1848–1926

Introduction

illustration

Born: June 28, 1848, Port­land, In­di­ana.

Died: Ju­ly 13, 1926, Se­at­tle, Wash­ing­ton.

Buried: Mount Hope Ce­me­te­ry, Lo­gans­port, In­di­ana.

portrait

Biography

William was the hus­band of Nan­cy J. Booth.

He grew up in Col­lege Cor­ners, In­di­ana (near Port­land), and served in the ar­my dur­ing the clos­ing days of the Am­er­ican ci­vil war.

After the war, he at­tend­ed Li­ber Col­lege, Jay Coun­ty, In­di­ana, and stu­died law for two years.

While in col­lege, he was a mem­ber of the col­lege glee club, and took les­sons in the col­lege sing­ing school. Lat­er, he stu­died with teach­ers such as J. W. Suf­fern, George Root, Lu­ther Em­er­son, Hora­tio Pal­mer, and Hen­ry Per­kins.

Giffe had a fine bar­i­tone voice, and was in de­mand as a con­cert sing­er. He soon be­came po­pu­lar as a cho­rus di­rect­or and con­ven­tion con­duct­or.

The Ol­iv­er Dit­son Com­pa­ny of Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts, pub­lished ma­ny of his ear­ly works, but Giffe went on to form his own pub­lish­ing house, the Home Mu­sic Com­pa­ny, in Lo­gans­port, In­di­ana. He al­so ed­it­ed the Home Mu­sic Jour­nal for se­ver­al years.

Later, Giffe be­came su­per­vis­or of mu­sic in the pub­lic schools in his home town. And he was one of three men chos­en to de­li­ver an ad­dress in Lo­gans­port, In­di­ana, at the me­mo­ri­al ser­vic­es for as­sas­sin­at­ed Am­er­ican pre­si­dent Will­iam Mc­Kin­ley.

Works

Sources

Lyrics

Music