Tony Mullin uilleann

Lives of the Pipers Home

Tony Mullin

hotel and restaurant manager, player, performer

b. near Ballina, County Mayo Jan. 2, 1864
d. Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Feb. 13, 1934


Two photos from Mark Hillmann circa 2005. Mullin played a Taylor set, later owned by Mark Hillmann for a time.


' "Deaf' Casey, (The Piper) . . . . . . Terry Mullen' [clipped from a cast listing and pasted to the photo] Perhaps circa 1918. Photo in the Tom Busby collection of photographs, at Na Píobairí Uilleann, Dublin.


Pennsylvania's Northern Coal Field runs northeast/southwest for about 50 miles (85 km) in northeastern Pennsylvania, much of it along the Wyoming Valley. The work of extracting the enormous amounts of coal began before 1800, but after the US Civil War (1861-65) mining and railroad industries sustained rapid growth and expansion. Population grew accordingly, and in the 30 years after the Civil War tens of thousands of these new arrivals were immigrants from Ireland. The largest cities in the region are Wilkes-Barre, Pittston and Scranton. All had active Irish and Irish-American communities.

Born in Ireland, Tony Mullin spent most of his life in Wilkes-Barre. During the years Mullin lived there the population grew from 23,400 (1880) to 86,600 (1930).

Mullin was born in Mayo and emigrated to the US when a teenager, in 1881. He followed his eldest sister Anne, who had emigrated in 1879, and joined her in Wilkes-Barre. He was followed by his father Thomas and five younger brothers and a younger sister, Maria, over the next three years.

Most of his career was spent in what is now known as the hospitality industry. In 1892 he sold liquor; 1894-98 he was co-proprietor of the Bristol House, a hotel on the downtown Public Square. Mullin managed his own hotel and restaurant on South Main Street, 1899-1901, and briefly managed a restaurant in Carbondale, PA, about 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Wilkes-Barre. In 1907 he was manager of the Coyne House, Scranton, about 20 miles (32 km) northeast.

By 1908 Mullin was living at 3 Auburn Street, Wilkes-Barre, with his father and sister Maria. This is in a residential neighborhood on the north side of town. Mullin owned the property and lived there for the rest of his life. He never married. For periods of time brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews lived at number 3 or at other nearby houses on Auburn Street. There is some evidence that he operated a small grocery store out of his house for many years.

Tony Mullin was mentioned often in local newspapers, both as a hotel or restaurant host, and as a musician. More than once he was referred to as "the only piper in the coal regions." Earliest piping references are from 1892. There is no clue when, where, or from whom Mullin learned to play. Most of his gigs were for dances. Some were for events organized by Irish societies, as the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Not a few took place at his hotel or restaurant, and at other hotels and restaurants up and down the Coal Region. After 1906 he had gigs which would seem to exclude hospitality management jobs, for example, at Joyce's Restaurant in Pittston, Dec. 1907: "Tony Mullin, the Irish piper, will be at P. A. Joyce's restaurant all next week. Several local dancers will also be present. Come and hear the music."

One gets the sense after looking at dozens of newspaper references, that Mullin alternated periods of routine work with periods of music-making and travel. He went to Ireland for six weeks in 1902, for example.

There was an unusual amount of Irish musical activity - particularly piping - in northeastern Pennsylvania from about 1890 to 1910. As a musician and as a man trained to be a good host, Mullin was well-positioned to be visited by musicians from out of the area. He may have facilitated engagements for out-of-town musicians.

Piper John Roantree (1840-1896) of Philadelphia was a friend for many years and first mentioned as playing with Mullin at a Hibernian Rifles picnic in 1891. Other local gigs with Roantree followed in subsequent years.

James C. McAuliffe (1860-1910), the first piper to be recorded commercially, visited Mullin in 1899. McAuliffe spent most of his career in New York, but lived in Scranton 1900-06. John Marron (1849-1927), piper and actor, visited Mullin in 1902.

Newspaper announcements from June 1902 tout the visit of "Felix Donovan, the famous Irish piper, from County Mayo, Ireland," with Mullin as his host. To this point no further information about Donovan has been uncovered.

Mullin played with local musicians, fiddlers being mentioned most often. Fiddlers John (B. J.) Wallace and Chris Totten were mentioned more than once.

His longest musical relationship was with dancer Bob Quigley. In the 1890s Mullin provided music for local engagements by the Quigley Brothers, George and Bob. At an AOH ball, October 1892 in Wilkes-Barre, "... another feature of the ball will be the appearance of the Quigley brothers, champion dancers of the world and Mr. Anthony Muller, with his celebrated Irish pipes will furnish the music for the Quigley brothers for their famous Irish jig and reel dance." The brothers later worked as a comedy team in vaudeville, circa 1900-10.

