The new Geocities ads on the right side of your browser window can be pushed offscreen by clicking on the tab that's marked by a couple "greater than" symbols ( >> ).   We recommend doing it once the page is loaded. If clearing the ads loses your place on the page, scroll up.

For years, Oliver Dennett Hutchinson had been the proprietor of Hutchinson's Drug Store in Hutchinson, Minnesota.  In 1894, he retired from that business, organized his family into the Hutchinson Family Tribe of Asa Young Folks and started a concert tour.  For two years, he led his troupe  -  which included himself, his wife Nellie, and two of their children,  Jesse C. Hutchinson  and  "Little Bess" Hutchinson  -  through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota, entertaining and getting a taste of an old family tradition.

Many decades later, Bess Hutchinson Fournie recalled making her professional debut at a place called Lester Prairie, west of Hutchinson, at which time she and her brother Jesse did a song and dance routine.

After the excitement of the World's Fair, John returned to making frequent public appearances near home, singing quite often at temperance gatherings.  As much as he had always valued this work, though, he must have really envied Dennett for leading an organized singing company from city to town.  Out on the concert trail is where John forever longed to be.

In June 1894, John went to Milford three times.   He visited Judson's daughter Kate  -  who, back in the spring of 1892, had married Charles P. Birney.  He also stopped at the homestead to see Ludlow Patton, who was summering there.  Late in the month, John was a featured speaker in Milford's centennial celebration.

In September 1894,  John went to Eliot, Maine,  to sing at the Green Acre Conferences,  which were founded by his friend Sarah Jane Farmer.  He got back to Lynn just in time to sing at the Labor Day celebration.

For years, Marion McKeever and her daughter Helen often had been among Ludlow Patton's travel companions.  On August 11, 1894, Ludlow and Marion were quietly married.  News stories generally said that this union was arranged at Abby's request.

Page 2

By this time, Lewis Campbell had gone into the cigar and confectionery business in one of John's buildings opposite the high school.  Later news stories suggest this may have been one of his more successful ventures.  One reason for the apparent turn in his business fortunes seems to be low overhead.  He paid rent for three or four weeks, according to John, and then stopped.  The Campbells had moved into John's home, and they began to use more and more space to meet their own needs.

John had a hard-won reputation for vanity, and anecdotes about his habit of curling his hair, or having it curled, are generally retold to illustrate the point.  John also was far-sighted, but he didn't like wearing glasses.  So he hired Mary E. McDonald to read to him, and he dictated some of his book to her.

Meanwhile, McDonald was, she said, engaged to marry John and their wedding had been set for August 3; but on that day, John failed to appear.  She told a reporter that Viola and Lewis and one of their sons broke up the engagement.  She spoke of an incident when Viola refused to let her in to pay the rent, though John begged that she be permitted in.  "On another occasion,"  said McDonald,  "when I was up to the cottage with the rent, she pitched into me, called me names and twitted me on my clothes and where I got them."   "I am just as sure they had him locked up in the house that day as I am sitting here."   "They do not know themselves how many times Mr. Hutchinson came out by stealth to see me.  He told me he believed they would try to make him out insane, and he said he had been to a doctor and secured a certificate that he was mentally sound to protect himself."

"Mrs. Campbell frequently used the words 'conspiracy' and 'adventuress',"  according to the Boston Post, when speaking of Mary McDonald.  Evidently, though, many people thought well of the young woman.  "Her character,"  said the Boston Journal,  "is very highly spoken of by those who have her acquaintance."

On August 23, McDonald's lawyer attached John's property for $5,000. When this story became public in early October,  John said,  "It is a comedy of errors, it will be amicably settled."  Six years later, though, when giving testimony in court, part of his account agreed substantially with McDonald's.  He said that Viola came out and berated her in very vehement language.  "Then the Campbell family came in,"  he said,  "and locking the door, threatened me until 2 o'clock in the morning.  Harry Campbell, as spokesman, demanded the handling of the High Rock property.  Finally I, under duress, agreed to the discharge of the agent."

Eventually,  Mary McDonald's suit was settled for $3,500.

Page 3

Abby and Ludlow Patton were a very loving couple and they enjoyed a long life together.   Abby's loss must have been a heavy blow to Ludlow.  In March 1893, he was converted to spiritualism by her return to him, in the presence of the medium, John W. Fletcher, four months after her death.  By this point in 1894, he was writing news correspondence for spiritualist newspapers.

