Heralds of Freedom
The Hutchinson Family Singers

- Chapter 17  Part 1  Vineyard Church and Temperance Work  1870-1873 -

Hutchinson Family Singers Web Site



[1846 Margaret Gillies sketch of the Hutchinson Family quartet]



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Vineyard Church and Temperance Work
1870-1873
Chapter 17  Part 1


John's company finished singing in New York State, then made short tours in Vermont and Rhode Island.  About this time, they received an invitation from Abby to come to Florida.  Probably John was called to Toledo, too.  On Wednesday, February 16, 1870, Henry Douglas Campbell was born there to Viola and Lewis.

In March, John, Henry, and Samuel Spinning went south.   They reached Jacksonville on the 25th and went to Magnolia, where Abby was staying.  They sang at Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and various towns along the St. Johns River.  They attended social gatherings, ate oranges, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  Abby had become acquainted with some freedmen, and she took her visitors to their camp meetings.  She had learned a few of their songs; and later in the year she published her arrangements of "Don't Stay Away," "Pharaoh's Army," and "Wait a Little While."

My Jesus says there's room enough,

My Jesus says there's room enough,

My Jesus says there's room enough,

Don't stay away.

My brother, don't stay away,

My sister, don't stay away,

My elder, don't stay away,

Until  the  judgment  day.

"This song[,]"  wrote John,  "set to one of the simple and pathetic melodies of the freedmen, became very popular, was taken up after being heard in our concerts and is still often sung in gospel meetings and similar services in the North."

John's group left Jacksonville on April 14.   They noticed a crowd and discovered that in its midst was Gen. Robert E. Lee.  They would be fellow passengers on the steamboat Nick King.  The Hutchinsons sang "Come Let Us Part," "Uncle Sam's Farm," and "Goodbye Brothers, Goodbye Sisters."  A member of Lee's staff introduced them.  Lee, evidently in good humor, remarked that their honors in the farewell had been equal.

As the steamer sailed north by the inland route, the passengers gathered in the dining room  -  General Lee at the head of the table, and John at the other end.  As was often the case, John saw an opportunity to promote both national reconciliation and his company.  "The General was ill, and kept so close to his cabin that I was unable to have the familiar chat with him that I desired.   I was hopeful the report of such an interview might get into the papers and so aid in a small way in promoting a better feeling between North and South, besides making our reception pleasanter at such Southern towns as we visited."

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"About this time,  they received an invitation from Abby":   That Abby Hutchinson Patton seems to have traveled from New York to Florida, from Florida to New England, and from New England back to Florida in a little more than a month is noteworthy.  But, one note of caution.  From the time I researched the Vermont woman suffrage campaign, I do not have a distinct memory of seeing Abby Patton named in a contemporary news story on this subject.

"In March,  John, Henry, and Samuel Spinning  went south":   Evidently John's journal-keeping was inactive during the Southern tour, judging from the far fewer-than-usual details he gave.

"Abby had become acquainted with some freedmen, and she took":   Not a lot of biographical information about Samuel B. Spinning is readily available.  Evidently he was once a member of Campbell's Minstrels and, at that time, was billed as Sam Spinning.  During his years with the Hutchinson Family's Tribe of John, as well as later, he seems to have been known mostly as S. B. Spinning.   The most detailed account of any phase of his career may be this period, when he sang with the Hutchinsons.  One of the details we have is this visit to the freedmen's colony at Magnolia, Florida.  We have no way of knowing whether he visited other communities of freedmen at other times.  So it is tempting to wonder whether one of his much later publications may have come out of this Southern tour.  Sixteen years later,  "General Roll Call"  was issued  "As sung by the freedmen,"  under Spinning's name. See "General Roll Call: Jubilee Song," by S. B. Spinning, first line of text: "I've 'listed and I'm bound to fight When the gen'ral roll is call'd" (S.l.: W. F. Shaw, 1886).  This score, though reproduced in small scanned images that make lyrics often hard to read, is available online at the Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music.

"She had learned a few of their songs; and later in the year":   "Camp Meeting Songs of the Florida Freedman" (N[e]w York: William A. Pond, 1870).  These three camp meeting songs, collected by Abby Hutchinson Patton from the singing of Magnolia, Florida, freedmen, are "Don't Stay Away," "Pharaoh's Army," and "Wait a Little While."   Of these spirituals, "Don't Stay Away" is by far the best known.

Abby's trips to Magnolia, Florida, began by the late 1860s, and it seems quite likely her visits to the local freedmen's community started at the same time.  Her "Camp Meeting Songs" score is dated 1870, and she took John's company to the Magnolia community early that year.  The Hutchinson Family took up right away singing the spirituals that Abby collected in Florida.  These songs and other spirituals became an especially important part of the Tribe of Asa's repertoire.  It is worth noting that this Hutchinson Family embracing of African-American spirituals got under way well before this music became a national passion, following the now-legendary 1871 Fisk University Jubilee Singers tour.

