Elmore - James B.
James Buchanan Elmore
Source: History of Montgomery County, Indiana. Indianapolis: AW Bowen, 1913 p 1050
In the domain of literature Indiana has gained a place of distinction and preeminence being now by universal consent, the successor of Massachusetts as the literary center of America. No state has produced such a brilliant galaxy of stars in the literary firmament as has Indiana. In the long list of her native writers we may mention a few such as James Whitcomb Riley, Joaquin Miller, Edward Eggleston, Lew Wallace, Booth Tarkington, George Ade, David Graham Phillips, Maurice Thompson, Gene Stratton Porter and Meredith Nicholson to say nothing of scores of lesser lights. Montgomery County has had her full share of the glory in literary genius, here having been born Meredith Nicholson and here the great author of Ben Hur spent practically all his life; but it is as the home of statesmen that this county excels. To give a comprehensive reason for the first place in literature in the western hemisphere being held by the Hoosier state would be indeed quite out of the question, whether it has been the result of the meeting of the sterling pioneer elements of the East and West, or a superior system of education, or whether there is greater natural inspiration and more effort is being made to produce literature here than in other states must be left to conjecture. But the state should be proud of its eminence in this respect. Among those who have contributed materially of recent years locally at least to its prestige as a literary center, stands James B. Elmore of Montgomery County, well know as "The Bard of Alamo," who is a native son of the locality of which this history deals whose productions marked by depth of thought and adroit polish have given him a staunch following. It is of course extraneous to the functions of this publication to enter into manifold details concerning the careers of the many representative citizens whose names find a place within its pages and in the case at hand it can be hoped to present only a succinct but we hope accurate and worthy tribute to this talented son of the far famed Wabash Valley Country, made familiar to the wide world through the tender but masterful strokes of Paul Dresser.
Mr. Elmore was born on January 25, 1857 in Ripley Township Montgomery County. He is a son of Matthias and Mary Willis Elmore. The father was born in 1809 in Ohio and his death occurred in 1892. The mother was also a native of Ohio. Matthias Elmore grew to manhood in his native locality and there received a meager education, going no farther than the "rule of three" in mathematics, but being a great reader and a man of quick perception he became well educated.
He took a great deal of interest in politics and was a Whig up to the race of General William Henry Harrison for Presidency. He was a carpenter by trade, and he helped build the first Methodist Episcopal church in Crawfordsville. His chief life work, however was farming. His family consisted of 7 children by his first wife and six by his second. His first wife was a cousin of William English, a well known politician and capitalist of Indianapolis of the past generation. The second wife was the mother of the subject of our sketch. The third wife was known in her maidenhood as Virginia Kyle. Of the entire family of 13 children, only 5 still live. James B. Elmore received a common school education, later attending high school but his ambition for a collegiate course was never realized. However, he has remained a student all his life has done a vast amount of miscellaneous reading and is a well educated man. He began life for himself as a school teacher, which he followed for a period of 20 years prior to his marriage. He gave eminent satisfaction to both pupils and patrons and his services were in great demand. On February 14, 1880, Mr. Elmore was united in marriage to Mary Ann Murray, who was born in Missouri, May 23, 1863 and is a daughter of James and Mary Ann Templin Murray, the father a native of Kentucky. The union of our subject an wife has resulted in the birth of 5 children, 3 of whom are living: Maud L, and Nora are both deceased: Roscoe M, born October 1, 1882, married Myrtle Lattimore and he is one of the successful public school teachers of Ripley Township; Grace born Jan 17, 1885, married Nathan Drollinger and they live in Veedersburg; Albert Murray born Sept 20, 1889, married Lula M. Seits; they live in Ripley Township and have two children, a son, named after our subject, James Byron (sic - Buchanan), Jr. and a daughter, Margaret Angeline. James B. Elmore is a lover of what the great Methodist Bishop, William A. Quayle would call "God's glorious outdoors" and, having