1877–1957

Introduction

Born: De­cem­ber 22, 1877, in Cal­houn Coun­ty (Sho­wal­ter) or Cam­den (his own re­port, 1942), Ar­kan­sas.

Died: Au­gust 7, 1957, Ok­la­ho­ma (13 miles south­west of Conroe), Tex­as.

Buried: Al­ba­ny Ce­me­te­ry, Al­ba­ny, Ok­la­ho­ma.

portrait

Biography

Hultsman was the son of Bap­tist min­is­ter Ben­ja­min Hults­man, Sr., and Mar­tha Jane Pierce, and hus­band of Ju­lia Aman­da Woods.

His was a mu­sic­al fa­mi­ly: His fa­ther was a good sing­er, and his sis­ter played the or­gan.

He moved to Tex­as in 1890, and at­tend­ed his first sing­ing school in 1895. In 1896, he joined the Bap­tist church. He bought a co­py of An­th­ony Sho­wal­ter’s New Har­mo­ny and Com­po­si­tion in 1899, and with its help be­gan com­pos­ing.

Soon aft­er, he helped the Quar­tet Com­pa­ny pre­pare The Har­vest­er. He lat­er re­ceived a di­plo­ma from the South­ern Nor­mal Mu­sic­al In­sti­tute in its session at Oma­ha, Tex­as.

The 1910 cen­sus shows him and Ju­lia in Bry­an Coun­ty, Texas. He re­gis­tered for the draft in 1918 in Al­ba­ny, Ok­la­ho­ma.

The 1920 cen­sus shows him and Ju­lia in Al­ba­ny, but by 1930 they were in Sher­man, Tex­as, where he was sell­ing ga­so­line.

During World War II, he was em­ployed by the Works Pro­gress Ad­min­is­tr­ation.

Sources

Lyrics

Music