Tell Taylor
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William "Tell" Taylor (October 14, 1876 – November 24, 1937)[1] was a United States songwriter. By far his biggest hit was "Down by the Old Mill Stream" from 1910, one of the most commercially successful Tin Pan Alley publications of the era. The song was published by Forster Music Publishing Company of Chicago. Taylor was born in Vanlue, Hancock County, Ohio. He performed on Vaudeville and established a music publishing house in Chicago, Illinois. His other songs included "He Sleeps Beneath the Soil of France", "I Love You Best of All", "If Dreams Come True", "Little Old Home in the Valley", "Rock Me to Sleep in the Old Rocking Chair", "Some Day", and "When the Maple Leaves Were Falling". Taylor also wrote the Broadway musical comedies Tiger Lillee and In New York Town.[2]
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[edit] Marriage
Taylor was married to Buda Godman, the 19 year old daughter of Otho and Julia Godman of Chicago, on November 4, 1907. Buda (born Helen Julia Godman) had met Tell Taylor about two years previously when Tell Taylor was an invited dinner guest at St. Joseph's Convent and Academy in Adrian, Michigan. Tell Taylor had just started his career, and was appearing with a traveling stage company in Adrian. Buda and Tell had become good friends before dinner was over, but did not correspond afterward. Two years later, while attending the performance of "The Girl Question" at a theater in Chicago, Buda recognized Tell and sent a note to him backstage, and they became reacquainted. After spending much of their time together lunching and dining during the following week, they met once again for dinner at a downtown Chicago hotel, and sent for a judge to marry them in the hotel's parlor.[3]
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Tell Taylor's Marriage License – 1907
[edit] Death
Taylor died in Chicago of a heart attack and was buried in Van Horn Cemetery, Findlay, Ohio.
[edit] References
- ^ Tell Taylor, Author of "Old Mill Stream", Ballad Inspired On Shore of Blanchard River in Ohio — Writer Dies in Chicago, The New York Times, November 24, 1937
- ^ Biographical Dictionary of American Music, by Charles Eugene Claghorn ((1911–2005), Parker Publishing Co., West Nyack, New York (1973)
- ^ Philadelphia Enquirer – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Sunday, November 10, 1907 – P. 3