"This song,  wrote John, set to one of the simple and pathetic melodies":   John Wallace Hutchinson, Story of the Hutchinsons (Tribe of Jesse), 2 vols. (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1896), 2:5.

"The  General  was  ill,  and  kept  so  close  to  his  cabin":   John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:8).


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At one point on our journey  [ said John ]  we came to a landing where there was a mixture of Northern and Southern people, gathered out of curiosity to see Lee.  We struck up a song on deck.  They cheered us.  Then some one called for three cheers for Lee.  They were given.  Immediately Henry shouted  "Three cheers for General Grant!"  These, too, were given with a will, but from different voices.  Then we sang a mournful good-by and went on our way.

Throughout this Southern tour, John's company sang their songs of faith, home, and family, but they did not forget their songs of freedom.  "[A]fter the war,"  said Samuel B. Spinning,  "the Tribe of John traveled through the South, where the Hutchinsons would stand up and sing their old abolition songs with just as much fearlessness as if at home."

John's party disembarked at Savannah, Georgia, on April 16.   He had sent ahead, advertising a concert.  An article in the Savannah Republican was soon called to his attention.

Among the many public exhibitions now travelling through the South to amuse the people and put money in their own pockets, we notice the Hutchinson Family.  They are, perhaps, the only company of public performers who have been thoroughly identified politically with the Abolition ultra-Radical party of the North, and sharing fully in all its hate and denunciation of the Southern people.  They have, for years, been indispensable adjuncts to radical political meetings in the New England States, with appropriate songs catering to the popular prejudice against the South, and doing what they could to help on the work of our mis-government and humiliation.

John went to the Republican's office and said that he had come in a spirit of peace and reconciliation.  "You have whipped us,"  was the tart reply,  "but we are not conquered."  Then the man asked if John ever sang the song,  "John Brown's Body,"  and did he sing the verse about hanging Jeff Davis to a sour apple tree.  Apparently old times there were not yet forgotten.

Prior to the time of their concert, the Hutchinsons took their instruments to the opera house, without high hopes for success.  They found the hall dark and empty.  The sidewalks were full, though, and people were pointing at the singers.  John thought he was in some risk of bodily harm; so he walked in the street, not the sidewalk, on his way back to the hotel.

The Savannah Constitutionalist advised John to try again  -  in about thirty years.

John's party managed to leave the city uninjured.  At Aiken, South Carolina, they gave a successful concert.  But at Augusta, Georgia, their experience was more like Savannah.  Two women and three men were the entire audience.  The group sang a few songs, then canceled the engagement.

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"At one point on our journey  [ said John ]  we came to a landing":   John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:8).

Crowds gathered to see General Lee all along his route.

"After the war,  said Samuel B. Spinning,  the Tribe of John":   "The Hutchinson Family: Recollections of the Famous Band of Concert Singers," New York Times, November 17, 1889, p. 13 col. 3; originally published in the Providence (RI) Journal, November 15, 1889.

"Among the many public exhibitions now travelling through":   "And Last of All Came," Savannah (GA) Republican, n.d., in John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:8-9).

"The Savannah Constitutionalist advised John to try again":   "Did Not Draw," Savannah (GA) Constitutionalist, n.d., in John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:10).

Apropos to the advice for John to try again in about 30 years, ironically his daughter-in-law and two of his grandsons made an evangelical and singing trip through the Southeastern states a quarter of a century later.  In 1893, John, himself, sang at the Cotton States and International Exposition at Atlanta.


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"We were grieved,"  said John,  "at this show of sectional feeling.  We might have sung 'Hang Jeff Davis' in the excitement of war times, but had no such sentiments in our hearts at this time."  They took the night train to Atlanta, where they drew such a small house that they gave it up.

Looking back, it might seem that John should have foreseen what would come of a Southern tour.  In fact, though, he appeared genuinely surprised.  "The disappointment made me sick."

This trip was also an education for John in other ways.  "All through Georgia we could see the signs of the ravages of war  -  and marks of Sherman's march to the sea were everywhere."  The region had a huge rebuilding job ahead, at a time when resources were extremely scarce.

"We advertised a concert,"  said John about a stop in Nashville,  "but the audience was so meager that we postponed it, announcing that it would be given the next evening, and that the proceeds would be devoted to the sufferers from a great catastrophe that had just occurred in Richmond by the falling of the floor of the court house.  The result of the announcement was that the best citizens took hold of the ticket selling, and we had an audience."  Before leaving the city, the Hutchinsons performed at Fisk University.

At Bowling Green, Kentucky, John lost money on a concert.  Finally, at Louisville he gave up and took a boat up the Ohio River to Cincinnati.  His company put on a successful show at the Y.M.C.A. and sang at a church vesper service, with such a large crowd that 500 people could not get in.  This, of course, was in marked contrast to the little or no encouragement they received in many of the Southern cities.  After more concerts in Ohio, John visited Viola and saw his grandson Harry.

