Popular Creed" and "There Must Be Something Wrong," were of particular interest to laborers.

Joshua's concert programs give evidence of an admiration for songs composed by Brother Judson. In later years, Joshua took Judson's place in reunions of the Hutchinson Family quartet. We might surmise that Joshua and Judson had similar voices.

The United States Centennial Exhibition was an important event in Joshua's career. He sang in nearly all of the various family ensembles and with his frequent partner Walter Kittredge, until the great Exhibition closed. Not much later, he began showing symptoms of the dread disease, consumption. John tells us that Joshua was practically deprived of his singing voice after this, because of illness.

Joshua Hutchinson died on Sunday, January 21, 1883.

Joshua was a modest man. He did little to record his life and career and rarely wrote about himself  -  making it hard to do justice to his story. No doubt that is why he was given little space in the biographies published in the 1940s. Yet, he was talented, nurturing, unpretentious, and generous. There is much we can learn from him today.

Alan Lewis, November 13, 2000

In the fall of 2004, The Revels, an acclaimed Boston musical and theatrical organization (best known for its annual Christmas Revels), started giving public performances of its latest and quite wonderful production, There's a Meeting Here Tonight!, which is based on the lives and careers of the Hutchinson Family singers. Follow this link for a review of the second-ever public staging of There's a Meeting Here Tonight!  which took place right here in Brattleboro, Vermont: