Music Monday - 1904

I was still thinking about Nora today when I saw a meme entitled 'Music Monday', and wondered, "What kinds of music would Nora have heard in 1904, around Galena, Kansas and Joplin, Missouri?" That one question has taken me on a daylong internet search; some of it was for fun, some was very educational.

As soon as I thought, "Joplin", I thought, "Ragtime Music." In fact, Ragtime was popular between 1897 and 1918. And Scott Joplin was the most famous of the Ragtime composers. A Wikipedia article names Joseph Lamb and James Scott along with Joplin as the "three most sophisticated Ragtime composers." While its popularity waned after 1917, there have been revivals - I remember the one in the 70's when The Sting was released. I was hooked and spent many hours learning The Entertainer as well as The Maple Leaf Rag. That was great stuff.

Here's a YouTube recording of Valery Lloyd-Watts performing The Cascades, by Scott Joplin.



Wikipedia's article on the Music of Kansas, stated that Home on the Range was written there in 1870, and music from the area remained in a "similar folk, or old-time music style". Now I know what I mean when I say old-time music, but I wasn't sure it was the same thing. So I took a trip to YouTube and found a most extraordinary young woman, Ashley Hull, Old Time Fiddler. She talks about the old-time-fiddler, and how his primary purpose during those early days, was to provide music for dancing. She goes on, "To some it was the welcomed (and necessary) escape from the rigors of pioneer life." I don't think I would say 1904 was a 'pioneer' time, but the fact that Old-Music continued through to that time is undeniable. If you want a quick escape, here's a fine example of music that Nora might have heard.

Ashley Hull playing Salty River Reel at the Ozarks Heritage Festival



Wikipedia led me to Charlie Walden's web site, Missouri Old-Time Fiddling which has loads of historical information about the genre. At his other web site, CharlieWaldon.com, you can hear some of the tunes he's learned over the years at his Project page. Certainly worth the time, if you can spare it.

So life wasn't all dreary hard work; there were times to dance and listen to music too. You never know, Nora and George might have met at one of those Old-Time Music dances.

Saints & Sinners Sunday - Elnora 'Nora' Hussong

Saints and Sinners. What do I mean by that? Well, I use the word 'Saint' as described by the Merriam Webster dictionary: "one eminent for piety or virtue, or an illustrious predecessor." And 'Sinner'? Well, the dictionary doesn't give much of a definition, just "one that sins." But the synonyms given are much more descriptive, "reprobate, scamp." So, I'd say the odds are better that an ancestor is more likely to be a combination of the two, since no one is ALL saint or sinner. But I'd have to say, that in the research I've done thus far, Nora is more saint than sinner.

Elnora Hussong, or Nora as she was known to her family, was born May Day [May 1st], 1888, in Galena, Cherokee County, Kansas, the sixth child to George W. Hussong and Elizabeth A. Gilbert. George and Elizabeth probably married in Illinois, and then moved to Kansas early in their marriage where they had ten children. George made a living in the zinc mines, as did many others of his day; and although by the 1910 census he owned the home they lived in, we can still assume that life was difficult for them. Nora told one of her grandchildren, that when she was small, she was hired out to another family as a servant, and left with them when her family moved away.

Nora was listed as living with her parents in Galena, Kansas in the 1895 Kansas Census and in the 1900 U.S. Federal Census. My husband and I only know the very basics of this family story, and if the census records are to be believed, I'm not sure how her story fits in with them. But whatever the case, Nora's story told of an unhappy childhood, and in 1904, at the age of 16, she lied about her age and married George Thomas Roark. Within 5 years, they'd had two children, Roy and Mable. And then in February, 1914, her young husband died. The cause of death was Pulmonary Tuberculosis, worsened by working in the mines.

In 1919 her son, Roy, died from influenza and pneumonia, and by 1920, Nora had married William 'Bill' Franklin Asbell, and delivered her third child, Bill Jr. Bill Sr. was not known to be a 'gentle' man, and it's generally understood that Nora was a long suffering wife. Records show that they lived in Coffeyville, Kansas and Neosho, Missouri; and when her daughter Mable divorced her husband, their child, Charles Deller, joined her in Neosho.

Nora outlived two husbands, raised three of her own children and a grandchild, and lived a long, full life. She died in Dallas, Texas, March 26, 1965 at the age of 76, while visiting with her daughter, and was buried by her second husband, Bill Sr., at Wichita Cemetery in Wichita, Kansas.

Update 10/6/2010:  Original picture was incorrectly assumed to be Nora; and replaced with correct picture. 

Top Photo:  Portrait of Elnora Hussong. Personal photo in collection of D. Bell, Forney, Texas.
Bottom Photo: Great-grandma Nora with M. Deller. Personal photo in collection of D. Deller, Tulsa, Oklahoma.