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In the fall of 1870, Abby was in Minnesota visiting Asa.   "This morning,"  she wrote,  "I have been to walk with Asa's two dogs. . . . I am enjoying this great ocean of land, though it scares me when I look around, for I feel as though I was at the end of the world, and should never get back again.  There is so much room that I feel as though I needed wings to get over the great country fast enough."

Abby marveled at how much work Asa, Lizzie, and their children had accomplished on the farm.  Yet music was still in the hearts of his family.  "Just while I write Fred is playing the cornet, Abby pianoforte, and Asa bass viol.  Music seems to belong to the Hutchinson family, wherever they may congregate."

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"The  disappointment  made  me  sick":   John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:11).

"All through Georgia we could see the signs of the ravages of war":   John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:11).

"We advertised a concert," said John about a stop in Nashville":   John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:12-13).

The floor fell out from under the Court of Appeals room in the second story of the state capitol building on Wednesday, April 27, 1870.  The catastrophe was as great as John said.  For an early, substantial news report, see "A Fearful Disaster," New York Times, April 28, 1870, p. 1 cols. 4-5.

"After more concerts in Ohio,  John visited Viola and saw":   Harry was the Campbell family's familiar name for son Henry Douglas Campbell.  Late in life, he gave his name as H. Douglas Campbell, perhaps wishing for the association with his late uncle, Douglas Campbell, a successful New York lawyer who was probably still well-remembered.  This book generally refers to Viola's son as Harry to avoid confusion with his uncle and also to avoid potential confusion, later on, with his own son and grandson, also named Douglas Campbell.  Information about Harry Campbell, which is coming to light in 2006 and early 2007, is showing him to be a most interesting individual, in keeping with his Campbell family and Hutchinson family heritage.  -  Postscript:  To illustrate the point of how recent these developments are, regarding changes and additions to our understanding of Harry Campbell, I will just add a little postscript that, a day or two after  putting this page (Chapter 17, page 3) in "final" form, it came to light that H. Douglas Campbell had at least some involvement  -  large or small, it is much too early to say  -  in one of the great historic events of the early 20th century, the 1912 Lawrence, Massachusetts, textile strike which is now commonly called the "Bread and Roses strike."  This would be a worthy topic for further research.

"This morning,  she wrote,  I have been to walk with Asa's two dogs":   Abby Hutchinson Patton to Henry J. Hutchinson, Hutchinson, MN, October 16, 1870, in John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:365).

Evidently Abby was not accustomed to the land around Hutchinson,  and it seems likely that this was one of her first visits  -  perhaps the very first.

"Abby marveled at how much work Asa, Lizzie, and their children":   In spite of all their farm work, we are told that Asa's family did some traveling and singing in the summer of 1870.  See "The Hutchinson Family: Recollections of the Famous Band of Concert Singers," New York Times, November 17, 1889, p. 13 col. 3.

"Just while I write Fred is playing the cornet,  Abby pianoforte":   Abby Hutchinson Patton to Henry J. Hutchinson, Hutchinson, MN, October 16, 1870, in John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:365).


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Abby went home a week or two later; and soon, the Tribe of Asa began a tour.   They mixed favorites, such as "Hannah's at the Window Binding Shoes," with newer pieces.  Concerts often began with Felicia Hemans' "Song of Greeting."  The group's repertoire now included five songs of the Florida freedmen.  Dennett was featured in a humorous song, "My Girl with the Calico Dress."  They sang "There's No Time Like the Old Time," with words by Oliver Wendell Holmes and music by Asa.  "In the Old Church Tower Hangs the Bell" was one of their more memorable songs, and it was among the most popular pieces in the repertoire of the companies led by Asa and John.  The lyrics were written by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, and the music was attributed at times to one Professor Wood.   A bill for a concert at Chicago on December 13, says, "They . . . are now contributing largely for the building of a mission church on the broad prairies of the West!"

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1871 opened with John's company singing as part of a big temperance meeting in the Morning Star Sunday School at 130 West 24th Street in New York.  They were filling engagements made by the American Literary Bureau and their travels took them through Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York State.  Much of their work during this period was devoted to temperance.

In March, Brother Asa's quintet was still giving concerts on behalf of what would become Hutchinson's Vineyard Church.  This continued at least into April.  Along with "Uncle Sam's Farm," they brought back "King Alcohol" from the early days.  Other songs on their programs included the hymn, "Rock of Ages;" Benjamin Russel Hanby's "Crowding Awfully;" "Over the River," with lyrics by Nancy A. W. Priest and music by Asa; "Dry Goods Clerk," "Hassan Valley," and "Independent Farmer."  Young Abby was singing "I Will Marry My Own Love."  Their song selections show that, in addition to raising money for a church building, they were singing for temperance and woman suffrage.

It was a season of hard work for Asa's family, combining, as it did, the care of their farming interests with the fund-raising tour.  The trip, itself, probably involved some hard traveling.  Fred, who, like his father, thought highly of the life of a farmer, must have contributed greatly to both enterprises.  By the end of the tour, his health had become run down.

