1845–1909

Introduction

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Born: March 22, 1845, The For­rest, a plan­ta­tion near Rich­mond, Vir­gin­ia.

Died: No­vem­ber 19, 1909, El­li­cott Ci­ty, Ma­ry­land.

Buried: Hol­ly­wood Ce­me­te­ry, Rich­mond, Vir­gin­ia.

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Biography

Son of a weal­thy Vir­gin­ia fa­mi­ly, Tabb gave up most stu­dies at age 14 due to bad eye­sight, and took up the pi­ano.

He served in the Am­er­ican ci­vil war, but be­came a pri­son­er in 1864. While im­pri­soned, he met and be­came friends with po­et Sid­ney Lan­ier.

After the war, Tabb honed his mu­sic­al skills and taught at St. Paul’s School in Bal­ti­more, Ma­ry­land. He lat­er en­tered St. Charles Col­lege to stu­dy theo­lo­gy. He was or­dained a Ca­tho­lic priest on Christ­mas 1884.

For the rest of his life he con­tin­ued to teach Eng­lish gram­mar at St. Charles, as well as writ­ing po­et­ry and prose.

Sources

Lyrics