Monday, March 11, 2019

A Little Monday Music - George J. Gaskin

Blast From The Past

I have decided to try and start each new week off on a positive high note. But being a glass half empty kind of guy I suspect things will turn into crap soon enough.

George J. Gaskin (1863–1920) was an early American recording artist. He was born in Belfast, Ireland, but migrated to the United States in his youth, and became one of the most popular singers the United States in the 1890s.

Gaskin's earliest known recordings were done for the Edison North American Phonograph Company on June 2, 1891. He may have been only the second vocalist to make commercial records for Edison (the first may have been African American whistler and singer George W. Johnson, recorded just one day earlier, on June 1).

He was nicknamed the "Silver-voiced Irish tenor", and specialized in sentimental Irish ballads and the popular songs of tin pan alley. He recorded prolifically in the 1890s, for the United States Phonograph Company, Columbia Phonograph Company, and Berliner Gramophone. Except for a single side for the American Pathé company in 1916, Gaskin's recording career ended in 1904 as the industry boomed and his talent for recording cylinders became less valuable.

He died in New York on December 14, 1920.

More . . . .

After The Ball - (1893)

Drill Ye Terriers Drill (1891) - Irish Songs

Photo of George J. Gaskin from
The Phonoscope magazine, Nov. 1896

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Thomas Pinckney, Federalist

Commissioned as captain in the 1st South Carolina Regiment of the Continental Army. After seeing much action, he became an aide-de-camp to General Horatio Gates. He was captured by the British at the disastrous Battle of Camden in 1780. After recovering from his wounds, he was released in a prisoner exchange. In 1781 he fought under Lafayette in Virginia. Appointed by President George Washington to be the U.S. minister to Great Britain served as Envoy Extraordinary to Spain. The Federalist Party made him a candidate in the 1796 presidential election as the intended running-mate of John Adams. Served as Congressman and Governor of South Carolina. Served as a major general in the Army during the War of 1812.

Henry Lee III, Federalist

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Frederick Frelinghuysen, Federalist

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WILLIAM PATERSON, Federalist

James Hillhouse, Federalist

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In 1777 he was chosen as one of Connecticut's representatives in the Continental Congress. Served at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia as a delegate from Connecticut. On June 20, 1787 he proposed the use of the name the United States to identify the nation under the authority of the Constitution. United States Senator from Connecticut. Ellsworth was the principal exponent in the Senate of Alexander Hamilton's economic program. In 1796 Ellsworth was appointed by President George Washington to be Chief Justice of the United States. Served as United States Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of France. Ellsworth was a candidate in the 1796 United States Presidential election, receiving eleven votes in the electoral college.

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Josiah Parker, Federalist

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Member of the Pennsylvania state house of representatives 1808-1810; elected as a Federalist to Congress and served from 1815, to 1823. Sergeant was a strong backer of Henry Clay's American System and the Second Bank of the United States, and even traveled to Europe to negotiate loans to the Bank. He was a strong opponent of slavery who voted against the Missouri Compromise. In 1826 he was an envoy to the Panama Congress. Elected to Congress as an Adams candidate 1827 to 1829. Failing re-election he became legal counsel to the Bank of the United States. Sergeant was the Vice Presidential running mate in Henry Clay's campaign on the National Republican ticket in 1832. Elected as a Whig to Congress serving from 1837 to 1841.

John Laurance, Federalist

Philip Barton Key, Federalist

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