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In September, John's company started a series of engagements on behalf of the Connecticut temperance organization.  On October 4, they sang for the Massachusetts Prohibitionist Party.  After the convention came to order, it returned to disorder over a request to include a plank in the platform in support of woman suffrage.   A minister protested vehemently, declaring that God was opposed to woman suffrage and no true woman wanted the vote.  Someone called for a song from the Hutchinsons; and they sang the  "Kansas Suffrage Song,"  with its verse about voting to close dram shops.

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"A bill for a concert at Chicago on December 13, says,  They":   "Farwell Hall!" ([ Chicago ]: s.n., 1870).  This item includes the program of their December 13 concert.

The movement for a community church in Hutchinson began in 1869, when W. H. Harrington donated land to the town, including a lot intended for a church building.   A concert benefiting the Hutchinson church took place at Martha's Vineyard as early as August 23, 1869.  See John W. Hutchinson (1896, 1:491).  Early in 1870, Asa donated a load of lumber to the cause.  Samuel Spinning placed Asa's company in New England in July 1870, and it seems probable they were raising money for the building fund then, too.  Cf. "'Vineyard Church' Benefit Concert," s.l.: s.n., March 6, [ 1871, ] in Item 83v, Ludlow Patton's Hutchinson Family Scrapbook, Wadleigh Memorial Library, Milford, New Hampshire.

"In March,   Brother Asa's quintet was still giving concerts":   "'Vineyard Church' Benefit Concert," s.l.: s.n., March 6, [ 1871, ] in Item 83v, Ludlow Patton's Hutchinson Family Scrapbook, Wadleigh Memorial Library, Milford, New Hampshire; "Second and Last Night," s.l.: s.n., April 11, [ 1871, ] in Item 80r in the same scrapbook.

"By the end of the tour, his health had become run down":   "A Sad Death," s.l.: s.n., n.d., in Item 76r, Ludlow Patton's Hutchinson Family Scrapbook, Wadleigh Memorial Library, Milford, New Hampshire.

"Someone called for a song from the Hutchinsons; and they sang":   "By this vote we'll rid our nation of its vile intoxication. Can't get rum? Oh, what a pity! Dram shops closed in every city."  John had long since ceased to rely on moral suasion in the fight against King Alcohol.


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John believed women voters would be natural allies of prohibition  -  as women were thought to be victims of the intemperate  -  and that woman's suffrage would speed the death of demon rum.  One reporter thought the choice of songs made matters worse, but it was pure John Hutchinson.  Temperance work took his company through Rhode Island and New Jersey and back to Connecticut for engagements to the middle of December.

John was in some unnamed town for a concert, about this time, when a minister asked him to sing at a funeral.  He agreed and chose "A Brother Is Dead."  A hush followed this song.  "The Hutchinson Family,"  said the preacher,  "will give a concert this evening in the town hall."  John was astonished by a show announcement at a funeral.  "Later in the day Henry went to the hall to take tickets and the sexton . . . spied him, met him with enthusiasm and said, 'You're going to have one of the greatest crowds to-night.  Your father lapped the song on to that dead man in such a style, that everybody is coming.'"  That evening, indeed, they sang to a crowded hall.

John's company  -  with the addition of Fanny and Judson's daughter Kate  -  was in and out of the New York area past the middle of March 1872.  On January 19, John sang a song with the Fisk Jubilee Singers during their concert at New York's 13th Street Presbyterian Church.

On May 29, John and Henry sang for the Boston Eight Hour League.  "While the meeting was in progress,"  said John,  "I wrote out new verses to 'Get Off the Track.'  Henry, being accustomed to my writing, read them off easily and sung them with me."

That spring, Asa was in Boston, where he spoke with Patrick S. Gilmore about the great bandleader's plans for his World's Peace Jubilee, which was to run from June 17 to July 5.  Asa's idea for this event, which he suggested to Gilmore, was for a choir of 500 African-American vocalists to sing  "The Battle Hymn of the Republic,"  with the official Jubilee chorus joining in on the refrain.  The Hutchinsons made no attempt to give concerts during this colossal event.  Said John,  "We enjoyed it with the rest of humanity."

In the summer, Samuel B. Spinning left John's group to work for the Rhode Island Temperance Society.  Henry left to go into the lumber business with Lewis Campbell.  So John sang solo and then gave concerts with Judson's daughter Kate.  "One of the pleasantest trips I ever had with [ Uncle John ],"   she said,  "was when we sang for temperence through the state of Connecticut."

Next, John and Kate decided to form a quartet.  Brother Joshua was singing solo, and they convinced him to join.  Henry may have lost enthusiasm for his business in Toledo, for he sang bass in this new company.  "Kate had a good alto voice,"  said John,  "and the result of the combination of voices was an effect very much like that of the old original quartet."  They sang for nearly two months under engagement with the New York Temperance Society, and then visited Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana.

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"One reporter thought the choice of songs made matters worse":   "Massachusetts," New York Times, October 5, 1871, p. 5 col. 3.

