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Daniel Decatur "Dan" Emmett ( October 29 , 1815 – June 28 , 1904 ), was an American songwriter and entertainer. LIFE Of Irish ancestry, he was born at Mount Vernon , Ohio , then a frontier region. After serving in the United States Army , Emmett joined a Circus company in 1835. In 1842, in association with Billy Whitlock , Dick Pelham , and Frank Brower , he organized the Virginia Minstrels , which made their first appearance at the old Chatham Square Theatre in New York City on February 17 , 1843 . Although for a play or one of many acts in a comic variety show. Emmett retired to his hometown of Mount Vernon in 1878. He passed away on June 28, 1904, aged 88 years. COMPOSITIONS Notable songs written by Dan Emmett include:
He is also sometimes credited with the composition of " Turkey In The Straw " [http://www.nativeground.com/danemmett.asp , but the authorship of this song is still contested by music historians. Dan Emmett is traditionally credited with writing the famous song " Dixie ". The story that he related about its composition varied each time he told it, but the main points were that he composed the song in New York City while a member of Bryant's Minstrels . The song was first performed by Emmett and the Bryants at Mechanics' Hall in New York City on April 4 , 1859 . The song became a runaway hit, especially in the South, and the piece for which Emmett was most well known. Emmett himself reportedly told a fellow minstrel that "If I had known to what use they {Link without Title} were going to put my song, I will be damned if I'd have written it."Letter from Col. T. Allston Brown to T. C. De Leon. Published in De Leon, ''Belles, Beaux, and Brains'' and quoted in Nathan 275. Another writer named of Knox County, Ohio , have also been named as writers of the song. FACTS AND TRIVIA
NOTES EXTERNAL LINKS SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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