In this process, I found dozens of fascinating articles that later served as material for other articles and presentations.<\/p>\n
One of the most intriguing stories appeared in the Owego Gazette issue from June 5, 1930. (1) This starts as one of those remarkable \u201csmall world stories\u201d that begins with a fellow by the name of Charles H. Hyde who had a grocery business in Owego in the 1880’s with a partner, Mr. Winters. <\/span>He left Owego in 1891 and went to Tacoma, Washington, where he establishes the West Coast Trading Company. Fast forward four decades to the spring of 1929.<\/p>\n Mr. Hyde and his associate, Mr. Hornline of San Francisco, are on a trip to the orient which included Batavia, in the island of Java, Dutch East Indies (now <\/span>Djakarta, Indonesia). They and two ladies are traveling in a taxi when the ladies decide to visit a department store. The heat was such that Hyde and Hornline were desirous of something cool to drink. They managed to convey their wishes to the taxi driver, who did not understand English. <\/span><\/p>\n They stopped by a restaurant and sat down at a table that was out front in the street. A waiter took their order when another waiter came into their presence. The waiter was dark skinned so Hyde assumed he was Javanese. This \u201cdark skinned\u201d waiter then said \u201cPardon for the intrusion but are you Mr. Hyde of Owego?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Mr. Hyde could not believe his ears and remarked \u201cWhat do you know about Owego?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI’m ‘Bill’ Cheeks!\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Hyde did not remember Bill Cheeks, but he certainly remembered the Cheeks family. <\/span>Bill was the eldest of 21 children and his siblings included five sets of twins. Cheeks distinctly remembered the grocery store of Hyde and Winters which was in the Cameron Building at the corner of Park and Front Streets and how it was moved to the Taylor Building which was at the corner of Front and Court Streets. <\/span><\/p>\n This was at a time when lighting was done with kerosene lamps and the store of Hyde and Winters had attached all the lamps with a pipe along the ceiling. A pipe was attached to a receptacle so that the lamps could be filled at one time.<\/p>\n The conversation might have gone like this.<\/p>\n \u201cSo what are you doing in Batavia, Mr. Hyde?\u201d<\/p>\n Bill Cheeks\u2019 passport photo. Image from www.flickr.com\/puzzlemaster\/photos\/30941360370.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cWhen I left Owego, I started the West Coast Trading Company in Tacoma, Washington. I’m here following up on some business contacts and doing some sightseeing. By the way, what are you doing in this part of the world?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat’s a long story Mr. Hyde. I have been all over the world but right now I’m in poor health and just want to get back home.\u201d<\/p>\n How Cheeks came to be a waiter in a Far East restaurant is the kind of story that has equal measures of <\/span>triumph, adventure and misfortune that might read like the script from a movie.<\/p>\n William Henry Cheeks was born in on Aug. 15, 1868. (2) He was the eldest of Moulton and <\/span><\/p>\n Ellen Cheeks’ 21 children. Moulton and Ellen were likely emancipated slaves that came north after the Civil War. (3) According to the 1880 census William was in a \u201chouse of refuge,\u201d a detention center for adolescents who had committed some kind of mischief. Moulton was a carpenter and at some point the family moved to Owego. <\/span>(4) The entire family possessed remarkable musical talent which they showcased as a unit. <\/span>One of these family concerts took place at Ahwaga Hall in 1887 when the family numbered 13. The concert drew such a crowd that many were obliged to stand throughout the performance. Individual family members performed as soloists or with various musical troupes for many years.