"The Hutchinson Family,  said the preacher,  will give a concert":   John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:20-21).

"John's  company  -  with  the  addition  of  Fanny  and":   A Tribe of John classified advertisement from this period lists Samuel Spinning as "Mr. S. B. Spinning, the Cornet Imitator."  See "'Here We Are Again,' From the Old Granite State," New York Times, February 14, 1872, p. 7 col. 6.

"While the meeting was in progress,  said John,  I wrote":   John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:24).

The Boston Eight Hour League was the organization of Ira Steward and George Edwin McNeill.  By this time, Massachusetts labor reformers had split into two smaller groups, this being one of them.

"The Workingman's Train"  by Edward R. Place of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a well-known labor parody of Jesse Hutchinson, Jr.'s "Get Off the Track!"  According to labor historian Philip S. Foner, Place was involved in the Massachusetts eight-hour movement.  See Philip S. Foner, American Labor Songs of the Nineteenth Century (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975), 132-134, 219.  At the very least, it seems quite likely that Place's parody was inspired by John's impromptu verses.

A writer named   E. R. Place  contributed verses to William Lloyd Garrison's Boston antislavery newspaper, The Liberator.

"That spring,   Asa was in Boston,   where he spoke with Patrick":   Regarding Asa Hutchinson and Patrick S. Gilmore, see "Mr. Asa Hutchinson, now in this city," s.l.: s.n., n.d., in Item 60v, Ludlow Patton's Hutchinson Family Scrapbook, Wadleigh Memorial Library, Milford, New Hampshire.

Asa B. Hutchinson had a lifelong, passionate interest in presenting African-American musicians and their songs to general popular music audiences.  The Tribe of Asa made a joint tour with the Luca Family in the late 1850s.  For many years after the Civil War, Asa's concert company's programs were loaded with spirituals from the slave experience.  Then comes the present example.  Just before he died, it was Asa's plan to sing with a group of freedmen evidently at the New Orleans Exposition in late 1884.

"In the summer,  Samuel B. Spinning left John's group to work":   That was the official explanation.  But it looks as though Samuel B. Spinning was lured away from the Tribe of John by the charms of a Rhode Island lass named Isabel.  "Belle" Spinning was an organist.  "Sammy," as Henry Hutchinson called Spinning, was listed as a vocalist in the 1880 census.  Late in life, Samuel Spinning was said to be a music teacher.

"Henry left to go into the lumber business with Lewis Campbell":   John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:26).

This lumber business was not a success.   For a glimpse at Henry's partnership with Lewis A. Campbell, see "Not Insane," Boston Daily Globe, July 26, 1900, p. 12 cols. 7-8.

"One of the pleasantest trips I ever had with Uncle John":   Kate L. Birney, Milford, NH, May 4, 1904, in "Hutchinson Day," Milford (NH) Cabinet, May 12, 1904, p. 1 cols. 2-3, p. 7 cols. 2-3.

"Kate had a good alto voice,  said John,  and the result":   John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:26).


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On February 7, 1873, Joshua took leave of the group.  The remaining trio went to Washington, where they sang and generally enjoyed themselves.  On March 10, they gave a concert at the Metropolitan Methodist-Episcopal Church.  One paper compared the group to a  "boy's new jack-knife, which first received a new blade, and then a new handle."   "But the character of the music, some of the songs, and peculiar style of execution which gave the troupe prestige, are the same. . . . "

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While the trio was in Washington,  on Monday, March 10, 1873,  Noah B. Hutchinson died.  The Farmers' Cabinet  said:

He was a tiller of the soil, diligent and thrifty, and his highly improved farm attests the years of patient toil devoted to its skillful cultivation.  Upright and peaceable, a kind husband and father, an obliging and friendly neighbor, he lived without reproach and without enemies.

"As a father,"  said Joshua,  "he was tender and indulgent;  as a neighbor he was a confidant;  as a Christian he was practical."

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On Tuesday, April 1, 1873, Ludlow Patton retired from business.  "He was remarkably successful,"  said the New York Times,  "and accumulated a large fortune in a very few years.

While Ludlow was a member of the New York Stock Exchange, it was his habit to attend the annual dinners at Delmonico's, where he played his banjo and sang original songs  -  taking occasional shots at his fellow investors and some of their recent speculations.

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Asa's daughter Abby met Samuel G. Anderson of Litchfield, Minnesota, and he asked her to marry him.  It seems, though, that her parents were strongly opposed; but Abby thought she could live her own life.  It is said that she promised to give Anderson an answer from the concert platform.  If so, then he had his answer already; for the song she chose was one of her regulars,  "I Will Marry My Own Love."  And she did.  Once Abby had made her intentions known, Asa and Lizzie set aside their objections and supported her decision.

On Wednesday, April 9, 1873, Abby married Samuel Anderson at the Vineyard Church in Hutchinson.  "The bride,"  said the St. Paul Pioneer,  "was becomingly dressed in white throughout.  Her hair was dressed in a very tasty manner, and ornamented simply with a few white flowers touched with a light tinge of green.  The groom was dressed in a suit of black throughout."

