Paul de monchaux biography of williams sisters

A weekly web log in Dutch and English to share my passion for jazz, jazz-related music, record collecting and other music projects that surprise me. Een wekelijkse weblog in het Engels en het Nederlands waarin ik mijn passie voor jazz, jazz-verwante muziek, platenverzamelen en verrassende projecten met anderen wil delen. But who were these Williams Sisters?

The discographies show they made only 5 recordings and a few that were never released. From information that I would learn later, they were from Scranton, Pennsylvania , the daughters of Welsh immigrants , and whose father was a coal miner.

At the outset of his

Indeed, the history of Pennsylvania does confirm the fact that Scranton was the destination of many Welsh immigrants who were employed in the coal mining industry. The earliest documentation I could find on the family was from a search of the Federal Census records which gives us some interesting facts about the Williams family. The census indicates that Hanna h was 9, Dorothy was 11 and an older sister Leona was There is no information that Leona was ever a performer or part of the act.

Their mother, Mattie , was identified as married and the head of the household, but no father was noted as living in the home. They lived on Wyoming Avenue in Scranton, Pennsylvania and they were renting their home. A most interesting bit of information was that mother, Mattie , was employed as an usher in the theatre. This might explain their early exposure to the entertainment business.

The Dainty Duo Exactly how the sisters entered show business, I was unable to determine. The first indication that they were performing was from an article in the Utica New York Herald Dispatch of August 16, , for a vaudeville stage show which included an act with the Williams Sisters at the Majestic Theater. It stated, " The Williams Sisters are a petite and dainty duo of misses, with an act of exceptional vivacity and charm.

By , advertisements listed the Williams Sister as a singing and dancing act with the " Troubadours " performing in Binghamton New York , which is about 60 miles north of Scranton.