<\/p>\n But William’s baritone voice was exceptional. (4) His musical skills were helped when he made contact with a Mrs. William A. Klem (Miss Anna L. Platt at the time). As a boy he pumped organ for Miss Platt at the Presbyterian Church. \u201cShe recognized that the youth had a fine voice and she taught him how to read notes and to sing. <\/span><\/p>\n (5) Exactly when he left Owego is uncertain but he does not appear in the New York State Census of 1892. Once he left Owego he got work with a troupe of \u201ccolored minstrels\u201d along with various theatrical engagements. <\/span><\/p>\n At some point he formed a quartet with three other blacks. The quartet consisted of two tenors, a baritone and a bass. <\/span>Their concert tour was the stuff of dreams. In 1902 they performed before King Edward VII of England. They did a private party for Kaiser Wilhelm, toured the courts of Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary and the King of Sweden. Czar Nicholas II was so impressed with the quartet that he gave them a golden medal of merit. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201c . . . . at the age of 19 years Cheeks was regarded as the best Negro baritone in the world.\u201d (6)<\/p>\n According to an account that was in a Batavia newspaper when he passed away in 1939, WWI brought an end to musicians touring the capitals and performing for the royalty of Europe. (7) The troupe made an effort to reclaim their status when they returned to Europe in 1922, but the royal courts were gone and the continent was still recovering from the ravages of war. <\/span><\/p>\n They decided to travel east and took the Trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostock, on the Sea of Japan, formerly part of China. The tenor left the troupe at this time for reasons unknown. When the \u201ctrio\u201d (now known as the Louisiana Trio) arrived in Shanghai, they made an acquaintance of a Russian woman who took the tenor’s place. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere arose a romance between this woman and one of the singers, which greatly disturbed Cheeks. He found great difficulty in reconciling himself to the altered circumstances and the new composition of the troupe, where now a white woman, a contralto, took the first tenor part.\u201d (8) <\/span><\/p>\n I could not find any information on the tenor who left the troupe or the Russian woman who joined, but there was information on other members of the \u201cLouisiana Trio.\u201d <\/span>Charles Wesley Payne was a mulatto born in Virginia on Feb. 7, 1856. <\/span>He came from a family of eight siblings and had worked as a farm laborer. In 1911 he was in Liverpool, England, and had traveled with the Fisk Jubilee Singers. He died in Amritsan, India, in 1921. <\/span><\/p>\n Charles Henry Lewis was white and was born in Columbus, Ohio, on March 8, 1868. He toured with Cheeks and Payne during WWI. (9)<\/p>\n The articles from the Owego Gazette and Owego Times pieced together much of his life but only gave a brief glimpse of a man who traveled in some very \u201chigh society.\u201d I have had little success finding any more information about this individual since the 1980’s. On a bit of a whim, I shared what I knew with two friends who have impressed me in the past with their research abilities: Pam Poulin and Doug Cornwell (Doug happens to be another musician and librarian, like I, from Newark Valley).<\/p>\n Pam found a passport application from the site Microhistories of Asia that was dated from January 1920 from Kobe, Japan. I now have a picture of this gentleman. The individual who posted the passport application has also done some significant research on both Cheeks and the other singers with whom he performed. [There is no identification of the author] Doug found passport information on Flickr. (10) <\/span><\/p>\n At some point William took an English wife listed as Helen C. Cheeks. They had a son, Frederick William Cheeks, born on Oct. 4, 1903. <\/span>Frederick was deceased by 1919.<\/p>\n Cheeks’ passport would seem to indicate that the troupe never left Europe even during WWI. This seems hard to believe but here is information from the Flickr site: 26 Nov 1910 applied at Vienna Austria, sojourning at London Eng. Wife identified as Helen C Cheeks. 28 Dec 1912 applied at Vienna for travel to Russia, sojourning in Vienna. 10 Jun 1914 applied at Bremen Germany for travel to Russia. 3 Nov 1915 applied at Bucharest Rumania (wife\u2019s name given as \u201cEllen\u201d). 28 Mar 1917 applied at Moscow for travel in Russia. 