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"One paper compared the group to a  boy's new jack-knife":   Washington, DC: s.n., n.d. [ but probably March 11, 1873 ], in John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:29-30).

"He was a tiller of the soil,   diligent and thrifty":   "Deaths," Amherst, NH, Farmers' Cabinet, March 19, 1873, p. 2 col. 6.

Lucy Jane Wilkins Hutchinson, wife of Noah's son Henry Appleton Hutchinson, wrote an interesting note dated February 8, 1898, about Noah's house, about some of its history, and about her and Appleton's family.  The house was substantially rebuilt in September 1897.  That winter, Lucy Hutchinson left this note inside one of the walls.  Her missive  -  one might call it a single-item time capsule  -  was found in the 1960s or 1970s and was subsequently given to descendants of Sister Rhoda.

"As a father,  said Joshua,  he was tender and indulgent":   Joshua Hutchinson, A Brief Narrative of the Hutchinson Family (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1874), 14.

"He was remarkably successful,   said the New York Times":   "Ludlow Patton Dead," New York Times, September 7, 1906, p. 9 col. 6; "Copartnership Notices," first item, New York Times, April 1, 1873, p. 6 col. 5.  See also Henry Whittemore, The Founders and Builders of the Oranges (Newark, NJ: L. J. Hardham, printer, 1896), 271.

"While Ludlow was a member of the New York Stock Exchange":   Henry Whittemore, The Founders and Builders of the Oranges (Newark, NJ: L. J. Hardham, printer, 1896), 273.

After Ludlow's retirement,  he and Abby sang together in public quite often,  wherever they traveled;  and they traveled extensively.

"Asa's daughter Abby met Samuel G. Anderson of Litchfield":   Carol Brink, Harps in the Wind: The Story of the Singing Hutchinsons (New York: Macmillan, 1947), 254-255.

"The bride,  said the St. Paul Pioneer,  was becomingly dressed":   "The Hutchinsons," St. Paul (MN) Daily Pioneer, April 11, 1873.

Abby and Samuel had five children  -  Fredericka Anderson, Sam G. Anderson, Elizabeth Anderson Wakefield, Asa Anderson, and Chace Anderson.  See "S. G. Anderson Stricken Down," Hutchinson (MN) Leader, June 28, 1918, p. 1+.


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The Pioneer article described individual members of Asa's family  -  "The face of Asa, always radiant with smiles; the motherly look of Lizzie C.; the pleasant face of Miss Abby; the handsome Fred., and the roguish twinkle of the irrepressible Dennett's eye. . . . "

: :

Now that Ludlow was liberated from the day-to-day cares of Wall Street, he and Abby played the part of tourists that summer.  Evidently they left Henry in charge of their home.  Abby wrote him from the  "biggest hotel in the United States,"  where guests  "ride, walk, drink, sleep, eat, bowl, and practise shooting at tin birds."   "Such aimless lives we lead here.   I long for work and my friends; to have my community and plenty to do. . . . "

On September 19, 1873  -  "Black Friday,"  the day of the great stock market crash  -  Henry was at Wall Street, representing his Toledo business interest.  He telegraphed for help, and John quickly wired the cash he needed.  This firm was a partnership between Henry and Lewis Campbell.  Late in life, Viola spoke of Lewis' success as "varying."  In fact, though, his businesses seldom seem to have done well, except over a very short term.  John was persuaded to supply money to shore up this concern; and its failure caused hard feelings that lasted a very long time.  When Henry made another venture a few years later, it would be with a different partner.

Things were much happier for Kate.   On Thursday evening, September 25, 1873, she married Dr. Thomas Benton Dearborn at the Congregational Church in Milford.  The Farmers Cabinet said that

The ceremony was solemnly and gracefully performed by Rev. Geo. Pierce, followed by the singing of a beautiful original song by Mr. John W. Hutchinson, of Lynn, . . . breathing forth the best wishes for the future happiness of the newly wedded pair, which but expressed the sentiment of their many friends.  Immediately after the ceremony a reception was given at the residence of Dr. and Mrs. S. S. Stickney, which was attended by nearly two hundred friends. . . .

: :

Fred had been ill since the Vineyard Church tour.   For several months, he received treatment at Battle Creek, Michigan.   When he returned, evidently in September, it was thought that he was coming home to die.  Yet it seems his physical appearance was misleading; for few people who saw him, if anyone, realized how close to death he had actually come.

|   ÷   |

"The Pioneer article described individual members of Asa's family":   "The Hutchinsons," St. Paul (MN) Daily Pioneer, April 11, 1873.

"Abby wrote him from the  biggest hotel in the United States":   Abby Hutchinson Patton to Henry J. Hutchinson, Saratoga Springs, NY, August 17, 1873, in John W. Hutchinson (1896, 2:367-368).