Abby's spirit asked that her family and friends, in earth life at Orange, gather on Christmas Eve, that they might hear a concert by members of the Hutchinson family in spirit life.  Ludlow wrote about hearing Judson, Abby, and others sing again.  After their closing song, the Hutchinsons announced another concert for the 27th.  True to their word, the spirits gave another entertainment on schedule, including four quartets along with solos by Rhoda and Abby.

Frederick Douglass, evidently in the first few weeks of 1895, wrote an introduction to John's book.   "I saw this family,"  wrote Douglass,  "in all the vicissitudes of its career, covering a period of more than half a century.   I saw it in times that tried men's souls.   I saw it in peace and I saw it in war; but I never saw one of its members falter or flinch before any duty, whether social or patriotic; and it is a source of more satisfaction than I can express, to have lived, as I have now done, to bear this high testimony to the character of the Hutchinsons. . . . "

Frederick Douglass died at his home on February 20.   When news reached John, he left for Washington.  He expressed his wish to sing at the funeral; and Helen Douglass wrote a letter, asking that he be added to the program.  At the funeral, John reminisced about his friendship with Douglass and sang two solos.  "It was,"  he said,  "one of the most impressive scenes of my life."

It may have been at this time that John met Agnes Everest.   She was giving a song recital, and a friend introduced them during the intermission.  Agnes found John interesting, and she invited him to call on her.  After that they sang together, at various times, in Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington.

On March 10, at the Boston Music Hall, John played the aged priest from "Evangeline" in Longfellow's Dream.   He sang at the Boston Music Hall again on April 3 in a tribute to Rev. S. F. Smith, the writer of "America" ("My country 'tis of thee").  Other vocal performances on this occasion were provided by the Handel and Haydn Chorus, the Harvard Glee Club, and an ensemble of 200 children from the Boston public schools.

Page 4

The Cotton States and International Exposition at Atlanta was about to open, and John had to go.   At Portsmouth, Virginia, he visited Jack and Richard, who were there with Lillie and Rev. Morgan.   "[T]hey had been campaigning for years in the Southwest and on the Pacific coast,"  he said,  "and following my visit they went on for one hundred days and nights of revival work, rounding them out at Atlanta, where for weeks they attracted large audiences."  John reached Atlanta on September 18, the fair's opening day  -  when Booker T. Washington gave his famed Atlanta Compromise address.  Saturday was "Blue and Gray Day,"  and John sang his song of that name.  "It was a 'New South,' indeed, that I saw,"  said John.   "And there, to the great gathering of Union and Confederate soldiers, I sang the song that had so often in later years been a key to open the Southern heart to the Hutchinsons. . . . "

By November 12, John was in New York for Elizabeth Cady Stanton's birthday celebration at Metropolitan Opera House.  The next day at the Hotel Savoy, he played piano and sang amid a group of his old friends.  On December 29, he sang at a meeting of spiritualists.

The American Temperance Union gave a reception at Chickering Hall on January 5, 1896, in honor of John's seventy-fifth birthday.   "Mr. Hutchinson,"  said the New York Times,  "has literally sung himself through life.  Perhaps that is one reason he is almost boyish in manner, despite his patriarchal gray beard.  He cannot talk without singing.  He sits down at the piano, if there is one, and if there is not, he sings without it, emphasizing the words with his hands.  He ends a sentence with a few notes, and he puts a whole paragraph into verse."

At this point John ended his remarkable narrative of his family.   Charles E. Mann compiled Story of the Hutchinsons mostly from material that John had dictated in the past couple years, and it was published later in 1896.

In February, John attended the first National Spiritualist Convention in the Madison Square Garden concert hall.  Wearing a cassock, he was given prolonged applause after singing several hymns.  Early in April, he was at Adelphi Hall for the Forty-Eighth Anniversary of the Advent of Modern Spiritualism.  "[T]he climax . . . was reached,"  said a spiritualist paper,  "when Father Hutchinson came in. . . . "   "He retains his musical powers wonderfully for a man of seventy-five years."

On August 24, John took part in a huge labor demonstration at Lynn.   He sang "Old High Rock"  -  with Brother Jesse's lines,  "Believing in the promise that all the sons of toil Have an equal right and title to the products of the soil"  -  the crowd enthusiastically singing the end of each verse.  John had been following the rise of William Jennings Bryan; and during the campaign that fall, he sang at many campaign meetings and rallies.

