Looking Through the Archives: A Few Thoughts About Thomas Wiggins Bethune

(Also known as “Blind” Tom Bethune: This excerpt is based on my Sonictapestry blog project )

During graduate school the words of my faculty advisor Dr. Eddie Meadows and my thesis chair Dr. Lewis Peterman echoed through my mind, "keep writing.." After completing the MA, their words, "Keep Looking." were an inspiration to try to answer questions I could not at that time pursue.1

San Diego Central Library had newspapers on microfiche and microfilm before digitalization. I began searching these files at the Central library for San Diego music and musician related headlines in several local newspapers during the mid to late 1800s, "The San Diego Herald," The San Diego Daily Bee (Which merged with the San Diego Tribune)," and "The San Diego Sun." 2

On a nagging impression during the entire summer of 2014, I search. Then, I found an interesting music related item. It was a short paragraph about the 19th century musical genius: African American pianist “Blind Tom” Bethune (1849-1908). I remembered a section dedicated to Bethune in Eileen Southern’s seminal text. 3

Tom Wiggins Bethune was identified in early childhood as having somewhat eccentric , bizarre behaviors, including strong visceral responses to sounds, especially music. Several answers emerged with further research. Tests were conducted to confirm his abilities. He toured beyond the United States. His program notes were preserved. Some of his piano compositions were transcribed and published.?Southern’s treatment of Bethune also notes that he opened the door for other African American blind musical prodigies to concertize. 4

After close observation of his acuity for playing the piano, his master’s family determined that he was truly gifted. They cultivated Tom’s musical gifts in what would today be considered a non-traditional approach. His master hired musicians to perform classical music to which Green would listen and afterwards replay. A child prodigy, he could also retain memory of the music played for him by accomplished pianists. 5

As a young man, he concertized, composed, and became a nationally known pianist. James Trotter’s book on African American musicians during the late 1800s suggests that he was what we now call a “savant.” Trotter downplays Tom's eccentricities. “He is unquestionably and conspicuously the most wonderful musician the world has ever known.? . . . He is an absolute master in the comprehension and retention of all sound(and in all sound he finds music).” His appraisal of Bethune’s musicianship is almost overstated, as if to dispel sensationalized documentation of his unusual behaviors. 6

Although research so far has not revealed that Tom concertized in San Diego, it is interesting to note that after the Civil War, Blind Tom was still an African American musician and composer of national significance, and he was still performing. I discovered the following short article in the San Diego Daily Bee:

The entry above notes:

Blind Tom's New Guardian. United Press Dispatch to the Bee Baltimore, July 31----Judge Bond today decided that Blind Tom, the world renowned pianist, shall be delivered into the custody of Mrs. Eliza Bethune, who represents the mother of Blind Tom, and that James S. Bethune, who has hitherto had charge of the latter, shall pay to Mrs. Bethune $7,0000 for past services.

Such an amount of money was quite considerable for owed wages and that James S. Bethune was probably not pleased about the judge's ruling in the Bethune family’s favor. Finding this United Press Dispatch to the San Diego Daily Bee from Baltimore was quite a surprise. It is a rare jewel. The short entry is in the Sunday July 31st 1887 edition of the San Diego Daily Bee newspaper (Vol.1, No. 123). However, this short article left me several questions. Did his mother receive the money. Was Elizabeth Bethune a caretaker for Tom's mother AND Tom? I wondered is this article arguably further proof of Blind Tom' Wiggins' as well as his mother's tenuous status and personhood?

My discovery in the San Diego Daily Bee notes that Mrs. Eliza Bethune became a guardian of Blind Tom supposedly for Tom's mother. An entry titled "Blind Tom's Still A Slave" in the book Out of Sight: The Rise Of American Popular Music 1889-1895 by Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff in entry titled "Blind Tom's Still A Slave" indicates that Mrs. Eliza Bethune was actually a daughter-in-law of Tom's deceased master. 7

According to this Cleveland Gazette entry of February 3, 1894, she received total custody of Blind Tom who was declared a "lunatic," possibly institutionalized, but apparently continued to perform. The dispute over his freedom and his earnings were taken to the Supreme Court with a decision against Mrs. Hazel Bethune. 8

Endnotes

1. Dr. Peterman, now retired from the SDSU School of Music and Dance Continued to encourage me to expand my archival music research beyond extant music sources. Dr. Eddie Meadows also suggested I look beyond music archives. He was on the Advisory Board for the American Made Music Series and pointed me towards the work of Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff. "Select, Annotated Chronology of Music-Related Citations, 1889." in Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music 1889-1895, University Press of Mississippi: Jackson, 2002. (pg. 47-48 January 19, 1889(Rochester, New York), Pg. 49 February 9, 1889 (Rochester New York), pg. 92 (February 8, 1890), pg. 179-180 (January 24, 1889--controversy about Tom's living in an asylum and death, this entry disputed press reports that he was still traveling and performing on piano until 1908).

2. That summer, I had been concentrating on newspaper archives in the 1800s at the San Diego Main Public Library. I researched several local newspapers and a fascinating history of San Diego newspaper publishing for example, the San Diego Sun (1885-1889) and The San Diego Herald (1851-1860). I also scoured the San Diego Daily Bee before and after it merged with the San Diego Union Tribune. Also see See: https://www.loc.gov/item/sn95061705,

3. Eileen Southern.?? “After The War.” in The Music of Black Americans: A History 2nd ed.(New York: W. W. Norton & Company 1983) 246-247. Third edition pages:? 249-251.

4. Ibid., 246-247, Eileen Southern,? “After The War.” in The Music of Black Americans: A History 3rd ed.(New York: W. W. Norton & Company 1997) 250.

5. James Trotter. “Thomas Greene Bethune, Otherwise Known as “Blind Tom,” The Wonderful Pianist”. in Music and Some Highly Musical People, Music and?Some Highly Musical People (New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1968) 141-168. Originally printed in Boston:1881.

6. Ibid.,145-148.

7. Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff. "Select, Annotated Chronology of Music-Related Citations, 1889." in Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music 1889-1895, University Press of Mississippi: Jackson, 2002. pg. 335.

8. Ibid.