Whooops! The last two messages got away from me without the additions!! Kind of amazing what a big dog plopping around and nudging your arms and assorted books bouncing around on your keyboard can do, not once but Twice!!!! Sorry folks, Buck says he's sorry too! Let me try this again. Andy, for your obit collection of the Christy Minstrels I found this in the Mariposa County Gazette, 1864: E P Christy, the "colored minstrel" of Christy's Minstrels, New York, jumped out of his house in that city on May 9th, fell on his head and was killed. He had been a little crazy for some time. He died worth $200,000. =============== I hope the hometown newspaper gave him a better send off!! (G) Enjoy, Carolyn Andy Alexis wrote: > > I am getting in on this rather late, but one of my historical > interests in California is music, and specifically, the 5 string > banjo. One reprint of an 1858 banjo manual recently reprinted > mentions that the author, Thomas F Briggs, died in San Francisco > shortly after arriving with the Christy Minstrel troupe(the OLD > christy minstels). I looked up the following obituary in the Oct. > 25, 1854 Alta California in the CA Room of the state library: > > "On Monday evening, the 23d inst., of typhoid fever, Mr. Thomas F > Briggs of New York City, well known as a performer of extraordinary > merit in Ethiopian representations, aside from his worth as a man and > a gentleman. His sudden demise will be deeply regretted by his > numerous friends thoughout the States. He was a member of Christy's > Minstrels and arrived in San Francisco recently on the Golden Age." > > So that is the Golden Age link...Thanks for the info on the Golden > Age. > > There was a lengthy tribute to Briggs in a later issue of a > different newspaper(name I can not remember) that is quite hilarious; > it describes his death and his final words after he tries to play > the banjo: "Alas, I can not play the old Cremona anymore..." > > The interesting thing to me is that this minstrel troupe, by all > accounts a widely respected one, found it worth their while to > undergo a 3 month sea voyage to perform in San Francisco. My guess > is that there were two reasons: > 1) declining audiences for this type of entertainment or > 2) they could charge enough at inflated CA prices that it was worth > their while. > > Andy Alexis, THE WEB SITE: http://www.calweb.com/~ndlxs > [email protected] > Sacramento, CA. > "The Pearl of the Central Valley" > > ==== CA-GOLDRUSH Mailing List ==== > Automatic Administrative Reminder: > Your Support Keeps RootsWeb Free! > http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html