Introduction

Biography

Jacob was the son of Fred­er­ick Dis­ney and Har­ri­et Barry, and bro­ther to Hen­ry Dis­ney.

He was ed­uca­ted in the local dis­trict school. He lat­er at­tend­ed the nor­mal school un­der Pro­fess­or John Og­den in Wor­thing, Ohio, for al­most a year. In the sum­mer of 1879 he went to the Mu­sic­al Nor­mal school in Youngs­town, Ohio, un­der Pro­fess­or N. Coe Stew­art, of Cleve­land, Ohio.

He stu­died mu­sic for some years, and com­posed Will­ie’s Fare­well, pub­lished in 1877, mak­ing him the first re­si­dent of Knox Coun­ty, Ohio, to write lyr­ics and mu­sic for a pub­lished song.