Benjamin Russel Hanby

Resource id #75

Benjamin Russel Hanby

Benjamin Russell Hanby (July 22, 1833 – March 16, 1867), also given as Benjamin Russel Hanby, was an American composer, educator, pastor, and abolitionist who wrote approximately 80 songs. The most famous are "Darling Nelly Gray" and the Christmas songs "Up on the House Top" and "Who Is He In Yonder Stall?". Hanby was born in Rushville, Ohio. He moved to Westerville, Ohio in 1849, at the age of sixteen, to enroll at Otterbein University. He was involved in the Underground Railroad with his father, Bishop William Hanby. Hanby composed the popular anti-slavery ballad Darling Nelly Gray in 1856 in what is now a national historical site, the Hanby House, located at the corner of Grove and Main Streets (in the 1830s, when Hanby was still a child his family moved to 160 West Main Street) in Westerville, adjacent to the campus of Otterbein University. The song was based on the Hanby family’s encounter with Joseph Selby, a runaway slave from Kentucky who died at the Hanby home in Rushville after relating the moving story of his escape to freedom and having to leave behind his lost love. Hanby wrote several other notable anti-slavery songs during this period including Ole Shady, The Song of the Contraband and Little Tillie's Grave. After graduation in 1858, Hanby briefly taught school and then became a minister in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. In 1860, he became principal of Seven Mile Academy in Seven Mile, Ohio. In 1864, Hanby was minister of a church in New Paris, Ohio, but by Christmas 1864, he was no longer working as a pastor, but operating a singing school in New Paris. He composed "Up On The Housetop" as a Christmas sing-along. It was originally titled Santa Claus. The following year, Chicago publisher George Frederick Root published "Up On The Housetop" and brought Hanby to Chicago to pursue other publishing ventures. At age 33, Hanby died from tuberculosis in Chicago on March 16, 1867. He is buried in Otterbein Cemetery in Westerville. Today the Hanby House is a museum managed by the Westerville Historical Society.

Birth and Death Data: Born July 22, 1833 (Rushville), Died March 16, 1867 (Chicago)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1901 - 1940

Roles Represented in DAHR: composer

Notes: Listed as B. R. Hanby on sheet music.

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings (Results 26-42 of 42 records)

Company	Matrix No.	Size	First Recording Date	Title	Primary Performer	Description	Role
Columbia	140013	10-in.	9/11/1924	Darling Nellie Gray	Riley Puckett	Male vocal solo, with violin and guitar	composer
Columbia	49340	12-in.	3/14/1918	Darling Nelly Gray	Columbia Stellar Quartette ; Lucy Gates	Soprano vocal solo and male vocal quartet, with orchestra	composer
Columbia	49398	12-in.	5/1/1918	Darling Nelly Gray	Lucy Gates	Soprano vocal solo, with orchestra	composer
Columbia	W145101	10-in.	11/4/1927	Darling Nellie Gray	McMichen's Melody Men	Instrumental quintet, with male vocal solo	composer
Columbia	W150892	10-in.	10/21/1930	Darling Nellie Gray	Carson Robison Trio	Male vocal duet, with instrumental ensemble	composer
OKeh	8696	10-in.	Aug. 1924	Nellie Gray	Stanley Trio	Instrumental trio, with male vocal solo	composer
Brunswick	8205-8206	10-in.	approximately June 1922	Darling Nellie Gray	Marie Tiffany	Female vocal solo, with orchestra	composer
Brunswick	E27302	10-in.	4/7/1928	Darling Nellie Gray	Marie Tiffany	Female vocal solo, with male vocal trio and orchestra	composer
Brunswick	E23177-E23178	10-in.	5/16/1927	Darling Nellie Gray	Buckle Busters ; Al Hopkins	Male vocal solo, with male vocal trio and instrumental ensemble	composer
Brunswick	DAL6795	10-in.	Nov. 1930	Darling Nellie Gray	W. W. Macbeth	Harmonica solo	composer
Brunswick	1028W-1029W	10-in.	8/5/1925	Darling Nelly Gray	Charlie Oaks	Male vocal solo, with guitar and harmonica	composer
Edison	569	10-in.	3/21/1911	Darling Nellie Gray	Vocal quartet (unidentified; Edison Records)	Mixed vocal quartet	composer
Edison	2435	10-in.	9/2/1913	Darling Nellie Gray	Mixed vocal quartet (unidentified; Edison Records)	Mixed vocal quartet	composer
Edison	2633	10-in.	12/15/1913	Darling Nellie Gray	Mixed vocal quartet (unidentified; Edison Records)	Mixed vocal quartet	composer
Edison	2801	10-in.	Feb. 1914	Darling Nellie Gray	Metropolitan Quartet	Vocal quartet	composer
Edison	19309	10-in.	7/20/1929	Darling Nellie Gray	American Singers	Male vocal quartet	composer
Edison	N-1032	12-in.	7/20/1929	Darling Nellie Gray	American Singers	Male vocal quartet	composer

(Results 26-42 of 42 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Hanby, Benjamin Russel," accessed November 1, 2024, https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/104386.

Hanby, Benjamin Russel. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 1, 2024, from https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/104386.

"Hanby, Benjamin Russel." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 1 November 2024.