1835–1918

Introduction

Born: Ap­ril 12, 1835, Car­lisle, Penn­syl­van­ia.

Died: No­vem­ber 1, 1918, Ot­tum­wa, Io­wa.

Buried: Ot­tum­wa Ce­me­te­ry, Ot­tum­wa, Io­wa.

Biography

John was the son of George W. Rheem and Ly­dia Up­de­graff, and hus­band of Amel­ia Fran­ces Rit­ter.

He grew up and re­ceived his ear­ly edu­ca­tion in Car­lisle, show­ing a mu­sic­al gift at a ve­ry ear­ly age. At age eight he was sing­ing in the lo­cal church choir.

At age 21, he went to Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts, to stu­dy mu­sic for two years. He then re­turned to Car­lisle, and taught mu­sic in the pub­lic schools for two years.

As of 1895, Rheem was a mu­sic deal­er in Ot­tum­wa, Io­wa.

Sources

Lyrics

Music

Help Needed

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Rheem (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),