Page 5

In June 1896, Dennett's family stopped making concert tours.   After that, they moved to Minneapolis.  That fall Dennett became an agent for the Consolidated Flour Milling Company of Minneapolis, traveling through Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  He remained with that firm for over 35 years.

We have few fixed dates or places for Lillie's company, but it appears they may have ceased traveling around the same time as Dennett's group.  The next location where the Morgans can be placed for certain is Washington, DC.  Jack Hutchinson, though, may have inherited some of his father's independence and unpredictability.  He wound up in Minnesota.

Judson's daughter, Kate Birney, was still singing close to home.  So were her sons, when they could get time away from their studies at Dartmouth College  -  all four became physicians.  That left John as the only singing Hutchinson who was still often traveling around the country.

Henry George, in spite of poor health, in 1897 made a second run for mayor of New York.  As election day neared, George began pushing himself.  John went to New York to help in the campaign.  But the candidate died a few days before the election.  Henry George, Jr., was nominated to run in his father's place.

John   made frequent campaign appearances in this brave effort,  singing  "Henry George, Our Hero."

On October 30 at Chickering Hall, John got the sort of recognition he very much appreciated: he was applauded as soon as he stepped onto the platform at a memorial meeting.  Later, when he sang the campaign song, the crowd joined him on the chorus.  Generally before he sang, he would speak briefly in tribute to the memory of Henry George, Sr.  The campaign needed a most optimistic individual to encourage crowds to be hopeful and get out to vote.  They had such a person in John W. Hutchinson.

During one of John's last appearances, as he stepped forward the crowd was quiet,  "with the silence of reverence."   "I am here now,"  he said,  "to do what I can to help the legitimate party of William Jennings Bryan to elect their candidate.  They said a year ago that the cause of William J. Bryan was dead.  They said the other day that Henry George was dead, and that Henry George's influence was dead.  That may be, but to-morrow will be the day of resurrection.  I want to sing a song for Henry George."

Page 6

John gestured for the audience to sing the chorus.

After this performance, it is doubtful that anyone present was too discouraged to turn out at the polls on election day.  Though Henry George, Jr., did not win the election, it wasn't for lack of effort on the part of John Hutchinson.

Such youthful displays often startled John's audiences.   But he had exercised vigorously all his life; and in recent years, it had been his habit to take brisk walks every day.  When called to the platform, at times he would run up the stairs.  He moved about easily and sang with enthusiasm.

John participated in the Thirtieth National-American Woman Suffrage Convention, which met in Washington from the 13th to the 19th of February 1898.  He was among the earliest suffragists present at the Pioneers' Evening ceremony.

In March, John was in Washington lobbying for his Good Roads Employment Relief Bill.   Its goals were to improve our highways to benefit bicyclists, farmers, and commerce in general, while providing work for the unemployed.  John took great interest in bicyclists  -  or wheelmen and wheelwomen, as they were often called  -  and tried to involve them in special events he promoted.

Page 7

On Monday, April 4, 1898,  Judson Whittier Hutchinson  died of pneumonia.   John cared very much for his son, and Judson kept him good company.  The funeral was held on the 7th, and he was interred at the Eastern Burial Ground in Lynn.

In September, John was in Minnesota, visiting family and friends.   On the 20th, Dennett, his wife Nellie, and their daughter Bess joined John and his grandson Jack for a concert at the Unitarian Church on 8th St. and Mary Place in Minneapolis.

On January 6, 1899, Charles P. Birney died.   He was the second husband of Judson's daughter Kate.  His funeral took place on the 9th.  John sang "No Night There," and Viola, Kate, and the Dearborn Quartet joined in the chorus.

John was invited to Europe; and it must have been in reference to 1899 that he said,  "I was going to The Hague to sing at the peace conference of the world, but circumstances arose to trouble me, about that time, and so I didn't."

That fall, John announced his farewell tour  -  though probably most people thought he had given his farewell tour long ago.  Effie Mae Stevens, a Lynn soprano, and "Steamboat" Joe Horn were members of his company.  We have no information about how extensive this enterprise may have been.  At times late in John's life, it would seem that his concerts were pretty much limited to the Lynn, Milford, and Hutchinson areas.  Then he would surprise us with an engagement  -  occasionally in large halls  -  in Boston, Chicago, New York, or Washington.