23 Dec 1918 applied in Vladivostok for travel to Siberia, Japan and China, \u201cMr. Cheeks with his \u201cLouisiana Trio\u201d has been performing voluntarily at the Y.M.C.A in Harbin for the benefit of American soldiers and the Russian Railway Service Corps, and has volunteered similar services for American soldiers and sailors in Vladivostok.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n 1 Mar 1919 applies at Vladivostok for travel to Siberia, Japan and China. 5 Aug 1920 Applies at Seoul, Chosen for travel to Chosen, Japan, China Philippine Islands. (11)<\/p>\n According to the Microhistories of Asia site, Cheeks claimed that his passport was stolen on a tram in Osaka, Japan, in December 1919. <\/span>He applied for a new one in Kobe, Japan, in January 1920. <\/span><\/p>\n The micro-histories of asia website also gave quite a detailed account of the troupe’s performances in Chosen (now Korea). <\/span>I’m assuming that Choson Ilbo (?) is the name of a newspaper. <\/span>They drew a huge crowd: \u201cthe two floors of the hall were fully packed, with not even a room for a needle.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Black American vocal troupe that entered Korea from Tokyo, performed their first concert at 8 p.m. yesterday. [\u2026] Their music was so strange and pure that it felt like something totally removed from this complex 20th century society.\u201d reported Choson Ilbo3 on the 29th of July [1920]. (12)<\/p>\n This is from an article in the same newspaper entitled \u201cWatching the Music of Black People\u201d:<\/p>\n \u201cAmerican \u2018negro \u2013 black people\u2019 are natural musicians, praised by the world. However, in Gyeongseong, we heard their voices for the first time on the 30th at the Jongno Youth Center (YMCA). The black man has dark skin which at times seem scary and funny. The musical troupe\u2019s silliness had the audience holding their backs and stumbling in laughter. They performed solos, trios and quartets, and the cat sounds they made\u2026 the audience understood despite their lack of English. The funniest thing is how this \u2018Jesus loves\u2019 kind of concert included these ostentatious songs. It felt like listening to gospel in a cabaret (a little paraphrasing here).\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n The troupe reached the Netherland Indies in 1924 first performing in Medan. The dissension in the group reached the point where Cheeks decided to go to Planters’ Centre, where the troupe had been very successful. <\/span>He finally came to Batavia where he sang between films at the Globe Theatre. <\/span><\/p>\n By the time Cheeks met up with Charles Hyde at the restaurant in Batavia, he was in trouble both financially and physically. <\/span>(13) Cheeks was making $30 a month as a waiter. <\/span>He was hoping to get back to Owego but was having a difficult time saving the necessary $225 he would need for passage. <\/span><\/p>\n Five years before, he had been with a \u201ccolored opera troupe\u201d in India which had been on a world tour. The troupe had become stranded and this was the reason he booked passage to Java. He had been able to obtain some work as a singer but his age and his health were working against him. Cheeks suffered from malaria. Other work included being a door man at the Globe Theatre, employment at the Java Hotel, selling postcards and playing the banjo. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSince last November he had not been able to work, and had been supported by the members of the American colony in Batavia.\u201d (14)<\/p>\n Much of this information was conveyed to Earl Sibley, the Chief of Police for Owego at that time, in a communique from the United State Bureau of Foreign Service in Washington DC. The communique urged Sibley to meet with Cheeks’ brothers, Fred and Garfield. <\/span>Fred was not optimistic about raising the funds to bring \u201cBillie\u201d back home. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cUnless he does, or charitable people in Owego are disposed to finance the trip to America, it would seem that the former singer will be doomed to slow death in the unhealthy climate of Batavia. . . . . . It does not seem that an American citizen should be allowed to die in a far away land for the lack of $225. Times are depressed, but Uncle Sam is so not near ‘busted’ as that would imply. The consular officials in Batavia, however, are helpless to act. It is true that the government does not provide them with funds for such a purpose, though it should do so.