Stow, Viola (1841-1912) Sheet Music Collection, 1839-1903

Held by The Filson Historical Society

Creator: Stow, Viola, 1841-1912

Title: Sheet Music Collection, 1839-1903

Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Collections Department.

Size of Collection: 1 cu. ft. (2 medium flat boxes)

Location Number: Mss. A S891b

 

Biographical Note

Viola Stow (1841-1912) was the only daughter of Uzziel Hayward Stow (1809-1890) and Catharine Manser Stow (1811-1899) of Switzerland County, Indiana. The Stow family home and farm were in Stowtown not far from the Ohio River, one of the major inland transportation and migration routes of the day. The Stows were prosperous farmers and active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Viola had three brothers, Hiram S. Stow (1835-1853), Loring B. Stow (1838-1860), and Baron P. Stow (1847-1864), who all died young.

From 1857 to 1860, Viola Stow attended Elizabethtown Female Seminary in Ohio, sixteen miles from Cincinnati. She worked as a schoolteacher in Stowtown, Indiana, from circa 1860 to 1862. She married Frank Dufour (1836-1907) in October 1862, and they lived outside Vevay on a farm in Switzerland County. Their children were Julia (1865-1937), Clara (1867-1944), Lella (1867-1942), Grace (1870-1872), Loring (1876-1910), Olive (1880-1961), and Belle (1883-1979).

For more information on Viola Stow Dufour and her relations, consult the descendant charts and person reports in the Stow family papers [Mss. A S891 folders 3-6]. See also a compilation of the popular tunes mentioned in the letters and diary of Viola’s brother Loring, put together in 2016-2017 by donor Ellen Stepleton [Mss. A. S891 folder 232]. Viola’s correspondence, diaries, and photographs are included in the Stow family papers, the Stow family added papers [Mss. A S891a], and the Stow family photograph collection [018PC4 and 021PC24]. Some of Donald “Don” Stepleton’s manuscripts from ca. 1976-1977 discuss his grandmother Viola [Donald Dufour Stepleton papers, Mss. A S837 folder 74].

Source:

Ellen Stepleton person reports, Stow family papers [Mss. A S891 folder 6].

 

Scope and Content Note

This collection contains bound and loose sheet music belonging to Viola Stow of Switzerland County, Indiana, dating from the years before and after her marriage to Frank Dufour in 1862.

Folder 1 holds notes about the collection and indices for the sheet music, compiled by donor Ellen Stepleton, a great granddaughter of Viola Stow Dufour. According to the notes, Viola and Frank’s daughters Julia, Clara, Lella, Grace, Olive, and Belle all played the piano. Their names, among some others, are written on pages in the album and in the loose sheet music. Ellen Stepleton also notes that thirteen of the thirty-two scores in Viola’s album, as well as one score in the loose sheet music, were published by W. C. Peters of Cincinnati, Ohio.

To view PDFs of the notes and indices, click the links in the folder list below

Volume 2 is an album holding sheet music published in the years 1839-1858. The album was bound circa 1859-1861, and the front has a plate engraved with the name “Viola Stow.”

Folders 3-21 hold loose sheet music dating from 1854-1903.

Related Collections:

Stow family papers [Mss. A S891]

Stow family added papers [Mss. A S891a]

Stow family photograph collection [018PC4 and 021PC24]

Wetzel, Richard D., Oh! sing no more that gentle song: the musical life and times of William Cumming Peters (1805-66) [780.92 W544]

 

Folder List

Box 1

Folder 1: Notes and indices for scores in the album (click to access PDF) and loose sheet music (click to access PDF)

Volume 2: Album of sheet music, 1839-1858

 

Box 2

Folder 3: William F. Pratt, “The Harvest Home Schottische,” 1854

Folder 4: J. A. Fowler, “Syracuse Polka,” 1856

Folder 5: H. S. Thompson, “Annie Lisle,” 1860

Folder 6: Dan D. Emmett, W. L Hobbs, “I Wish I Was in Dixie’s Land,” 1860

Folder 7: J. H. Slack, “Home, Sweet Home,” circa early 1860s

Folder 8: M. W. Balfe, “Killarney,” circa early 1860s

Folder 9: A. P. Wyman, “Silvery Waves,” 1863

Folder 10: H. Millard, “Waiting (Aspettando),” 1867

Folder 11: Bobby Newcomb, “Crossing on the Ferry,” 1869

Folder 12: T. Brigham Bishop, “Love among the Roses,” 1869

Folder 13: “Annie Laurie,” 1871

Folder 14: Musical Monthly, no. 2, 1877

Folder 15: Julia Rivé-King, “On Blooming Meadows,” 1878

Folder 16: J. L. Malloy, “Punchinello,” circa 1882

Folder 17: Stephen Glover, “Gipsy Countess,” 1883

Folder 18: William S. Baxter,” The Royal Cigarette Guards,” 1886

Folder 19: Our Monthly Musical Gem, vol. 11, no. 1, July 1897

Folder 20: Alfred G. Wathall, “Since I Met You (Dripping Sunshine),” 1902

Folder 21: Georgia B. Wells, “The Rosary,” 1903

 

Subject Headings

Dufour family

Dufour, Viola Stow, 1841-1912.

Peters, W. C. (William Cumming), 1805-1866.

Popular music – 19th century.

Sheet music.

Stow family.