the love of mother nature in "all her visible forms" in him, as do all poets, he has spent his life in the rural districts, starting out on the farm, investing at the time of his marriage the sum of $400 his total worldly wealth in 30 acres of land a part of his present farm. There he lived for some time in a log cabin and farmed and taught school. Finally, he purchased 80 acres more going in debt for the same; later he traded that 80 for 160 near home and this he still owns. Subsequently, he purchased 80 acres form his father from who he inherited another 80, later bought 60 south of home and then purchased 160 north of his home farm and at this writing he is owner of an aggregate of 540 acres of valuable land, nearly all tillable, well tiled well fenced and otherwise improved in an up-to-date manner. He has a commodious home and substantial outbuildings and he makes a specialty of raising Poland-China hogs and pole cattle and he also keeps a good grade of medium size horses. Everything about his place denotes system, good management and that a gentleman of industry and taste has the management of this valuable farmstead well in hand and is deserving to rank among Montgomery's foremost agriculturists. Fraternally, Mr. Elmore is a member of the Knights of Pythias at Waynetown, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Alamo and the Woodmen at Crawfordsville. Religiously, he holds membership with the Christian Church and politically he is a Democrat. When Mr. Elmore was a boy in school he began writing poetry, which soon proved him to be one of nature's gifted children for even at that early age his verse possessed usual merit and won for him the soubriquet of "The Bard of Alamo," which has since clung to him. Some of his best verse was written when he was teaching school, one of the most meritorious being "The Belle of Alamo" and "The Red Bird." From time to time he continued writing as the muse dictated, and eventfully gathered his best verse into book form, under the title of "Love Among the Mistletoe: and Other Poems" which was well received. He continued to write and two years later put out "A Lover in Cuba; and other Poems." A few years later followed another volume of verse, "25 years in Jackville," and then appeared form his facile pen, "A Romance in the Days of the Golden Circle." His last volume was "Autumn Roses." They all bore the unmistakable stamp of genuine poetic merit and each succeeding volume broadened its author's fame and audience until today his name has not only covered America but is known all over the world, much of his verse being especially liked in France. His name is frequently attached to poems of fine finish and original theme in New York, Indianapolis and other metropolitan journals. Mr. Elmore's services as a lecturer has been in considerable demand and he has lectured in many colleges and other institutions, throughout Indiana, being especially well received in Indianapolis. The advancing years seem to give him a deeper penetration into nature and the soul as well as rendering his verse finer in every respect and we may hope for greater things from him in the future. "Let our annals be well written, that it stand a scanning test, Those of fame are never hidden, They shall live among the blessed!" JBE
(Note the intials of the contributor match those of the subject.}
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Source: Waveland Independent, Waveland, Montgomery County, Indiana, Aug 18, 1899
James Elmore, the poet of Ripley township was in town last week, canvassing for advance subscription for a volume of poems he is preparing to publish. Mr. Elmore says he is meeting with much encouragement in his literary venture, which will not surprise those who have had the pleasure of reading his poems printed from time to time. His metrical description of the "Monon Wreck," for instance, attracted great attention; it suggests the work of Walt Whitman the "next morning," and has as many feet to the yard as anybody's poetry. A number of hitherto unpublished gems will be incorporated in the book, which by the way will be no cheap skate affair, but will be gotten up so as to be an ornament to any bookshelf. - typed by kbz
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Source: Crawfordsville Journal Review - March 12, 1942
Source: Adams, Joe. The Indianapolis Star 6 March 1947 Thu p 19
Sassafras, oh, Sassafras,
When the original lines which were no better and no worse than the foregoing were presented here last week and attributed to Edward Eggleston (see Bartlett's Familiar Quotations or, better still, see your physician if you're really craving for sassafras) there ensued immediately a tempest in a sassafras teapot.
