1881 - 1947 Composer of "[The beautiful way unto heaven]" in Eureka Carols Bessie L. Busby was born 25 March, 1881, in Rusk County, Texas. When she was just nineteen she and Candis Smith traveled to Enterprise, Indian Territory (later Oklahoma) to study at Stephen Oslin's Eureka Normal School. She was accomplished enough on the organ that Oslin retained her as an instructor for the remainder of the summer sessions. Returning home that fall she began teaching music classes in Rusk County. She married Oscar Still in 1907, who died in 1908; in 1914 she married J. Clayton Todd. Bessie Busby Todd died in Henderson, Texas on 8 June, 1947.
Sources:
Oslin, S. J. "Southwestern notes," Musical Million (Dayton, Va.) v. 31, no. 5 (May 1900), page 86. https://virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=MSM19000601.1.6
Oslin, S. J. "The Eureka Normal," Musical Million (Dayton, Va.) v. 31, no. 6 (June 1900), page 87. https://virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=MSM19000601.1.7
Oslin, S. J. "Southwestern notes," Musical Million (Dayton, Va.) v. 31, no. 7 (July 1900), page 101. https://virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=MSM19000701.1.5
"Craig news," The Henderson Times (Henderson, Tex.), v. 41, no. 36 (13 Sept. 1900), page 3. href="https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth235363/m1/3
FamilySearch, "The Family Tree," database, Bessie L. Busby (L23F-G2P), Details. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L23F-G2P
--David Russell Hamrick
Bessie Busby
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