[Nd-talk] FW: Reminder: Spring and trying new things

Fri Apr 5 11:52:59 UTC 2019

From: The Blind History Lady <theblindhistorylady at gmail.com> 
Sent: Friday, April 5, 2019 6:05 AM
To: mota1252 at gmail.com
Subject: Reminder: Spring and trying new things

Riding a Bicycle 

. 

Happy Spring to my Blind History Lady fans;

This time of year cures my cabin fever. I like to get out and find new places to go. My story this month is a man who got out and tried varied careers and modes of transportation in the late 1800’s. If not for a few newspaper articles, William would go unnoticed to the world. He thought of himself as just an average guy working at whatever he could to support his family. I am sure he loved spring as well. 

He had little education and many hard breaks in life. In some ways, his hard breaks are what made him a relatively successful businessman, father and husband. May I introduce to you William Branch. 

William Nicols Branch was born in July of 1852,  to William H and Mary Branch, in Hamilton County Ohio.    His parents soon after his birth, moved to the Ramsey County area of Minnesota. Father William and an older brother, also named William H. were carpenters and brick layers, a good profession for the new state and its growing communities.  The Branch family had six children in total, with the William of our story, the third child.

It is believed that William became blind at a young age. In about 1865, the School for the Blind in Faribault, knew of him, but had not been able to convince his family to enroll him as a student at that time. The institution was new. The first class did not begin until 1866  and many parents labored under the mis-impression that the school was also an asylum, a place where one might put a family member away that was feeble-minded. A place that people went in but did not come out of. A place to get sick, or stay for the rest of one's life. Not, a school.

In 1867, at the age of 15, William was finally enrolled by his parents at the School for the Blind. At that time, the school for the Blind and the School for the Deaf were housed in the same buildings. There were far more deaf students than blind students. There was only one instructor for the blind children for the first few years of the program.     

While at school, William learned to play music for a trade. He played the Piano, organ, violin, base and flute in the school presentations, musical reviews  and annual concerts.   At the time of his tenure at the school, there was not a class in Piano Tuning. Indeed, the only occupational training that was available for the blind students was that of a Cooper,( barrel builder).   

After leaving the school in 1873, he moved back to the St. Paul area near family. He is not listed as a graduate, most likely as he was an older student, focusing on employment.  William's father had died on New Year's Eve of 1872. As there were little support for a widow, William could not rely on his mother or family to support a blind child, he had to make it on his own.  

 For a time, he tried being a milk man, delivering milk, door-to-door on a horse for the rural neighborhood. His horses worked some like a dog guide. William listened for fences, groves of trees or other landmarks to indicate a drive. William tugged the reigns to tell the horse what direction to turn. The job was short lived. 

You may wonder how he even thought of riding a horse by himself. When a young boy, William showed off his horse riding skills at the Dan Rice Circus one night. It was late, after dark, a disadvantage to many of the boys and young men who wished to ride the trick mule pony of the circus. There was little lamp light for the sighted boys, but being blind and having little useable vision, the lack of light did not bother young William. Branch accepted the challenge of trying to stay on the bucking mule.  He did stay on the mule and won the $5 prize that night for his accomplishments. When he got home later that night and told his family that he won the money, he got a "licking" from his father for trying such a stunt.  

Next, he took a job in a piano factory in St. Paul where pianos were built, repaired and tuned. He worked in the tuning room with other blind and sighted piano tuners. Here is where he learned the profession most thought of as possible for the blind. The blind employees, according to William were the best at the shop as they paid attention to the little details. He befriended the blind men and eagerly learned their craft.

Music helped him to earn money. William played piano and violin, cornet, flute and clarinet. All with better-than-average skill.   Knowing how to play several instruments meant that he could also get jobs playing music for many occasions. He could sit in for another musician in another band at short notice. He would travel by street car or walk to most of his engagements and the piano factory. 

In 1876, William married Nellie, a woman five years his junior who immigrated from Sweden in 1869.  The couple had four children. Sadly, their two boys died at very young ages. James was born in 1877 and George in 1879. Neither boys made it to their fifth birthday.  The couple later had daughter Sara, born in 1888 and Lillian born in 1898.