I have found no reference to Quigley and Mullin performing together from 1902 to 1916. Then in 1917, with brother George out of the picture, Bob Quigley formed "Bob Quigley and Co." with dancer Matt Farrell and piper Tony Mullin. They worked up a "singing comedy" sketch, "The Little House Under the Hill," and played theaters in the northeast US. The act was reasonably successful, and was reviewed in the New York Clipper, a show-business trade journal, after a performance in Manhattan:

"The Little House Under the Hill" is the name of a double jig, suitable for pipes, and it seems likely that Mullin played it during the sketch. The tour was unfortunately cancelled early, "owing to Mr. Mullen dislocating one of his fingers, due to a fall while coming out of a bathroom at Cincinnati, and is thus unable to play the Irish bagpipes."

"Bob Quigley & Co." performed locally for the next couple years but there is no evidence of touring or engagements out of the region.

Musical references to Mullin fall off after 1920. His last known engagement was in November 1931, at a party marking the 104th birthday of old-timer Martin J. Gallagher, who lived in White Haven, south of Wilkes-Barre.

By 1930, Mullin was an old-timer himself. In 1933 Billy Leslie, a local newspaper columnist, spoke with, "King Edward," who lived in nearby Pittston:

Mullin died at his home February 13, 1934, 70 years old. Causes of death were diabetes, heart inflammation and arteriosclerosis. He was buried in the family plot at Saint Mary's Cemetery, Hanover Township, near Wilkes-Barre. An upright stone says only "Mullin." There are no markers for individual graves.

Mullin owned a set of pipes made by the Taylor brothers of Philadelphia. He was likely the first owner. It has an unusual harp-shaped badge on the mainstock, engraved "A. J. Mullin." After Mullin's death it passed to New York City piper Michael J. Gallagher, then to Philadelphia piper Tom Standeven, perhaps in the 1960s. It came to Mark Hillmann of Maryland in the early 1990s; he sold it circa 2008. There the public record of ownership ends.


Selected References

"A. O. H. Societies Initiate Class of 50 Candidates" [fiddler John Wallace and Mullin play at this event] Wilkes-Barre [PA] Times-Leader Dec. 19, 1910 p. 16 column 4
World Newspaper Archive

"Annual Excursion on July 4." [visit of piper Felix Donovan] Wilkes-Barre [PA] Daily News June 19, 1902 p. 8 column 3
Newspapers.com

"Bob Quigley & Co. Theatre-Proctor's 58th St." [review of "The Little House Under the Hill"] New York Clipper Feb. 28, 1917 p. 19 column 2
New York NY Clipper 1917-1918 - 0120.pdf

The Botherer. "Does More Questioning for Sunday Reading." [only piper in the coal regions] Wilkes-Barre [PA] Sunday News-Dealer March 19, 1893 p. 1 column 1
Newspapers.com

"Brief Pittston Items." [week-long gig at Joyce's Restaurant] Wilkes-Barre [PA] Record Dec. 21, 1907 p. 24 column 3
Newspapers.com

"Changes at the Theatres" [a singing comedy] Jersey City NJ Jersey Journal March 8, 1917 p. 6 column 5

"Coal Region" [in northeastern Pennsylvania] Wikipedia. accessed Dec. 2019
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_Region

"Columbus Day Dancing." [Quigley Brothers and Mullin at AOH ball] Wilkes-Barre PA Sunday News-Dealer Oct. 16, 1892 p. 5 column 2
Newspapers.com

"Grand Old Man is Honored on 104 Birthday" [last known engagement] Wilkes-Barre [PA] Times-Leader Nov. 2, 1931 p. 24 column 4
Newspapers.com

"Hibernian Rifles' Picnic" [early gig with John Roantree] Wilkes-Barre [PA] Union Leader Aug. 28, 1891 p. 3 column 2
Newspapers.com

Kelly, Michael "Tony Mullin (1864-1934) Irish piper in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania" unpublished article 2109, 9 p. [birthplace and date, family information]

Leslie, Billy "King Edward Of Cork Lane And Tony Mullin's Irish Bagpipes" Wilkes-Barre PA Sunday Independent July 16, 1933 p. C-5 column 3 continued on p. C-7 column 3
The database has these as pages 37 and 39.
Osterhout Free Library; POWER Library, Pennsylvania
http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wbsunind/id/48312/rec/1

"Old Time Fiddler on WBAX Tonight" [fiddler Chris Totten and Mullin on the radio] Wilkes-Barre [PA] Times-Leader April 6, 1926 p. 1 column 8
Newspapers.com

"Personals." [returns from trip to Ireland] Wilkes-Barre [PA] Times June 30, 1902 p. 6 column 1
World Newspaper Archive

"Vaudeville Actors Home From Tour" [injured at Cincinnati] Wilkes-Barre [PA] Record Aug. 6, 1917 p. 12 column 4
Newspapers.com

Nick Whitmer
December 2019