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Z 1861.000
MCWILLIAMS (ELSIE) MUSIC MANUSCRIPTS

n.d.

Biography/History

James Charles (Jimmie) Rodgers was born in Pine Springs, Mississippi, a small community near Meridian, on September 8, 1897. He was the son of Aaron Woodberry and Eliza Bozeman Rodgers. Aaron Woodberry Rodgers was employed as a railroad section foreman. Jimmie Rodgers began his railroad career as an assistant section foreman at the age of fourteen. He eventually became a brakeman for the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad which ran from New Orleans to Meridian.

In 1917 Jimmie Rodgers married Stella Kelly of Durant. Soon, however, financial difficulties and other problems prompted Stella, then pregnant with her daughter, Kathryn, to leave for Oklahoma and eventually obtain a divorce from Rodgers. Jimmie Rodgers was eventually reunited with his daughter, Kathryn, in 1930. On April 7, 1920, Jimmie Rodgers married Carrie Williamson, and they had two daughters, Carrie Anita and June Rebecca. The latter died in infancy.

Jimmie Rodgers suffered from tuberculosis, and the lingering effects of this disease eventually forced him to leave the railroad and pursue a country music career. Rodgers received the first big break of his country music career on August 4, 1927, when he had the opportunity to record under the direction of Ralph Peer two songs, "The Soldier's Sweetheart" and "Sleep, Baby, Sleep" for the Victor Talking Machine Company in Bristol, Tennessee. During Rodgers' brief but prolific career, he would record 111 songs and sell twenty million records. Many of these songs were written by his sister-in-law, Elsie McWilliams. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 35 on May 26, 1933, shortly after completing a recording session in New York City. Jimmie Rodgers was buried in Meridian.

Known during his career as "The Singing Brakeman" and "America's Blue Yodeler," Jimmie Rodgers became the first person to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1961. He was also designated the "Father of Country Music" at that time. In 1976 the Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival, Inc., built the Jimmie Rodgers Museum and Monument in Meridian. The United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp honoring Jimmie Rodgers in 1978.

Elsie Williamson McWilliams was born in Harperville, Mississippi, a small community in Scott County, on June 1, 1896, to Methodist minister Jesse Thomas Williamson and Kizzie Ann Williamson. The Williamsons had eight other children, Annie, Carrie, Covert, Gladys, Katie, Mildred, Nate, and Roy.

Elsie Williamson was married to Edwin Richard (Dick) McWilliams on December 16, 1917. McWilliams was a policeman who served the Meridian Police Department for fifty-four years. The McWilliams had three children, Clarice Patricia, Edwin Richard, Jr., and Lula Jean.

Jimmie Rodgers' second wife, Carrie, was the sister of Elsie McWilliams. McWilliams wrote the musical scores and lyrics for thirty-nine of the songs that her brother-in-law performed and recorded, but she actually received credit for only nineteen of the songs. She was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1979. Elsie McWilliams died on December 30, 1985.

Scope and Content

This collection contains the undated music score and lyrics for the song "An Old Fashioned Heart" and the undated lyrics for the song "Keep Traveling" both of which were written by Elsie McWilliams. It is not known whether these two songs were ever publicly performed or recorded by Jimmie Rodgers, as neither song is listed in Nolan Porterfield's Jimmie Rodgers discography. Accompanying this collection is an 8"x10" poster with a black-and-white image of Elsie McWilliams identifying her as a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Series Identification

  1. Music Manuscripts. n.d. (2 items).
  2. Poster. n.d. (1 item).