In 1890 Branch worked out of his home he purchased that year at 981 Margaret Street in St. Paul. Few blind persons could afford to purchase a home, so even though one of his varied businesses did not succeed, the combination of all his efforts provided for his family. Besides piano tuning he also advertised as an acupuncturist out of their home. It was not very successful and after a few years, he no longer advertised that service. No records show where he received training for this profession.

Some tuners hired children to lead them around or had their own children do so. In William’s case, there is no indication that he used a sighted guide at all. His sons died before being able to do so. His daughters were born much later. There is no mention of William’s wife in news articles, leading me to believe that she did not act as his guide either. 

To get to his various piano tuning jobs, William would ride a bicycle through St. Paul for many years. A blind man riding a bike? Yes, it was not as unusual as you would think in the Twin Cities. Once one piano tuner tried it and succeeded, others did the same. The ruts in the road from the wagons, left a deep trail to follow and keep the wheels of the bike inside of the wagon rut. By listening and noting the changes in ruts, he recognized intersections and large alleys or driveways. He noted the change in the air. A sudden breeze could mean an alley or a taller building.   

He rode a horse as well through town if he could rent one. It was important to know where one is going when riding on the horse. A horse did not want to injure itself and would avoid obstacles that the blind rider might not notice. This also meant that William had to know where he was going as well. 

Walking alone on the streets of St. Paul, William often was offered help. Sometimes he needed the assistance, most times he did not. Sometimes, he would ask for assistance or directions. Once in a while he would walk with a fellow citizen to his next destination or the street he was looking for. This proved to be a great opportunity to educate the public on blindness, and also drum up a little business as a piano tuner and musician.

William passed away on May 26, 1907 in St. Paul. He was 55 and left his widow with one young child. In 1910, Nellie still lived in the house and had enough funds to support her young daughter without working. Daughter Sara, “Sadie” lived with her mother and was a piano teacher, a skill she had learned from her father. William left enough behind to keep his wife until her death, decades later. 

You can read more of my Books at   <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001B7zqZIiSwwuHj-nRXndydUy7z9qvU8-Xa8IjGI1hUoxFyAUHcBuv09TqIE-aAkNayVNQsWYCw7dgnwdNmX445F57gRBCQ2GBJttYMhuR8IRb8s5Z63EOlBEPjXSpZV7sbMy_Nc2E_Os7yLpiOL0EKyBvJV4BgnxO_oIAaVrb6TEh85oJ7X80cQ==&c=VzQAoRGctv3OkPS-aTpSEbjpuQh9li4UL_WfxC-UX0N99eKl8Bas3w==&ch=EbdVKmr3VOYJVuekt1Xz5WWNZn0RdFG9o2FH2lJW4WE04LpvSElFKQ==> https://www.smashwords.com 

www.theblindhistorylady.com

.

‌

The Blind History Lady | 14152 E Linvale Pl, 201, Aurora, CO 80014 

 <https://visitor.constantcontact.com/do?p=un&m=001Cab_UttHGCg-764tpYXcSQ%3D&ch=79aaaad0-68fe-11e8-9c49-d4ae527548e1&ca=9a789231-4064-411b-afdf-ea9376353863> Unsubscribe mota1252 at gmail.com 

 <https://visitor.constantcontact.com/do?p=oo&m=001Cab_UttHGCg-764tpYXcSQ%3D&ch=79aaaad0-68fe-11e8-9c49-d4ae527548e1&ca=9a789231-4064-411b-afdf-ea9376353863> Update Profile |  <http://www.constantcontact.com/legal/service-provider?cc=about-service-provider> About our service provider 

Sent by  <mailto:theblindhistorylady at gmail.com> theblindhistorylady at gmail.com in collaboration with 

 <http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp?cc=nge> 

 <http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp?cc=nge> Try it free today 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nd-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20190405/bb318cdb/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: ~WRD000.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 823 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nd-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20190405/bb318cdb/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 524 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nd-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20190405/bb318cdb/attachment-0001.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 332 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nd-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20190405/bb318cdb/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 878 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nd-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20190405/bb318cdb/attachment-0003.jpg>