Document text
Date received
/9?)
Consignment no.
Shipped from
Label
Amount
P0
07— :rt.- /re
Accession no. WP A L C. PROJECT UNIT
Forna-3
N
__Collection (or Type)
Flab of origin/Ad
ip" Project worker_
Projecteditor__ _ _________________ _ _
Remarks..................................................................... ____ --------------
Date..1a5/12/..54-
Folklore
FORM B
Personal Eistory of Informant
STATE
NAME OF WORKER ble
ADDRESS /77 til":----(-/":6-1 V-4.
DATE P62--e—c— 7-1 `3
SUBJECT
NAME AND ADDRESS OF INFORMANT
bZt ./C--<;es7
2 Jr 07
1. Ancestry
7
20 Place and date of birth 2.5-:4,e--1- -1, /d=„s7e-
3. Family /1-e
4. Places lived in, with dates
6. Education, with dates ALso-ar./2-4 Ate -1,--0-04° L.g;-4"r-'77
6. Occupations and acc.lishments, with dates 47.a_
7. Special skills and interests
ev.
7,44420.4
8. Community and religious activities
.1.-`44.144.7
9. Description of informant
,I.Le de -o 02.41.drai
10. Other points gained in interview
,a7zL-
7k4,
(Use as many additional sheets as neoessary, each bearing the
proper heading and the number to which the material refers.
0._ C1...:**--e--v.-
8118
Tom Kilboy
Tam Kilboy is well known in Crescent as one of the few
surviving singers of the Erie Canal days. He stands out, like
Galusha in the Adirondacks, a folk singer very rare and hard
to find. I first learned about him in Crescent though no one
could give me his present address. Only after days of persist-
ent searching in Crescent, Cbhbes, Troy and finally through the
help of the Police and Department of Health in Watervliet he was
located in a respectable, though cheap, apartment on Broadway,
in West Troy. There was no response to my knocking. A man in
the lover apartment Wormed me that Tom was very deaf, so
accompanied by this neighbor I ventured to open the door. Through
an inner glass door I could see an aged man all alone, standing
and fussing with something on a table. Be was neatly dressed, some-
what bald and wore glasses. I bawled out my errand into his ear.
Immediately he flushed, and with arms extended sideways he sang
"Fifteen Years on the Erie Canal". He did not hesitate for a
word; his voice, though husky was strong and musical. The thrill
of pleasure was evident enough.
He was in his 81st year, he told me, and had spent his life
driving mules and horses for his father on the Erie Canal since he
was 12 years old. His chief delight and amusement had been sing-
ing the old songs. He was the daily minstrel on boats, on the taw
and
path/in the inns along the canal, though he plays no musical instru-
ment. His formal education ended when he was 8 years old. He had
-2
attended the Brothers School in West Troy until the day a Brother
caught him chewing gum and struck him on the face. He never
returned and seems even now to feel the smart of that reprimand.
He also sang a song of his awn composing "I'm Flix O'Grady",
with prideful emphasis on the line, "There goes Kilboy, the hand-
some young man."
After an hour he was weary and husky and needed a drink.
He will be glad to sing more songs and have them recorded.