The echoes of a once lively lyre were muted for all time early Thursday, with the death of the Bard of Alamo. James B. Elmore, Ripley township octogenarian, who in the "Gay Nineties" and for some years thereafter delighted Hoosier folk with his rustic poems died at his 900-acre farm home near Alamo at four am. He had been suffering for the past six months with the infirminites of age. Once the "bard bountiful" whose pen was never still, he had foresworn verse in recent years, devoting his entire interest to his farming properties. But to his many friends, particularly of the older generations, he was still affectionately remembered as the man who fashioned couplets about earthy things such as sassafras and turnip greens and railroad wrecks. The 85-year-old former sonneteer was born on the same farm where death occured, on January 25, 1857 the son of Mathias and Mary Ann Willis Elmore and on February 14, 1880, he was married to Mary Ann Murray, who, according to an autobiography of the bard, came from Nevada City, MO. He later dedicated one of his poems "My Mary of Missouri", to her. He graduated from the Alamo Academy, where he studied with a large class which also included Noah J Clodfelder, William Humphrey, once member of congress from Washington, Oswald Humphrey, once president of Cornell and Eva Ballard, novelist. He taught school for twenty years, spending the summer months at farming. He wrote occasional poems for the newspapers of Indianapolis and Crawfordsville and in 1898 he published a volume of poems. Three other volumes of his prose and poetry were published in later years by Mr. Elmore. The pastoral scenes with which he was familiar inspired most of the writings of the benign bard from Ripley township. Few older people in western Indiana have not repeated to their children and grandchildren passages from "The Monon Wreck" with its climatic "Cut, Oh Cut My Leg Away!" petition; have not chuckled over his "Shoe Cobbler", or have not recalled that song of spring from the bard's "Sassafras, Oh Sassafras!" The mellifluous singer of rural roundelays was given the name - the "Bard of Alamo" - by Jesse Green, a Crawfordsville newspaperman. The Alamo poet wrote hundreds of verses before he put his pen aside, and most of his songs were of a rural theme as attested by his poems "Sugar Making", "When the Pawpaws are Ripe", "The Frog", "The Old Sawmill", "Katie Gathers Greens", and "The Good Old Sheep-Sorrel Pie". On other occasions he wrote on politics, on Wabash College, and on crime. He toured the nation early in the century to read his compositions. Mr. Elmore was a life-long member of the Alamo Christian church and belonged to the Knights of Pythias lodge of Waynetown, and for some years of the Odd Fellows lodge of Alamo. He was prominent in Democratic politics. He is survived by his wife, three children, R.M. Elmore of Crawfordsville, Route 3, Mrs. Grace Drollinger of Veedersburg, Route 3, and Albert M. Elmore of Route 1, Waynetown; one sister, Mrs. Fannie Gardner of Crawfordsville, eight grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren. Two daughters, Maude and Nora Elmore, preceded him in death. The body was brought to the Proffitt and Sons funeral home here where friends may call until Sunday morning at 8 o'clock, at which time the poet's remains will be taken to the Elmore family home near Alamo. The funeral will be held from the Alamo Christian church at 2:30 o'clock Sunday afternoon in charge of Rev. John Servies. The body will lie in state at the church for one hour preceding the services. Burial will be made in the Alamo cemetery. -- typed by kbz
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Source: Montgomery County Rembers. Crawfordsville: MCHS, 1976 p 53.
Boone, Phyllis. Hollin's Opera House: New Richmond Institution.
James Byron Elmore, the bard of Alamo and poet of Montgomery County, held down the boards at Hollin's Hall on Wednesday night of last week. His audience, though so small as to include only 30 persons due to the inclement weather and in no wise to a lack of advertising, nor to a doubted ability of our illustrious author, but the speaker himself dound in every person present a close critic, in that the audience merited their appreciation of his lecture on "Pure Literature" and his reading of his choicest gems with only too frequent loud and vociferous applause.... So freely pours the rhythmic strains of verse, of poetry and song, from the soul of the author, that quite frequently the plainest descriptive preludes to the recital of a gem swelled forth in poetry. He fetchingly found flaws in the writings of Wallace, and the songs of Riley and WHittier and these, contrary to the will of the author, shaped themselves into poetic strains. His audience was perfectly delighted with his readings from his shortest love sonnets to The Monon Wreck and even in this funeral description in which the noted prima donna lost her life - A lady's heart lay on a stump - and the audience burs t- forgot themselvesa nd the incident and burst into loud acclamation at the sound only of the rhythmic strains. His poems, as he claims, are all direact inspirations of the soul and on subjects up to date. His simplest subject, "The Red Bird, concludes with the pretty moral lesson: "The way to be happy is to try to be so." He placed one or more of his books in several homes in New Richmond.
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Source: Ft. Wayne Sentinel Fri 24 April 1903 p 4
If culture as she is cultivated at Wabash College was exemplified in the riot which took place in the Crawfordsville opera house the other night, when a large party of students pelted with eggs and old vegetables an eccentric lecturer, then the state of Indiana has plenty of the brand. The victim of the attack was James B. Elmore of Montgomery County better known as the “Bard of Alamo.” He writes rhyme which he earnestly believes is poetry. All the mild newspaper chaffing bestowed upon him he has taken seriously, with never a suspicion that his Pegasus may be a bit spavined. He was lecturing on “Pure Literature” when the outbreak occurred. While he is what Josh Billings would term an “amusin’ cuss,” he is entirely harmless, the soul of good nature and takes his own aspirations and endeavors with profound seriousness. The Wabash students who engaged in the disgraceful riot have launched the odium of their conduct on their alma mater and upon themselves. They should be punished as common rioters.