"He was accompanied,"  said the Farmers' Cabinet,  "by a lady who was one of the most accomplished and sweetly voiced singers that has visited Milford for many a day and her efforts were duly applauded.  The young colored artist was a winning card in musical lines, and as an imitator few persons have the gift that he possesses."  The same notice said John had  "wonderful control of his voice."  He was no fan of President McKinley, and his remarks brought a mixed reaction from the press.  "Uncle John,"  said the Daily Pointer,  "referred to the negro postmaster shot in the south.  He believed that instead of pursuing a people in a foreign land, we had better see that we had justice at home."

In February 1900, John was in Washington for the Thirty-Second National-American Woman Suffrage Convention.  Then on the 15th, he took part in Susan B. Anthony's eightieth birthday celebration at Lafayette Opera House in Washington.

John spoke of troubling circumstances in 1899 but did not elaborate.   According to an account he gave in 1900, by some point the Campbells were occupying all of his house, leaving him only the use of an office.  He went to live with one of his tenants.  Evidently it was sometime in June 1900 that troubles between John and his son-in-law, Lewis A. Campbell, came to a head.  We may never know the details.

Page 8

Hearings opened on July 12 at Probate Court in Salem.   Harry Campbell represented the petitioners.  Their case rested largely on the premise that John's mind had been affected, primarily from age, causing him a weakness for affairs of the heart with young women.  The petitioners expressed fear that he might be victimized by one with designs on his property.

John's testimony addressed his relationship with the women in question; but he also went on at great length about money he had provided to the Campbells for their support and for the education of Cleaveland and Kate.  It is apparent from what he said that he thought his main problem was with Lewis Campbell and not with women.

A Boston Globe reporter said John was  "very active in his movements and lucid and fluent in his speech."  Before the July 25 hearing, he visited the office of the Milford Pointer.  It reported,  "Uncle John is evidently o.k."  Many papers covered this case, and they were generally quite sympathetic to John.  Several notable citizens of Lynn testified on John's behalf; and he presented himself well in his own testimony.

A final hearing was held on August 7.   The judge dismissed the case, saying the petition was unwarranted as no evidence had been presented to prove that John was incompetent to manage his property.  "The case has been hard fought,"  said one report,  "but the outcome was not unexpected."   "The public's opinion,"  said another,  "and the opinion of the court run together this time."  Yet another article implied it was family members, and not designing women, who wanted to get John's money away from him.  Viola always said that Judge Harmon simply made the wrong decision.  Few if any people who followed the court proceedings shared her view.  Meanwhile, John named his grandson Jack as his heir.

It was reported that John had hoped to lead a vocal group to Europe; and later sources seem to imply that he may have been in Italy not much later than this, in company with Agnes Everest.  Whether John did go to Europe, he certainly was back in New York by December 3, when he appeared at the Woman Suffrage Bazaar.

Page 9

In 1901, John celebrated his eightieth birthday quietly at home.   Sometime after that, he packed his bags and went to Florida for the winter "to get warm."  While there, he visited his friend, feminist and labor leader Ellen F. Wetherell.  On May 22, John was in Washington, playing violin and singing to a large concert audience at the Israel Metropolitan C.M.E. Church.  By June 1, he was at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York.

In July, the American Anti-Cigarette League met in Buffalo.   John joined the campaign, and he was to make a tour with his granddaughter, Kate Campbell, and with Lucy Page Gaston.  By Christmas, he was in Chicago.  John and Kate planned an opening concert at the First Methodist-Episcopal Church for the 27th; then another was arranged for January 3, 1902, at the Englewood Christian Church.  The plan was to get the crusade under way in the Chicago area in January and then tour through Baltimore, Richmond, and Charleston.

On January 4, John was given a reception at the Grand Pacific Hotel, in honor of his eighty-first birthday.  He and Kate both sang; and that evening they gave another concert.

We have no further details about this tour; but it might have been during it, or just after, that John visited Agnes Everest at her home, then in Birmingham, Alabama.  In the middle of February, he attended the Thirty-Fourth Annual National-American Woman Suffrage Convention.  During the Evening with the Pioneers, he opened the program, singing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," and closed with "Auld Lang Syne."

In 1902, probably summertime, John visited Maine with Julia Gammons, his housekeeper.   That fall, he was in Minnesota for a gathering of the McLeod County Old Settlers' Association.