Belle Yeaton Renfrew

Belle Yeaton Renfrew (born December 11, 1872 – November 22, 1963) was an American musician, and conductor of the all-woman Bostonia Orchestra.

Belle Yeaton Renfrew
A white woman wearing her hair in an updo, and a light-colored gown with heave ruffles on the short sleeves and chest. She is wearing elbow-length gloves.
Belle Yeaton Renfrew, from a 1908 brochure for the Bostonia Orchestra.
Born
Augusta Belle Yeaton

December 11, 1872
Chelsea, Massachusetts
DiedNovember 22, 1963
Brookline, Massachusetts
Other namesBelle Renfrew Mahn
Occupation(s)Musician, conductor
Years active1900-1930

Early life

Augusta Belle Yeaton was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, the daughter of Charles B. Yeaton and Mary Augusta Yeaton. Her father was a Union Army veteran of the American Civil War.[1]

Career

Belle Yeaton Renfrew was conductor of the all-woman Bostonia Orchestra,[2][3] which played in Boston and toured in the United States and Canada between 1904[4] and 1924.[5][6][7] She also played trombone[8][9] in the Bostonia Brass Quartet, with sisters Grace Mae Morse and Alice Florence Morse on first and second horns, and various women on cornet, including a third Morse sister, Ella.[4][10] A reviewer in New Jersey in 1911 commented that "the conducting of Belle Yeaton Renfrew was a revelation to many who attended. She was graceful in attitude but at the same time brought out charming effects with the greatest of precision."[11]

Personal life

Belle Yeaton married jeweler William Renfrew in 1892. They lived in Watertown, Massachusetts, and had a son, Howard William Renfrew (1893-1982). By 1929 she was remarried to a fellow musician, violinist Frederick Louis Mahn.[12] She died in 1963, aged 90 years, in Brookline, Massachusetts.[13]

References
  1. "Charles B. Yeaton". American Civil War Research Database. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  2. "Bostonians are Well Received". Asbury Park Press. 1914-06-29. p. 14. Retrieved 2020-09-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Woodside Park Has Novel Amusement". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1911-07-23. p. 11. Retrieved 2020-09-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Musical". Wisconsin State Journal. 1904-12-02. p. 8. Retrieved 2020-09-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Concert by the Bostonia Orchestra". Boston City Club Bulletin. 15: 21. November 1, 1920.
  6. Brown, Gerard W. (2004). Chelsea. Arcadia Publishing. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-7385-3609-5.
  7. The Sixteenth Annual Boston Automobile Show: Mar. 2 to 9, 1918, Mechanics Building, Boston. 1918. p. 46.
  8. Holman, Gavin (October 2018). "Soft lips on cold metal: female brass soloists of the 19th and early 20th centuries" IBEW Research. page 44.
  9. "Miss Belle Renfrews Women Players". The Topeka Daily Capital. 1906-10-07. p. 11. Retrieved 2020-09-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Bostonia Ladies' Orchestra Gave Fine Concert". Norwich Bulletin. 1910-03-30. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-09-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Musicale was a Treat". The Morning Call. 1911-01-24. p. 11. Retrieved 2020-09-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Women Musicians' Christmas Party". The Boston Globe. 1929-12-21. p. 14. Retrieved 2020-09-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "Mahn (death notice)". The Boston Globe. 1963-11-24. p. 20. Retrieved 2020-09-28 – via Newspapers.com.
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