Source: Adams, Joe. The Indianapolis Star 6 March 1947 Thu p 19
Please Pass the Sassafras
Sassafras, oh, Sassafras,
How pesky you can be
When, coaxing spring, we try to sing,
Sweet sassafras, of thee!
Sweet sassafras, of thee!
When the original lines which were no better and no worse than the foregoing were presented here last week and attributed to Edward Eggleston (see Bartlett's Familiar Quotations or, better still, see your physician if you're really craving for sassafras) there ensued immediately a tempest in a sassafras teapot.
"Who in the hell," a Lafayette sniper postcarded right out in public, "told you Eggleston wrote that?" And several others, writing, however, with commendable restraint - one even wrote to the editor - likewise contended that those breathless and deathless lines were penned by James B. Elmore, "Bard of Alamo," late of Crawfordsville. I took them at their word and lest the Alamo Bard be left whirling indefinitely in his sarcophagus, I immediately sought to correct the injustice and, that done, poured myself a beaker of sassafras and relaxed.
But not for long. In the next mail came communications which indicated the question was not who wrote the verse, but whoinell was trying to make out who did.
An unidentified lawyer - at least the phraseology is legal and so is the paper it is typed on - stepped forward to state: "I rise to the defense of James B. Elmore. Contrary to the assertion of Judge Ewbank (and others), Mr. Elmore never penned the lines ascribed to him. The authorship of these lines he indignantly, vehemently and categorically denied as flowing from his pen, specifically alluding to the matter in one of his volumes. "True, he did indite some verses to sassafras, but these verses were real poetry as poetry was understood by Mr. Elmore. But the cheap doggerel, "sassafra,s oh, sassafras, thou are the stuff for me," did not emanate from the pen of James B. Elmore.
"Who the wretch was that signed his name thereto has never been disclosed. So it well may be that, like unto the man in the iron mask, the rascal that struck Billy Patterson and how old is Anne, the authorship of these lines will ever remain one of those deep mysteries that clutter up our mundane affairs."
That's what he thinks! For it turned out that in the same mail came a powerful rebuttal and right form Crawfordsville too. Mrs. James J. Paterson (no relation to Billy) says: "I was interested in your reference to the poem, Oh, Sassafras. You will find this poem in James B. Elmore's book with a footnote to the effect that he was NOT the author of it. The poem was written by jesse Green, a former editor of the Crawfordsville Journal and was first printed in the Journal signed by "James B. Elmore." Mr. Elmore denied having written the poem but evidently considered it good enough to be included in his book - with the footnote. This story has been a leged in our family for years, my mother having remembered the incident well, being a person friend of Mr. Jesse Green."
Meanwhile, Edward Eggleston will be left turning flipflops in his tomb until Christopher Morley and Louella D. Everett reedit the edition of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations in which Eggleston is accused of being the pappy of lil Sassafras.
Maybe all of this is a real service to Eggleston who was born at Vevay Dec 19, 1837 and died at Lake George NY Sept 3, 1902 after a successful literary career which followed a period of service in the ministry. For the only thing credited to him in this edition of Quotations is the sassafras ode and that only as a footnote. On page 323 of the book are some quotations from Lamb's The Praise of Chimney Sweepers: Sassafras wood, boiled down to a kind of tea and tempered with an infusion of milk and sugar, hath to some tastes a delicacy beyond the China luxury.
But, regardless of who wrote what, sassafras tea was served to me (the darn stuff's got me rhyming, see?) at a time when I am unable to think of anything else except some such potion. I've got such a cold that the only thing that I can sing (there it goes again) is this:
Sassafras, oh, sassafras,
You've been the stuff for me!
You've helped me through an interlude
You've helped me through an interlude
Of utter misery!
With my head stuffed up and fever high
And tortured with the grip,
You luckily came tripping by
So I could take a nip.
Yes, this discussion, pro and con,
Has been a boon to me,
Ad, so by jig, I too cad sig,
Sweed sassafras, ob thee!
