Will B. Morrison was an interesting figure in ragtime, less for his personal music contributions than for his drive and promotion, clearly with a passion for the music. While his role started out more as a composer, he ended up with some historical importance as a publisher, and finally an arranger. Will was born to John B. Morrison and Emma Morrison in rural Seymour, Indiana. His father shows up as a merchant in Indianapolis starting in the early 1890s, so the family was clearly in place there for Will's secondary schooling. What musical training or college he had is unclear, but he did have the capability to notate and arrange music, potentially the result of classes in piano, harmony and theory.
As early as the late 1890s Will was clerking in a music store. The 1900 Census lists him as a music dealer living in Jackson, Indiana, around 60 miles southeast of Indianapolis. At age 25 he now had a wife of either 18 or 21 depending on interpretation.
There is ambiguity in the Census as his wife's name - Gertrude Morrison - is not entered, nor is his daughters, who was likely just a week or two old when the record was taken. She was soon named Dorothy. At that time they lived just a few doors down from Will's father. ... Text source : Wikipedia (Hide extended text) ... (Read all)
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