"On September 19, 1873  -  Black Friday,  the day of the great":   "Not Insane," Boston Daily Globe, July 26, 1900, p. 12 cols. 7-8.

The fact that the stock market crashed so soon after Ludlow's retirement could be taken to mean that he knew when to get out.

"The ceremony was solemnly and gracefully performed by Rev. Geo. Pierce":   "A Brilliant Wedding," Amherst, NH, Farmers' Cabinet, October 1, 1873, p. 2 col. 4.

The Dearborns had four children:  Thomas Benton Dearborn, Jesse Judson Dearborn, Henry Hale Dearborn, and Edmund Gerrish Dearborn.  All the direct lineage of Judson and Jerusha Hutchinson passed through Edmund G. Dearborn.  In addition, Dr. H. Hale Dearborn had a stepson named John C. Casman.

Jerusha, Judson's widow, had remarried  -  to Dr. Simeon Smith Stickney, a retired physician.

"Fred had been ill since the Vineyard Church tour":   "A Sad Death," s.l.: s.n., n.d., in Item 76r, Ludlow Patton's Hutchinson Family Scrapbook, Wadleigh Memorial Library, Milford, New Hampshire.

References in the Hutchinson Family literature to the Vineyard Church tour are as numerous as they are vague.  The Hutchinsons actually gave concerts to benefit the church building fund over a period of several years, making it hard to know which tour was the  tour.  The extensive, detailed timeline used in this study points toward the 1870-1871 concert season.  Thus, it appears we are being told that Fred Hutchinson was ill with consumption since the spring of 1871 or even a bit earlier.


Page 8

On October 2, Fred was taken to the agricultural fair, at his request, so that he could see his friends once more and witness an event that meant a lot to him.   "[T]hough the world knew him as a vocalist,"  said one paper,  "he was an enthusiastic lover of agriculture, and found his greatest pleasure in looking after the affairs of the farm."  He was helped into his carriage, supported with pillows, and driven out to the fairgrounds.  "All who looked upon him saw that he was making his last contest with the Angel of Death. . . . "

On Friday, October 3, 1873,  Fred died of consumption at home in Hutchinson.   According to a local paper:

He will be remembered as a faithful scholar and student in our high school here for several terms, a young man of excellent moral character, temperate habits, enthusiastic nature, a general favorite among his schoolmates and beloved by all who knew him.  He was a member of the Methodist church and his last sickness was hastened by overtasking his energies at concerting for the erection of a church free to all of Christ's disciples. . . .

Fred was buried at Hutchinson.   Through all his travels with the Tribe of Asa,  Hutchinson was the place he loved most.

|   ÷   |

"Though the world knew him as a vocalist,  said one paper":   "Death of Fred. C. Hutchinson," s.l.: s.n., n.d., in Item 76r, Ludlow Patton's Hutchinson Family Scrapbook, Wadleigh Memorial Library, Milford, New Hampshire.

"On Friday, October 3, 1873,  Fred died of consumption":   The 19th-century term, consumption, today is generally taken to mean tuberculosis of the lungs.  Elsewhere, this book refers to tuberculosis of the spine:  Pott's disease.

"He will be remembered as a faithful scholar and student":   "A Sad Death," s.l.: s.n., n.d., in Item 76r, Ludlow Patton's Hutchinson Family Scrapbook, Wadleigh Memorial Library, Milford, New Hampshire.



