Music Meets Drama

While in Berlin, Germany in 1909-1910, Gena Branscombe was studying piano, practicing five to six hours a day, composing, performing recitals of her works at the American Women’s Club of Berlin, gaining recognition for her talents with an article in the Musical America magazine in the United States and accompanying recitals for singers and instrumentalists.  One such recital was at a dinner party given by the American Ambassador to Berlin, David Hill and his wife, whose honored guests were President and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt.   Gena accompanied her soprano friend, Belle Forbes.   Late afternoon of the dinner party, the two musicians were invited to perform with a car picking them up at 9 PM.   Even with this late notice, the two ladies were ready which Gena described in her Thursday, May 12, 1910, letter to her future husband, John Ferguson Tenney: “I was ready when the auto came, with Belle looking like a queen.   She had Harriet Illsey’s di...

Research on the internet is a luxury as one does not leave one’s home.   Enter your inquiry into Google and the information from the far reaches of the world’s libraries or other sources is right in front of you.   What you may not find on the internet then may cause you to venture out to an actual library where articles and clippings may not have found their way to the internet.   Small historical societies are a treasure trove of information.   Scrapbooks, articles, pictures and personal items have not been scanned to the internet.   Time, money and expertise may have prohibited these societies from sharing their antique gems.   Several years ago through connections in Picton, Ontario with Gena Branscombe’s family members and friends, I was put in touch with John D. Lyons.   John is a researcher with his own projects.  He kindly added researching Gena’s younger years to his list of things to do.   He has passed on to me census...

Destruction of cemeteries is a painful process for the family members whose relatives’ grave markers have been harmed.   Is the thrill of doing something bad and maybe never getting caught what gives the perpetrators the right to cause this harm?   Does being disrespectful of other people’s property ever cross their minds?   In June of this year, the 140 year old Glenwood Cemetery in Picton, Ontario was vandalized with headstones and monuments nearly being destroyed and 150 of them being toppled off their foundations.   The cemetery estimated it would cost $150,000 to make all the repairs.   Fund raising has begun.   Fortunately, my friend and helpful research colleague in Picton, John D. Lyons, went to the cemetery to inquire about Branscombe family records only to find out that their headstone had been harmed.   Buried in this cemetery are Gena Branscombe’s father - Henry William Branscombe, her mother – Sara Elizabeth Allison Bransco...