Ruth Linda Deyo: Child Prodigy
By Bill Kleppel Recently, we had a visiting patron in the Local History Rooms doing research for a project on Hudson Valley composers. He was particularly interested in sheet music from the 19th and early 20th centuries. My colleague and I selected material for him in advance so he could get to work right away. This is when we happened upon LH Document Box 780-M. Inside the box were musical compositions created by Ruth Linda Deyo in 1892. This music was published when Ms. Deyo was seven years old. Ruth Linda Deyo was born in Poughkeepsie in 1884 to Peter Deyo, a banker at The Poughkeepsie National Bank, and Ida Florence Woolsey. Ruth’s special aptitude was noticed by her parents when she began playing the piano at the age of three. She started creating her own music soon afterward. Her first music recitals in Poughkeepsie were held at parlor concerts, church gatherings, and local musicals, as well the Deyo home on 60 Academy Street, where they lived until 1890. The family moved to West Superior, Wisconsin, in April of that year.1 The Deyo’s would return frequently to the Hudson Valley to visit family and friends in [...]