[Nfb-seniors] Another Blind History Lady story about a Blind Guy in the 1800's

[Robert Leslie Newman]

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
modes of transportation in the late 1800's. If not for a few news articles,
William would go unnoticed to the world. He thought of himself as just an
average guy working at whatever he could to pay the bills. 

 

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 on July 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
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 14, William was finally enrolled by his parents at
the School for the Blind in Faribault.  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 ones. 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).   

 

William was a part of the many sicknesses that went through the school each
year. He most likely had the measles one fall and in the winter of 1872, he
came down with a severe case of erysipelas, a severe skin infection caused
by the same infections that can cause strep throat. William's rash and
infection was the most severe the doctor had seen in a long time and for
sure, at the school. But the school was growing, not heated adequately  and
the dorms were over-crowded, allowing for a fertile breeding ground for
passing along the illnesses of childhood.  

 

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 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 neighborhood. The job was short lived. Next, he took a job in
a piano factory 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. 

 

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. 

 

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 that 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. No records show where he received training for this profession.

To get to his various 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 noteing the changes in ruts, he recognized intersections and
large drives. 

 

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. 

 

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 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.   

 

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. 

 

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The Blind History Lady is the winner of the 2018 Jacob Bolotin Award. 

 

Peggy Chong

The Blind History Lady