Heralds of Freedom

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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Alan Lewis. Heralds of Freedom: The Hutchinson Family Singers.
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Table of Contents
Massachusetts, MA, Mass.; Minnesota, Minn., MN; New Hampshire, N. H., NH; New Jersey, N.J., NJ. Essex County, Hillsboro County, Hillsborough County, McLeod County. Lynn Massachusetts, Hutchinson Minnesota, Amherst New Hampshire, Milford New Hampshire, Mont Vernon New Hampshire, Orange New Jersey, City of New York City. Cellist, cello, fiddle, fiddler, melodeon player, violin, violinist, violoncello. Baptist, Christian Science, Christian Scientist, Congregational, Congregationalist, Methodist, Unitarian Universalist. The Book of Brothers, Carol Brink Harps in the Wind: The Story of the Singing Hutchinsons, Carol Ryrie Brink, Carol R Brink, Dale Cockrell Excelsior: Journals of the Hutchinson Family Singers 1842-1846, John Wallace Hutchinson "Story of the Hutchinsons (Tribe of Jesse)", "Story of the Hutchinsons", Joshua Hutchinson A Brief Narrative of the Hutchinson Family, Philip Jordan, Philip Dillon Jordan, Philip D Jordan Singin Yankees, Phil Jordan, Ludlow Patton The Hutchinson Family Scrapbook. Index: Singing Yankees. 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930. Birth, born, death, died, divorce, divorced, maiden, marriage, married, single, unmarried. Ancestry, www.ancestry.com, the Boston Globe, family history, genealogy. Gertrude. Abolition, abolitionism, abolitionist, anniversary, anti-slavery, antislavery, audience, band, biography, chorus, church, the Civil War, company, compose, composer, composition, concert, convention, entertain, entertainment, folk music, folk songs, folksongs, group, harmony, High Rock in Lynn, Hutchison, instrument, instrumental, lyricist, lyrics, meeting, musician, N E, NE, NEMS, New England Music Scrapbook, Northeast, Northeastern, the Old Granite State, practice, profile, program, quartet, rehearsal, rehearse, religious left, repertoire, research, the Revels' Circle of Song, show, singer, social reform, social reformer, song writer, songwriter, stage, equal suffrage, suffragette, equal suffragist, impartial suffrage, impartial suffragist, temperance, tour, the Tribe of Jesse, trio, troupe, verse, vocal, vocalist, woman's rights, women's rights, words. Viola Campbell, Viola Hutchinson Campbell, Viola H Campbell, Elizabeth Chace, Elizabeth B Chace, Lizzie Chace, Lizzie B Chace, Abby Hutchinson, Abby J Hutchinson, Asa Hutchinson, Asa Burnham Hutchinson, Asa B Hutchinson, David Hutchinson, Elizabeth Hutchinson, Elizabeth Chace Hutchinson, Elizabeth C Hutchinson, Lizzie Hutchinson, Lizzie Chace Hutchinson, Lizzie C Hutchinson, Fanny Hutchinson, Fanny B Hutchinson, Frederick Hutchinson, Frederick Chace Hutchinson, Frederick C Hutchinson, Fred Chace Hutchinson, Fred C Hutchinson, F C Hutchinson, Henry Hutchinson, Henry John Hutchinson, Henry J Hutchinson, Jerusha Hutchinson, Jerusha Peabody Hutchinson, Jerusha P Hutchinson, Jesse Hutchinson Jr, Jesse Hutchinson Junior, Jesse Hutchinson Jun, John Hutchinson, John Wallace Hutchinson, John W Hutchinson, Joshua Hutchinson, Judson Hutchinson, Adoniram Judson Joseph Hutchinson, Judson J Hutchinson, J J Hutchinson, Kate Hutchinson, Kate Louise Hutchinson, Kate L Hutchinson, Mary Hutchinson, Mary Leavitt Hutchinson, Mary L Hutchinson, Noah Hutchinson, Noah Bartlett Hutchinson, Noah B Hutchinson, Rhoda Hutchinson, Sarah Rhoda Jane Hutchinson, Rhoda J Hutchinson, Viola Hutchinson, Viola G Hutchinson, Abby Patton, Abby Hutchinson Patton, Abby H Patton. "I've enlisted and I'm bound to fight When the general roll is called" Abby Anderson, Abby Hutchinson Anderson, Abby H Anderson, Samuel Anderson, Samuel Gilmore Anderson, Samuel G Anderson, S G Anderson, Henry Campbell, Henry Douglas Campbell, Henry D Campbell, H Douglas Campbell, H D Campbell, Lewis Campbell, Lewis Averill Campbell, Lewis A Campbell, L A Campbell, John Casman, John C Casman, Dr Edmund Dearborn, Dr Edmund Gerrish Dearborn, Dr Edmund G Dearborn, Dr E G Dearborn, Dr Dearborn, Kate Dearborn, Kate Louise Hutchinson Dearborn, Kate L H Dearborn, Kate Hutchinson Dearborn, Kate H Dearborn, Kate Louise Dearborn, Kate L Dearborn, Fisk Jubilee Singers, Fisk University Jubilee Singers, Patrick Gilmore, Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, Patrick S Gilmore, P S Gilmore, William Harrington, William Henry Harrison Harrington, William Henry Harrington, William H Harrington, W H Harrington, Henry Hutchinson, Henry Appleton Hutchinson, Henry A Hutchinson, H Appleton Hutchinson, H A Hutchinson, Lucy Hutchinson, Lucy Jane Wilkins Hutchinson, Lucy J Wilkins Hutchinson, Lucy Jane W Hutchinson, Lucy J W Hutchinson, Lucy Jane Hutchinson, Lucy J Hutchinson, Lucy Wilkins Hutchinson, Lucy W Hutchinson, Noah Hutchinson, Noah Bartlett Hutchinson, Noah B Hutchinson, Gen Robert Lee, Gen Robert Edward Lee, Gen Robert E Lee, General Robert E Lee, Gen R E Lee, Gen Lee, General Lee, George McNeill, George Edwin McNeill, George E McNeill, Rev George Peirce, Rev George Pierce, Isabel Spinning, Isabella Spinning, Isabelle Spinning, Belle Spinning, Samuel Spinning, Samuel B Spinning, S B Spinning, Dr Simeon Stickney, Dr Simeon Smith Stickney, Dr S Smith Stickney, Dr S S Stickney, Dr Stickney. Heralds of Freedom: The Hutchinson Family Singers: Chapter 17: Part 1: Vineyard Church and Temperance Work 1870-1873