Up on an Ohio Housetop
Country Living Magazine | December 1998
The year was 1864, the Civil War was taking its toll on the
nation, slavery was the issue and Christmas for many was empty and
meaningless ... except for the holiday joy a song written by an Ohioan
was bringing to children across the country.
Does the song Up On The Housetop remind you of youth and childhood
dreams? It has for countless others over the past 134 years. Christmas
wouldn't be complete without the emotional music that
marks this most-loved holiday season. And since the year 1864, children
have learned and remembered this simple Christmas tune.
The writer's name was Benjamin Russell Hanby, born July 22, 1833inRushville,
OH. The oldest of eight children and the son of a saddle and harness
maker, Hanby was raised in the (then) small town of Westerville, where
he would travel three miles to practice on the only piano in the area
at the time. He is best known for his anti-slavery songs, My Darling
Nelly Gray and Ole Shady, which he composed
to bring a little happiness in a dim era of our history.
Hanby became a young minister at New Paris, OH for the United Brethren,
but music was not permitted in the church. Attempting to bring music
into the church brought disunity to the congregation and thus Hanby
left the ministry for a time.
He attended Otterbein College, graduating after nine years,
where he studied and
learned about the new Infant Schools (forerunner of today's kindergarten
or primary schools). From his studies, he began conducting an informal
Infant School at Otterbein Campus. He went on to found a singing school
in New Paris, shortly after he left the ministry, and it was known
in the area as the "Singing Church."
When he composed the lively Christmas song, Up On The Housetop, the
pupils of the "Singing Church" were the first to perform
it. From there the song was sent to the publishing firm Root and
Cady of Chicago. The company hired Hanby in 1867 at a salary of $3,000
a year, plus royalties on his songs.
 But Hanby's luck with publishing was not the greatest. His first song
to be published was My Darling Nelly Gray, published by Oliver
Ditson Company of Boston, which never notified him and even refused to
pay him for ownership. My Darling Nelly Gray was a song about
abolition. It is based upon a true story, published in 1856, a song of
a runaway slave named Joseph Selby. While at the Hanbys' home, Selby
stayed on his way to Canada to earn money to buy the freedom of his lost
love named Nelly Gray. Another Civil War-era Hanby song was Ole Shady, with
verses based on the
_ writings of D. Blakely Durant, an ex-slave who had been a
house servant until his liberation by the Union Army.
Hanby also never got the fame he deserved for Up On The Housetop when
it was popular. The Root and Cady publishing company was destroyed
in the great Chicago fire, losing its records. The song was out of
print for years but continued to be sung from generation to generation
as a simple folk song. Then the tune later was published as composer "unknown." But
with time, Benjamin Hanby's authorship was proven and he is now fully
credited for the song.
In the winter of 1866, Hanby came down with a severe cold but still managed to
write the well-known Christmas hymn, Who Is He In Yonder Stall?
He died on March 1,1867 of tuberculosis at the age of 33, with some 80 songs
to his name. Q
Today the Hanby House is known for its role
in the history of the Underground Railroad. It
contains five rooms of original antiques from the Civil War era, Hanby's piano
and several of his music scores. The Hanby house is operated
by the Westerville Historical Society under agreement with
the Ohio Historical Society and is listed on the National Register
of Historic Places.
The home originally was built on Grove Street in Westerville,
and was moved to its present location on 160 W. Main St. in 1890. It
is open to the public from May through October, on Saturdays from 10
a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. Group tours can be arranegd
through the Westerville Historical Society (614-772-1500 or 1-800-891-6289).
Admission costs $1.50 for adults and 50 cents for children 12 and under.
For more information about the Hanby House, check the website: www.wpl.
lib.oh. us/ visitors/ or www.ohiohistory.ory/
places/hanby/.
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