\u201d (15)<\/p>\n \u201cBilly\u201d Cheeks would continue his downward slide with his fortunes and his health throughout the 1930’s. Finally, on Sept. 27, 1939, he drew his last breath in the Central Civil Hospital in Batavia, Java. His cause of death was listed as \u201ccorpous pneumonia.\u201d He was buried in the British Anglican section of Djati Petamboeran Cemetery in that city. <\/span><\/p>\n News of his death was conveyed on Nov. 27 to his sister Mrs. Louise Snowden and his brothers Enoch, Garfield and Orin Cheeks. The report was written by Earle R. Dickover, American Consul General at Batavia and was dated October 16, 1939. <\/span><\/p>\n This was the second paragraph: \u201cMr. Cheeks left no property except a small amount of clothing which has been taken in charge by this Consulate General. The clothing is practically without value and there are no other personal effects, except some photographs and a few miscellaneous papers. Your brother had been a resident of this city for many years and was a well-known and popular person. . . . .<\/p>\n \u201cA man who was rated in his day as the most renowned colored baritone, who sang at various European courts by special request, who received a special honor medal from the Czar of Russia, was buried yesterday with great simplicity at the Djati Petamboreran Cemetery here. A few personal friends attended the ceremony and the American vice-consul was present ex-officio. The man, who in this simple way made his last trip on earth was the 70-year old William Henry Cheeks, born in one of the Southern states of the United States, an American citizen. . . . . . but at the age of 19 Cheeks was regarded as the best Negro baritone in the world. <\/span>He was more or less a forerunner of Paul Robeson, who is now winning such triumphs on the silver screen and the concert platform. . <\/span>. . Cheeks had made some very good friends in Batavia among the most prominent Europeans in the city. These friends caried the simple Negro to his grave.\u201d (16)<\/p>\n There is a remarkable amount of information about this extradinary musician, but there is so much that is missing: <\/span>When Cheeks left Owego where did he go to establish himself as a professional musician? How did the quartet come into being? Who was their agent? What initiated the tours of Europe? Who wrote their arrangements? Do any programs still exist? Coming from a family of 19, there must be some relatives out there.<\/p>\n (1) \u201cFind Former Owego Man Stranded on the Island of Java, 15,000 Miles Away\u201d <\/span>Owego Gazette. <\/span>June 5, 1930. <\/span><\/p>\n (2) The US Census of 1870 has him being born in New York, probably Owego. At that time he was one year old. The NYS Census of 1875 has him being born in the District of Columbia. Some accounts have him being born in Virginia.<\/p>\n (3) There is also a Samuel and Eliza Cheeks that appear in the NYS Census of 1875. <\/span>Both were born in Virginia. Whether these two families were related is never noted in any newspaper accounts.<\/p>\n (4) He was often referred to as having a bass voice.<\/p>\n (5) \u201cFind Former Owego Man Stranded on the Island of Java, 15,000 Miles Away.\u201d <\/span>Owego Gazette. <\/span>June 5, 1930. Pg. 1<\/p>\n (6) \u201c’Billy’ Cheeks, Native of Owego and Renowned Singer, Succumbs Penniless in Java.\u201d Owego Times. November 28, 1939. pg. 1<\/p>\n (7) \u201cDeparted Glory. <\/span>From Celebrated Singer to Porter (Doorman).\u201d De Java Bode. September or October 1939. Batavia, Java from Vice Counsel’s letter rpt. \u201c’Billy’ Cheeks, Native of Owego and Renowned Singer Succumbs Penniless in Java.\u201d Owego Times. November 28, 1939. pg. 1.<\/p>\n (8) \u201c’Billy’ Cheeks, Native of Owego . <\/span>. .\u201d <\/span>Owego Times.<\/p>\n (9) www.microhisotories.asia\/william-cheeks<\/a><\/p>\n (10) www.flickr.com\/puzzlemaster\/photos\/30941360370<\/a><\/p>\n (11) www.flickr.com\/puzzlemaster\/photos\/30941360370<\/a><\/p>\n![\"The](\"http:\/\/d28r85ckdoaa46.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/04\/07081241\/History2.jpeg\")
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